Scott Timberg’s 2015 book Culture Crash is necessary reading for anyone seeking to understand the trends writers and other artists are living through now, in 2023. One can disagree with some of what Timberg says and still recognize his book as the best examination of today’s cultural crisis– where a handful of writers, musicians, and artists garner a large amount of attention, and make an enormous amount of money, while the rest can scarcely, or can’t, make a living at what they love. In many cases no matter how good they are at their art. Since the book’s publication, the trends Timberg outlined have intensified.

It’s a truth much of the writing community fails to admit– and so there are endless recriminations at publishers and editors, without the recognition that it’s impossible for any literary publication (at least the way things stand now), to be self-sustaining from sales alone. Even the Paris Review is kept going by a large number of sponsors and donors. You’d better have an endowment, a university behind you, or a trust fund to truly make it without treating the writer as a customer, via submission fees as such. (Which we’ve avoided doing.)

In Culture Crash, Scott Timberg makes it plain that there needs to be a new model for cultural creation– talented writers and artists need to collaborate in developing that model.

In our view, the cultural status quo isn’t good enough. The canon promoted by the literary establishment is fine– but the art needs to change. There’s no reason why good creative writing can’t be meaningful and deep yet contain pop elements at the same time.

Writers and editors need new ideas and we need to compete.

-KW