Social Network of Seattle Literary Magazines (Print and Web) by Matt Briggs (orginally appeared in Proximity #3)
T
his past summer I attended a reading in Seattle of two writers I know from publishing in online journals, Kathy Fish and Claudia Smith. I had first heard of Claudia Smith when we both appeared in an issue of The Mississippi Review online a couple of years ago. I first started publishing online in the late 1990s. The world of smallpress, Web-friendly writers was very small at that point, although around this time, many magazines began to communicate primarily with contributors using e-mail. Although online literary magazines have always been more accessible than print ones, it wasn’t until after 2001 that the quantity and quality began to dwarf print magazines. For the longest time, though, writers regarded the world of print magazines as somehow more real (more legit) than Web journals. A volume arrives in the mailbox smelling of ink and paper. The volume has heft. Before I published any stories at all, I volunteered to work on a magazine in Seattle in the early 1990s that was published by an erratic woman in Fremont, a semibohemian neighborhood then known best for a Soviet-era missile attached to a thrift shop and a biker bar named the Buckaroo. Although I read submissions, the majority of the magazine was made from the writing of the woman’s friends in Seattle. In addition to sending work to each other’s journals, many of these writers published their own work. Not only did they occasionally appear bound together, but because of their closeness, they were working together. The pile of submissions to her journal smelled. One story had been submitted by a pipe smoker in Bellingham. The fragrant sheets had been typed on a typewriter rather than printed. The type hammers left impressions on the paper. Every story and poem that was accepted for publication had
to be retyped into MS Word 4.0, printed, edited on paper, and corrected. The editor took the novel step of having the entire book digitally typeset (that was the phrase used) in a page composition program. We took the laser printed sheet to a copy mart. The cost of production seemed excessive to me. We spent a long afternoon eating pizza and folding and binding the journals. After it was finished, we drove around Seattle to bookstores and newsagents and gave them five or ten copies on commissions. A week later, we drove around Seattle again to staple posters on telephone poles and community bulletin boards. All of this physical activity culminated in readings where the contributors congregated in a room to listen to each other read their submissions and then afterward eat, gossip, and kibitz about grants and writing workshops. Literary magazines could be found, as they are still found at independent bookstores and local newsagents. But these were the only locations. Yahoo! much less Google did not exist. At this time, a journal seemed an intensely physical object, even though the act of writing itself was something that happened out of sight. A magazine was a result of physical closeness. Even though these magazines included contributions from elsewhere, the limits of community in the 1990s dictated a preference for physical nearness. Most of the magazines in Seattle in the 1990s did include a much larger number, it seemed to me, of contributors who claimed Seattle, Tacoma, or Portland as their home than they did Boston, Scranton, or Charleston. In the late 1990s, though, Frederick Barthleme, the long time editor of The Mississippi Review, was interviewed in the Atlantic Unbound about his experiments with his magazine.
