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What the FAQ is OW! all about?!
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Wednesday, 28 February 2007
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The FAQs, just the FAQs...
What is OW?It is something you say when you are hurt. Being an underground/zine writer can hurt. We are the Guild of OW because everything else in our society is organized, so why not hurting writers? Ooops--we don't mean we are organizing to hurt writers. We'll leave that up to book reviewers and Judith Reagan (although we would like to write the book, "If I Totally Killed Mainstream Publishing, This Is How I Would Do It If They Gave Me A Lot Of Money Which Of Course I Will Give To My Children HAHAHAHA").
Speaking of Judith Reagan
She of the infamous OJ Simpson nonbook is an excellent example of why we are underground writers than above ground, and what is wrong with mainstream publishing today. The problem was not solved with firing Reagan and withdrawing the OJ book. The problem is the system that hired Reagan and that wanted to publish the OJ book--until the heat became too intense. it is this system--Books For Bucks At Any Cost--that OW writers feel should be run through the shredder.
Why OW?Seriously, life is tough as a writer. Often you are alone in your little writing closet, isolated. You know your work is great, but you also know your work sucks. To get anywhere, as defined by mainstream terms, you have to leave the closet, where it is warm, and go find an agent, and then a publisher, and then a publicist. None of those people want to meet you or know you. Most mainstream publishers no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts. Many larger agents (say, those who weigh 300 pounds from eating too many authors) also will not accept unsolicited authors.
The Outsider Writer scene is already full of talented and active writers who have more passion for literature in their turds than the entire literary establishment. Through our various combined years of experience struggling to make our way through the system we have realized that not only will the establishment not change, but that it is not worth fixing. We are untouchables, severed from the literary elites. But this has made us strong and given us an opportunity, by working together, to bypass the rigid institutions altogether. We can promote our own work! We can sell our own books! We can edit each others work! Not only has the establishment become visionless, but boring, ineffective and weak. We do not take this opportunity to join their club, we now leap to bypass it altogether, to put the control over writing back into the hands of authors and readers.
But who needs OW? Aren't there other writers' organizations?Yes, but we're not just a writer's organization. We're an advocacy network with the very goal of uniting the best talents and promoters of outsider writing. We're not here to arrange tea parties with each other and talk about stories that will never see the light of day (although members are free to do so, if they wish - we are, by plan, a very accepting group) but to help each other take those stories, print em, distribute them and find markets for them. We are combining a great number of already existing projects that could become much stronger together and developing a collective base of legitimacy for outsider writing. We are encouraging other frustrated writers to take publishing into their own hands. We are seeking to create readership for our writing, rather than saying 'there is only a market of 300 people!' and reveling in how exclusive we are.
Where is OW?We are in your garages and basements. We are in your city stapled to your lamp-posts. We are in your cafes and in your workplace. We are in your washroom, looking through your medecine cabinet. We were in your car, but it was kind of messy, so we won't be sleeping in there anymore. But your attic is quiet comfortable. Oh, and can you pick up some more orange juice at the store tonight? I just drank your last carton this morning.
I want my shit (poem/essay/story) published! Where do I send submissions?Good Question. I like it. It's got flair. And you--shit, you're the most beautiful person I've ever seen. I mean it. I'd marry you if I had hands and proper gardening tools. And a nice sunhat. Please send all digitized versions of your written shit to
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I love to read new stuff. I hate it when the words get stuck in my beard. I'm quite sloppy that way.
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FAQs 