Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

How do you get your readers to interact with your writing? That's the 21st Century problem that all fledgling authors face. To help us answer that question, I brought in the experts.

This week Larry Smith (founder of Smith Magazine) and Rachel Fershleiser (senior editor at Smith) are our special guests, discussing their six-word memoir anthology and how they built an interactive storytelling community for writers.

They turned their community work into the collection Not Quite What I Was Planning, bringing together thousands of writers in a six-word storytelling project.

Welcome to my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions (this week, each of our guests get two-and-a-half easy questions).

In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality conversations with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:

Rachel Fershleiser:

Most of what I learned about topics our readers love happened from editing The PopuLIST, a feature where we ask a question based on current events and ask for a 100-word story in return. Continue reading...

Some of it is not especially shocking—I’ll always get the biggest response if I write about sex. But people also seem to love nostalgia—first rock concerts, first kisses, and anything humiliating that happened more than ten years ago.

The distinction I try to make is whether I’m asking the kind of question you bring up drunk at a party and everyone shouts over each other to tell theirs, or the kind of question you see on a grad school application and groan.

Turns out people would much rather detail their biggest dating disaster than proudest professional achievement.

Generally, I’d like to think we really respect and appreciate our readership—they’re our writership too. SMITH is all about blurring the lines between professional and amateur: “Here’s Dave Eggers’s six-word memoir; can we put yours next to it? K, thanks!”  

Finally, Not Quite What I Was Planning is the only book I can think of that has over 800 contributors, but credits each by name, and involves them in the publishing process. The most incredible part of all this has been communicating with all the writers—they’ve been involved from day one.

I’ve heard their backstories, seen their family photos, and collaborated on outreach efforts for OUR book. Every contributor got a free copy and a packet of posters and publicity ideas. In Minnesota, some are planning a six-word slam on their own! There’s a real sense of pride and community—I’m just honored to be part of it.