Barthleme said: “My sense is that the Web is a gun. It’s all potential, what we do with it; it’s a device, a system, a ‘site’ in the linguistic sense, a prospect. How we use it over the next decade or two will define it.” —www.theatlantic.com/unbound/digicult/dc9702/barthelm.htm Before the first dot-com bubble, the Web was wild. The now codified genres of Web forum, blog, Social Media Site, Newspaper Web Site, and so on did not yet exist. Just about every single site offered its own user interface using various permutations of simple hypertext markup, graphics carefully optimized to load quickly over dial-up modems, and sometimes interactive JavaScript elements. The Mississippi Review was one of the first, if not the first, oldstyle literary magazine to begin publishing original content online. By 1997 when Barthleme called the Web a gun, he regarded the review’s Web site as the center of his publication effort. The print magazine was a product of the vitality of the online work. Most magazines, however, used the Web as a kind of online flyer for the print magazine. In the ten years since, however, it has become unusual for newly launched literary magazines to have any kind of print vehicle. A generation of writers has started to write, publish, and even find a modest audience online. Claudia Smith, for instance, although she attended graduate school in the early 1990s, began to think about online publishing by participating in the story sharing Web forum at Zoetrope, and then began to participate in a rich economy of densely-linked Web sites and lit mags such as Hobart, Pindeldyboz, Eyeshot, Opium, Failbetter, and the SmokeLong Quarterly. I met Dave Clapper, the publisher of SmokeLong Quarterly at a reading in Seattle. I mentioned that it was good to meet the editor of a Seattle magazine. Dave
seemed amused at this characterization of his magazine. He said that SmokeLong was only on the Web. Seattle is just one point among many. It was hardly the point that determined the identity of the magazine. He noted that SmokeLong included contributors from all over the world and readers from all over the world. He pointed out, for example, that some students in Argentina had written responses to a story by Claudia Smith. SmokeLong, he said, is not a Seattle magazine. I realized in talking to him that, well, it was a Seattle magazine in some ways because here we were in Seattle talking about his magazine. But the Paris Review could be a Seattle magazine by the same measure. The physicality of literary magazines which was something that was a given in 1997 when the Atlantic published Barthleme’s observations about the potential of the Web had become just one aspect in a far richer economy of literary transactions. What was often physical proximity has given way to other modes of connection. I wondered then, what the relationship between some clearly Seattle magazines and the Web looked like? I decided to map the social network of four Seattle magazines over a three-year period. Unlike SmokeLong, I wanted to pick magazines whose editors clearly identified the magazine as belonging in the context of Seattle or the Pacific Northwest, even if they included contributors from all over the world. I picked the Raven Chronicles, Pontoon/Poetry on Wheels, and The Crab Creek Review. All four magazines stuck to a more or less regular publication cycle and I could easily discover information about their print contributors from their Web sites. I realized, too, that these magazines all predated the wide adoption of the Internet. My assumption in gathering this information was that each print magazine formed a kind of temporary community or social network. My study would have three parts. First, I would map the relationships of individual contributors to the four magazines over a three-year period. Second, I would collect Web forum and blog posts regarding
the magazines over a six-month period, map the domains where relevant posts occurred, and then expand the domains to identify the online context of the conversation related to the four magazines. This was because my source for the data (BlogPulse) only retained the last six months of data. Finally, I would compare the two networks to discover any similarities or contrasts.
this is what I found
F
rom 2003 to 2008, 454 individual authors published 552 articles, including poems and stories. From March to September 2008, there were only 31 posts on Web site and forums related to the four magazines. The print network is very open to voices new to the network. The majority of articles were written by authors who had only published a single time. 80 percent of the authors wrote 70 percent of the articles. However, a fragment of the overall population of authors contributed a disproportionally large number of articles. 2 percent of the authors contributed 12 percent of the articles. This was intriguing, but I lack any evidence about what might be going on. Are a small number very active? Or are a small number in control of publication outlets? Without further investigation it is hard to say. Floating Bridge Press provided an accessible point of entry for first-time writers seeking publication. Pontoon was central to the Print Network,and was home to most of the most highly-linked authors, but also had slightly more than half of its articles written by firsttime authors. Crab Creek Review didn’t contain any of the most prolific authors. The magazine had the highest ratio of authors with single publication compared to authors with multiple contributions. Each magazine published about the same number of articles over a three-year period.
Authors who were central to the Print Network were not central to the Web Network. In reverse, the Web Network had only a few shared authors with the Print Network. These authors were often far more prominent on the Web then in Print. Unlike the Print Network where a small number of authors held a disproportionate number of connections, the distribution of connections was spread throughout the Web Network. A cluster of sites had a lot of connections. Another cluster of about the same size had a modest number of connections. Some of the sites had no connections at all. Unlike the winner-take-all distribution in the Print Network, there was a fairly uniform distribution of connections in the Web Network. For example, nearly as many sites had around 64 inbound links as had four inbound or zero links. The Web Network reflected the Print Network in terms of prominent key terms, place names such as Seattle and Washington, and the network composition. The Web Network magnified the nature of the Print Network. The Pontoon/Floating Bridge Related Discussion was far larger and in fact nearly subsumed The Crab Creek Review and Raven Chronicles networks. Pontoon was very close to the very active, densely-linked conversation of poets online. Both the Crab Creek Review and Raven Chronicles were remote from this conversation. I should also note that unlike the Print Network, joining in the Web Network is voluntary rather than requiring a submission. To become a contributor, a new author merely posts a blog and links to the network. .
