I recently linked to Ted Genoways's manifesto in support of university presses and journals which was written specifically in response to pressure on The Southern Review.Genoways has more to say now: Whose Woods These Are. This time the beneficiary of his remarks is the New England Review which finds itself under similar pressures.
1 comment:
Thnx for posting links to the articles. My gut feel is that I don’t think journals as reputable as these will really ever go away, but I do think in times like this, the colleges have every right to question the operating budget. I really don’t know what the budget is for the higher end journals, but I would suggest for now that they project real operating costs such as issue production and a little marketing, and look critically to cut other expenses such as author and staff compensation. I don’t think journals with huge reputation would suffer a loss of quality material or quality labor with this reduction. There will still be a huge number of excellent writers who will submit, and a large number of very good editors willing to work and get the credit for being attributed to such fine journals. The colleges are overlooking the fact that the journal itself is a great form of advertisement for their writing programs, and if it does not make money, well then so be it. Does a college brochure make money? Even with this, though, if the operating budget is very high, well above production costs for materials, that’s dangerous ground in these tough times.
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