a random correspondence with an inquiring stranger had me re-visit the world of vanity publishing, that derided realm of hobby content that traditionally is dismissed. i think the realm of self-publishing has changed in the last decade, and my reasons for possibly pursuing book-like outlets for some of the things i’ve done over time would have less to do with vanity or self-satisfaction and more to do with permanence. a web site blows up like mine did last year, and that web site is gone. the crutches of archive.org and commercial search engines’ cached copie sof pages only go so far, and those are handy at times but not meaningful in terms of comprehensive permanence.
but then a desire for permanence is vanity, is it not? all things are vanity. i don’t know, but i feel like my lethargic interest in traditional publishing needs some spark for to rise up as anything, and the brief correspondence with a stranger who volunteered that i should self-publish through amazon.com was enough to light a Bic under the subject. i have had in mind a number of digital-only projects, or books or novels or short stories or whatever they call these extended expository writings these days. i see the future of the writing genre as entirely digital. i see the future of pianos and piano music as entirely digital. i see the future of human consciousness as entirely digital. ancillary to the all-digital cosmos in which we orbit i see that the future is wildly vulnerable to deletion and oblivion.
but in the shorter term i see the future of fiction writing (almost said friction whiting) and creative nonfiction (that reviled genre of yore) as digital, and thus availed of (and prone to) the multimedia flourishes that have compromised the integrity of so many html web pages.
…..
sitting near a woman who just got back from Japan. the night after the tsunami i saw a row of Japanese Astorians with their Tumi bags lined up on Broadway, hailing cabs for (i assumed) the airports. she says it is the rainy season now, and that she is glad to be back in America.