Note about the social network maps Each social network map shows an issue of a magazine as a grey circle with the name of the magazine and a much larger circle around all of the contributors. Each magazine is a consistent color: pink (The Raven Chronicles), green (The Crab Creek Review), yellow (Pontoon), and Blue (Poetry on Wheels). Individual authors are names. An arrow indicates the author’s contribution to a magazine. A contributor with multiple publications will have multiple magazines pointed at her. Thus, in this context, she is highly-linked, or central to the Print network. If you want to spread a rumor, she is a good person to contact.
Dan Thompson
James Bertolino Scott T. Starbuck
Seattle Literary Magazines
Yussef El Guindi Joanie Stangeland Laraine Hong
Melinda Giese Ellie Mathews
Paul Backstrom Mary Delahanty
Greg Bamford
Tracy Huddleson
Richard Beck Morgan Weiler Carla Evans Arne Phil
Mark Burns
James Knisely
I−Ching Lao D. Lothar Pietz
Mark Taksa Karen Hausdoerffer
Genevieve Johnson Linda Watts
Robert McAfee Tamara M. Evans
Wheels Metro Transit
Don Hansbrough Kathryn Bailey Xander Fehsenfeld
Jeannine Hall Gailey
Marina Pita
David L. Whited Ann E. Gerik e
Ruth Yarro w Erin Bogarte Luis Bolanos
Christine Deavel
Raven Chronicles Vol13 No1
David Whited Brian McGuigan
Nathan Whitin g
Elizabeth Alexander
7 Elizabeth DeMatteo
Bryan
Gyorgy Faludy
Dolly Morse
Raven Chronicles Vol12No2
Jody Ali
Cai Qijiao
Robert Gregory Natasha K. Moni
Kelli Russell Agodon
Peter Pereira Anna Zola Miller
Mary Ann Mayer
Mike Lipstock
Ralph La Charity
Christopher T. Hunter Judith Roche Cathy Ruiz
D.L. Birchfiel
David Dintenfass
Margaret McLeod
Kirsten Smith
Belle Randall
Sandra Meade
Dayna Mari
Sarah Broudy M. Nelida Mendoza Catherine Spangler
Phonda Pettit
klipschutz
Robert Ward
Elspeth Taylor Rob Brown
Phebe Jewell
Kate Johnson Molly Blair
Ariana Kelly
Lawrence Matsuda
Howard Winn
John Haines
Deborah Berg
Nathaniel Kent Leatham Catharine Hoffman Beyer Roberto Carlos Ascalon Madeline DeFrees Paula Jones Gardiner Thom Schramm Elizabeth Knaster Molly Curran Michael Bonacci Betty Jane Sparenberg R. McNaughton Phillips Angela Omulepu Alissa Resnick Laurie Sutherland Sarah Gallaghar Clea Allington Jennifer Drake−Thorton Christine Eisen Devona Lahrman Sharon Carter Rebecca Loudon Lynn Miller Steven Quig Ted Lord Taylor Roberts Andrew LaBonte Patricia Coburn Sheila Bender
Matt Briggs
C.P. Mangel
Christopher J. Jarmick Ilya Kaminsky Norman Lock Cecelia Hagen
Yasmin Dalisayes
Mabelle Labitoria
Janee J. Baugher
Ralph La Rosa
Richie Swanson
Pesha Gertler
Leslie E. Basel
Print Network
Marion Kimes
Andrew Langer
Oliver Rice
Paul Hunter Jeffery Bahr
3
Jesse Minkert Carolyne Wright
Kathleen Alcala Elizabeth Smither Wendy Call Megan A. Volpert
Walter Merce
