Poets & Writers Magazine welcomes feedback from its readers. Please post a comment on select articles at www.pw.org/magazine, e-mail editor@pw.org, or write to Editor, Poets & Writers Magazine, 90 Broad Street, Suite 2100, New York, NY 10004. Letters accepted for publication may be edited for clarity and length.
THE INDIE ADVANTAGE
Thanks for
recognizing the great work Daniel Goldin is doing at Boswell Book Company ("Inside
Indie Bookstores: Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee" by Jeremiah Chamberlin,
July/August 2010). Goldin should be recognized for another thing: his
enthusiastic support of local authors. Having published three books myself, I
know personally that he takes a great interest in what we are doing, inquires
about our progress in writing, and makes the store available for our readings.
Milwaukee is proud to have Boswell, and we hope it has a long and prosperous
life.
PAUL SALSINI
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
THE MEDIUM IS THE MUSEUM
I read the
Editor's Note about advances in digital media (July/August 2010) with a mixture
of interest and dismay. The day the magazine arrived I had just borrowed a
battered copy of Steinbeck's East of Eden. This particular book had journeyed from a library in Florida to ours
in New Hampshire, and it was clear that it had a life prior to my reading it—evidenced
by stickers on the inside cover attempting to hide the word withdrawn, scribbles on the edges, and the corner of a
granola bar wrapper used as a bookmark. The written words are the art, but the
physical book is the museum.
I love books—the kind that, when you open them at a yard
sale table, souvenirs from someone else's life flutter out like freed birds,
the kind that get passed around among friends and family. Call me archaic, but
I love this sense of connection with other readers through our books.
PATRICIA FRISELLA
Farmington, New Hampshire
POWER LINES
I enjoyed the article "Necessary Agent" by Jofie
Ferrari-Adler (July/August 2010), not having realized how little power editors
have. I appreciate that good agents like Molly Friedrich are there to help
authors by building strong relationships with publishers and editors. I hope
when the time comes, I get an agent like Molly.
Excerpted from a comment posted
on pw.org/magazine by JESSIE MAC
I used to be an editor at Simon & Schuster, and I
can attest to Ferrari-Adler's point that editors—unless they are very senior—are
pretty much powerless. This may not be what writers want to hear, but it is
what they need to know. Thanks to Ferrari-Adler for saying what needs to be
said.
Excerpted from a comment posted on pw.org/magazine by MARCELALANDRES
RENOVATION VERSUS DEMOLITION
I was saddened by Benjamin Percy's article "Home
Improvement: Revision as Renovation" (May/June 2010). While he deserves to be
proud of finishing his novel, The
Wilding, the degree to which Graywolf Press editor Fiona McCrae
suggested changes to his book is disturbing. In reading about his conversations
with the editor, I was reminded of something Orson Welles once said in regard
to the editing of a film: "If there's something another fellow can or should
add to your picture after you've made it, then it doesn't seem to me that
you're really in command of your own work." It's interesting to me that this
article appeared in the same issue as a discussion on self-publishing, "Self-Publishing
Steve: Part 1—The Dream Begins" by Steve Almond. Despite the dubious quality
of some self-published books, at least those writers can say the work is
theirs, both the good and bad parts.
TODD MICHAEL COX
New Prospect, Wisconsin
[CORRECTION]
Sociologist Erving Goffman's name was misspelled
in "Pulse, Clock, Calendar" by Allan M. Jalon (July/August 2010).