This is Part Two of a Three part interview with author, Walter Cummins. Please read Part One before continuing here.
Michael Aloisi- You have been writing for a number of years, how have you seen the industry as a whole change? And do you think it is in better or worse shape now?
Walter Cummins- I find writing as writing in better shape because of the range of forms and approaches writers can use and because so many have formal training that helps them develop their skills and talents. Literary magazines on the web increase outlets and accessibility, and their editorial standards have become as high as those of the best print magazines. In some cases, print magazines are moving to the web for economic reasons. The negative… literary writers' readership is shrinking as the number of worthwhile works grows. The consequence is more limited publication opportunities and certainly possibilities of being paid for one’s writing. My prediction is the paradox of more good writing and fewer readers to appreciate it, authors having to be satisfied with small circulation.
MA- You have been an editor of numerous publications for a long time. Obviously, it must be something you enjoy. What do you get out of being an editor and how do you approach the job?
WC- Ultimately, as an editor, whether the result in on screen or on paper, you enjoy the opportunity to create something tangible that brings a body of good writing to the public and recognizes authors for their achievements. There’s a special pleasure in discovering someone new. The job requires coordinating a range of activities from reading submissions to exchanges with authors, to the steps of the production process. Some of the activities, necessary as they are, are mechanical. The real challenge is selecting the best of the submissions and shaping them into a coherent issue. It can get frustrating when the workload builds, especially the number of submissions that have to be read. But, in the end, the results more than compensate for the frustrations.
MA-From an editor’s standpoint, how do you feel about digital readers and E-Books becoming popular?
WC- I’ve been expecting them to happen for a long time, and their emergence coincides with a generation of readers used to reading on the screen. Months before the Ipad came out, I bought a Kindle as an experiment. For a long time it sat unused. Now I really like it despite its visual limitations, which I expect are only temporary with the Ipad setting the standard. The accessibility of books reminds me of the ease of finding literary magazines on the web. I’ve read reviews of a book that interests me and order it immediately, and can begin reading in less that a minute. We have to make a distinction between the book as a physical object that is often aesthetically pleasurable in itself and literature that is a gathering of words independent of the medium on which they appear.
MA-A few years ago you wrote a book, Programming Our Lives: Television and American Identity, co-written with George Gordon. Being that I went to film school and worked in film for years I find this particular topic very interesting. What made you want to write this?
WC- George suggested it. Our friendship goes back to the first week of our freshman year in college. Years ago, we were co-authors of a book on management climate. At least I got credit as co-author even though all I did was organize information he provided from his specialty as an industrial psychologist. Regarding television, he was just a viewer with opinions and concerns. I had taught a few media courses over the years but, unlike you, was very much an amateur. What we had in common was longevity, being around for the transition from radio to TV in the American living room. Our interests diverged to a point, George more focused on the effects of television on politics and public life, I concentrated on what it’s done to the way we perceive and on the technology. A first we just wrote about what interested us and took months to put those fragments into an overall shape. Once we did, we could see the gaps and what had to be rewritten. Then one day we had a book that was accepted by the first publisher we submitted it to.
Please read Part Three for the completion of this interview.
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