Martha Grover Charlie Burks Jeff Crandall Ann Batchelor Hursey Sue Pace Cameron K. Gearen Stine Loughlin Nicole Blake Andre Bresee Robin Shear Claudia Mauro L.E. Conelison 2 Derek Sheffield Lois Rosen Jazmine L. Daley John Olson Suzanne Edison Mary Lou Sanelli Donna Miscolta Larry Laurence Craig Van Riper George Fortier Gaston Madrigal Bryson Good Greta Bill Yake Joan Fiset Mary Alexandra Agner Bruce Barcklow Janet Edwards Susan Rich Martha Silano Tina Kelle y Michael Diebert Sandra Graff Sara Wainscott Joe Max Emminger David Massengill Melanie Noel David Bolduc Kaye Linden Raven Chronicles Amber GrahamErin Jane Miller Michael G. Hickey Dana Elkun Vol14No1 Matthew Fluharty Polly Buckingham Timothy Kelly Mercedes Lawry Elizabeth Bigelow John Burgess Shon R. Hopwood Dean Brink Edward Beatty S.D. Tullis Branford Tice Barbara Lovell Tucker Liske Sibyl James Chavawn Kelley Vera G Peggy Sturdivant Thomas Juvik Julie Gerrard Larry Matsuda Annette Spaulding−Convy David Gravender Sigrun Susan Lane Mark Vannier Paul Nelson Kathleen Roberts Corrina Wycoff 1 Elizabeth Myhr Crab Creek Gary Greaves Joe Mills Natalie Olsen Frances Mccue Review 2004 Michael Spence David Matlin Allan Peterson Nancy Pagh Joseph Green John L. Wright Bill Teitelbaum Robert Necker Steve Potter Michael Hureaux Ronda Broatch Norman Goodwi n Anna Balint 5 Laurie Blauner Stephen Mcdonald Joan Swift Patrick Carrington Alice Derry Mark Fitzgerald Patrick Forgette Martin Marriott William Gallien A.K. Allin Chris Dahl Emily S. Warren Thomas Hubbard Ace Boggess Michel Englebert Jonathan Shapiro David Caserio Jeannette Allée Stephen Thomas Susan Casey Molly Norris Priscilla Long 8 Cal Kinnear Jules Supervielle Susan Landgraf Richard Widerkehr Glenda Cassutt John Ronan Annette M. Rodriguez Jeanne Lohmann Stephen Roxborough Lorri Lambert−Smith Zach Savich Julene T. Weaver Roger Midget t Judith Skillman Abigail Howel l Cody Walker Erin M. Fristad Robert Perchan Lucas Howell Maya Zeller Jess Bacal Bruce Holber t Pontoon Scott Tucker Karen Franklin Shannon Bor g Ak Allin Cathy Ulrich Raven Chronicles Steven Dold Tatyana Mishel 10 Gregory Hischak 2005 Stewart Sanders Allen Braden Vol12No1 Eli Richardson Jean Kane 61 Marjorie Manwaring Melissa Holmes Deborah Bacharach Sunil Hariani Jennifer Bullis Alice Derry Todd Fredson Bethany Rei d Rick Kemp Larry Crist Laura Bernstein Rebecca Meredith Mark Spitzer Brandon Shimoda Paul Grant 4 Kevin Miller Brian Goedde Lana Hechtman Ayers Rebecca Clar k Diane Elayne Dees Joshua Marie Wilkinson Alex Flenniken Knute Skinne Sally Albis o John Thompson A.E. Swaney Pontoon Marjorie Rommel Elizabeth St. Loui s Clifford Paul Fetters Ladd Thomas Holroyd Maureen McQuerry Deborah J. Taffa 2007 Terri Cohlene Janet Norman Knox Crab Creek Sharon Reitman Alicia Hokanson John S. Weeren Scott Condon Review 2005 Michelle Patto n John Glowney Philip Sorenson Thomas Aslin Tommy Zurhellen Michael Schei n Alan Chong Lau Pontoon 9 Erin Malone Rachel Harrington Laura Snyder Janet Sekijima Laura Sheahen 2008 Kayt Hoch Adriana Grant Michael