Challenging self-promotion since 2005
My short story "The Office Beths" appears in the new issue of Brooklyn Review. This makes me happy as I have not had a story published in awhile. So obviously once I heard it was going in, I checked the Brooklyn Review website obsessively for details about when it might come out, and so I could link to the story in my journal, since all of the last issue, Brooklyn Review #22, was online in PDF format.
Ah ha, but there was my mistake: assuming Brooklyn Review #22 was the most recent issue. This impression was furthered by the fact that when I Googled "Brooklyn Review 23," I came up with someone's CV referring to their work in that issue as "forthcoming" (though, to my discredit, it did also say "2006") and, eventually, a cached message-board posting about a release party for Brooklyn Review #23 happening in May. As this was in late April, I was pleased to find out that the journal would be out soon. When May came and went without any word of a release party, I just assumed more delays. Or: I wasn't invited.
So imagine my surprise when my contributor copies of Brooklyn Review #24 arrived in today's mail. Retracing my steps, I found that #22 came out in 2005, and that the party for #23 did probably happen -- in 2006, which is in fact the year that May 20th fell on a Saturday. The title page of the (actual) new issue refers readers to the website, which I immediately visited, thinking somehow my obsessive checking missed something. But the page advertised in the current issue is the same one heralding the coming of issue #22. Welcome home.
For one final round, I Googled "Brooklyn Review 24." Nothing at all. No CVs, no parties, not even any self-promoting blog entries. (Yet?)
Because of this, I don't know where you can read the Brooklyn Review online. Nor do I know where you can go to buy the Brooklyn Review were you so inclined (which is probably for the best, because I would feel guilty about asking anyone to pay what most lit-journals cost), or when it might be reaching those unknown places for sale. However: if you do find yourself in someplace that carries a decent selection of lit journals, I invite you to look for Brooklyn Review #24 and read my story (and the rest of the issue, which I haven't read yet, eager as I was to self-promote). It is a short story that you can read fairly quickly and it's actually one of my favorites. Of mine. Yeah.
I take comfort in the fact that this confusion does not seem to be unusual among lit-journals (and my appreciation for the clarity of One Story increases all the more). My friend Marie, an immensely talented writer, recently won the Mississippi Review prize for fiction for her story "North Of." This is a big deal. It nonetheless took quite a bit of doing for me to figure out that the Mississippi Review website does not reprint any sample pieces from the journal, but rather (I think) shorter additional pieces from authors who appear in the print issue. This is actually a pretty cool idea that is not really clearly conveyed on the site, especially because the current "online issue" apparently mostly ties into the *forthcoming* print issue, in fall '07.
However, you can look at Marie's name here, and memorize it for when her book comes out so you can say you heard of her before she was famous. Better yet, you can check out Volume 35, Issue 1-2 of the Mississippi Review in print and read "North Of" for yourself. It is excellent. So there's another, even better reason to loiter in a well-stocked lit-journal section of a bookstore (St. Mark's Bookstore in the village is a confirmed outlet. The issue has flamingos on the cover).
Ah ha, but there was my mistake: assuming Brooklyn Review #22 was the most recent issue. This impression was furthered by the fact that when I Googled "Brooklyn Review 23," I came up with someone's CV referring to their work in that issue as "forthcoming" (though, to my discredit, it did also say "2006") and, eventually, a cached message-board posting about a release party for Brooklyn Review #23 happening in May. As this was in late April, I was pleased to find out that the journal would be out soon. When May came and went without any word of a release party, I just assumed more delays. Or: I wasn't invited.
So imagine my surprise when my contributor copies of Brooklyn Review #24 arrived in today's mail. Retracing my steps, I found that #22 came out in 2005, and that the party for #23 did probably happen -- in 2006, which is in fact the year that May 20th fell on a Saturday. The title page of the (actual) new issue refers readers to the website, which I immediately visited, thinking somehow my obsessive checking missed something. But the page advertised in the current issue is the same one heralding the coming of issue #22. Welcome home.
For one final round, I Googled "Brooklyn Review 24." Nothing at all. No CVs, no parties, not even any self-promoting blog entries. (Yet?)
Because of this, I don't know where you can read the Brooklyn Review online. Nor do I know where you can go to buy the Brooklyn Review were you so inclined (which is probably for the best, because I would feel guilty about asking anyone to pay what most lit-journals cost), or when it might be reaching those unknown places for sale. However: if you do find yourself in someplace that carries a decent selection of lit journals, I invite you to look for Brooklyn Review #24 and read my story (and the rest of the issue, which I haven't read yet, eager as I was to self-promote). It is a short story that you can read fairly quickly and it's actually one of my favorites. Of mine. Yeah.
I take comfort in the fact that this confusion does not seem to be unusual among lit-journals (and my appreciation for the clarity of One Story increases all the more). My friend Marie, an immensely talented writer, recently won the Mississippi Review prize for fiction for her story "North Of." This is a big deal. It nonetheless took quite a bit of doing for me to figure out that the Mississippi Review website does not reprint any sample pieces from the journal, but rather (I think) shorter additional pieces from authors who appear in the print issue. This is actually a pretty cool idea that is not really clearly conveyed on the site, especially because the current "online issue" apparently mostly ties into the *forthcoming* print issue, in fall '07.
However, you can look at Marie's name here, and memorize it for when her book comes out so you can say you heard of her before she was famous. Better yet, you can check out Volume 35, Issue 1-2 of the Mississippi Review in print and read "North Of" for yourself. It is excellent. So there's another, even better reason to loiter in a well-stocked lit-journal section of a bookstore (St. Mark's Bookstore in the village is a confirmed outlet. The issue has flamingos on the cover).