The post-digital literary journal: Media and funding implications

Abstract

Literary journals are post-digital publications where digital and print media blend and shape one another. They play an important role in Australian literary culture but rely on funding to survive. Recent discourse about funding Australian literary journals has been characterised by debates about publication media – print and digital. With the upcoming establishment of a new body for writing in Australia, ‘Writers Australia’, this study examines literary journals’ relationships with these media, how editors’ use of these media affects the operations and economics of their publications and the field as a whole. The study finds that federal project funding is unsuited to the type of work that literary journals do, as well as evidence of an increasingly entrenched two-tier field, where journals with operational backing from institutions like universities are more competitive than their smaller, unsupported counterparts in obtaining existing funding. While digital publication has many advantages for literary journals, skill shortages in digital publishing, marketing and data analysis limit the scope of some journals to demonstrate their reach and effectiveness. This study finds that print publication remains important, particularly for writers, and that the community-building capacity of literary journals is a highly significant contribution which, while not evidenced on the page or screen, should be given weight in assessments of journals’ success.