Dylan Welch Holly Hughes John Whalen Alice Pettway Rodger Mood Carlos Martinez Rhonda Broatch John Akins Johnny Horton Joanne Barrie Lynn Donald Levering Katharine Whitcomb Lightsey Darst Thomas Pfau Wendy Wisner John Sangster Mike Dillo n Mark Simpson Stefani Farris Megan Snyder−Camp Alicia Hokanson Sean Brendan Brown Felicia Gonzalez Chris Dusterhof f Jeremy Voigt Dave Rea Joseph Powell John Bowlby Gerry McFarland Ronda K. Broatch Monica Schley Elana Zaiman Katy McKinney Donna Mae Brown Nina Bayer Joshua Parkinson Jeremy Halinen Rosanne Olson Rob Jacques Iris Gribble−Neal Timothy Green Martha Clarkson Kathleen Flenniken Thomas Gribbl eGabrielle Dean Yago Said Cura Patrick Loafman Carol Gordon Emily Benson Mark J. Burns Natasha Kochicheril Moni Leonard Orr Anne Fraser Tom Chandler Marc Bookman Daniel Creason Bartlett Arthur Ginsberg Deborah Mersky Elizabeth Trotter Amy Schrader Kent Fortin Emily Bedar d Ann Spiers Jeff Vande Zande Angela Bal l Elisabeth Murawski Cora Goss−Grubbs Crab Creek Michael Bradburn−Ruster Review 2003 Holly Thomas Anita Feng Michael Jones Thomas Walton Mayda Rumberg Linda Malnack Stephanie Lenox Laura Gamache Kristin Dahlquist
D.S. Butterworth Kenneth Frost Fernand Roqueplan
Stephen Frech
Steve Edwards
Bern Mulvey
Chris Anderson
Ryan G. Van Cleave Will Holman
David Morse
Nile Lanning E.G. Burrows
Xi Murong
Jianqing Zheng
Justin Courter
Jaime Cur l Lisa Roullard Jose Luis Puerto
Tom C. Hunley
Stuart Silverman J. Marie Wilkinson Daniel Stewart David Dalessandro
Michael Krebs Amanda Laughtland Joannie Kervran Stangeland Francesca Preston
William Meyer, Jr.
themanwhocouldntblog.blogspot.com
Seattle Literary Magazines
seedcake.com/mattbriggs
Web Network
nursefusion.blogspot.com worldpoetrypress.com
andyhat.livejournal.com
mickogrady.blogspot.com
Raven Chronicles
faerye.net blog.myspace.com/jesse_minkert badger.livejournal.com
jlundberg.livejournal.com
christinalovin.com rope−a−dope−press.blogspot.com m
alissanielsen.com
semiurbancartography.com
postmfa08.blogspot.com stevehalle.blogspot.com tygerburning.blogspot.com
Crab Creek Review
crabcreekreview.blogspot.com seattlepoet.blogspot.com
robertpeake.com blog.myspace.com ancals.blogspot.com paperworlds.blogspot.com leevilehto.net tsetso.blogspot.com blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com
centrum.org mayodeleheath.blogspot.com
stickpoetsuperhero.blogspot.com
m
mojocrat.blogspot.com annyballardini.blogspot.com
webbish6.com m
bluepositive.blogspot.com greatamericanpinup.blogspot.com impeachbushcoalition.blogspot.com cacklingjackal.blogspot.com sethabramson.blogspot.com dumbfoundry.blogspot.com briancampbell.blogspot.com blog.32poems.com m
garylmcdowell.blogspot.com m
poe−query.blogspot.com wordcage.blogspot.com
lornadice.blogspot.com/
blog.boxcarpoetry.com
brianwithani.com
mindful−ramblings.blogspot.com
shootingpoets.blogspot.com m poets.org scoplaw.blogs.com m burnbush.blogspot.com
musecrafters.com m ronsilliman.blogspot.com
neoalertz.blogspot.com
pugnaciouspinoy.blogspot.com
m
itsaboutimewriters.blogspot.com gefiltereview.blogspot.com
lornadice.blogspot.com m landmammal.blogspot.com m kmontesano.blogspot.com m dianelockward.blogspot.com
technorati.com collinkelley.blogspot.com m joeyquinton.typepad.com poetryhut.com m jakeadamyork.com m bloggingpoet.squarespace.com
theunreliablenarrator.net
ofkells.blogspot.com
/ brent−goodman.blogspot.com
thevirtualworld.blogspot.com
paulguest.blogspot.com m williamvandegrift.blogspot.com
keycitypublictheatre.org wildpoetryforum.com whimfetishandblogorrhea.blogspot.com
m
allofnothing.blogspot.com
reggieh.blogspot.com
samofthetenthousandthings.blogspot.com
shootingpoets.blogspot.comdiaryofapolluter.blogspot.com
anythingbutpoetry.blogspot.com
utahpoet.blogspot.com
audiopoetry.wordpress.com sphere.com m tarotofthepomegranate.com
areyououtsidethelines.blogspot.com
m
boxofbirds.blogspot.com
danversbaillieu.blogspot.com pearlsongpress.com
emergingwriters.typepad.com debrabrochin.com m eahelfgott.blogspot.com
madkane.com
montgomerymaxton.blogspot.com splintering.blogspot.com
popstarpoetry.blogspot.com
premium−t.blogspot.com sherylluna.blogspot.com
Floating Bridge Press
geocities.com/rgombert
rjgibson.blogspot.com pistola32.blogspot.com tgaps.net pinkshoesinmymind.blogspot.com
3by3by3.blogspot.com
ronslate.com m
firsttumblewords.blogspot.com allmypoems.com rci.rutgers.edu
Print Network Table - Top 20 Authors (Magazines) Rank
Author
1 2 3 4 5 6
Elizabeth Myhr Derek Sheffield Kathleen Alcala Kevin Miller Laurie Blauner Marjorie Manwaring Paul Hunter Cal Kinnear Erin Malone Gregory Hischak Jeff Crandall John Glowney John Olson Johnny Horton Judith Roche Martha Silano Mercedes Lawry Michael Spence Priscilla Long Ronda Broatch
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Crab Creek Review 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 -
Pontoon 1 1 1 2 3 1 3 1 3 2 1 2 2 2
Raven Chronicles 4 1 4 1 1 -
Wheels
3 1 2 3
1 1 1 -
3 1 1 1 -
1 1 1
Table - Connections (Magazine) Counts 5 Publications 4 Publications 3 Publications 2 Publications 1 Publication
Authors 1 6 13 50 384
Percentage 0.22% 1.32% 2.86% 11.01% 84.58%
Number 46 40 466
Percentage 8.33% 7.25% 84.42%
Table - Genre (Magazine) Genre Essay Fiction Poetry
1 1 -
Grand Total 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Web Network Top 18 Domains (Network) Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Domain blog.myspace.com crabcreekreview.blogspot.com www.brianwithani.com www.centrum.org thevirtualworld.blogspot.com andyhat.livejournal.com blog.myspace.com/jesse_minkert floatingbridgepress.blogspot.com itsaboutimewriters.blogspot.com newversenews.blogspot.com northwindarts.org paperworlds.blogspot.com seattlepoet.blogspot.com semiurbancartography.com tygerburning.blogspot.com www.alissanielsen.com www.seedcake.com/mattbriggs www.worldpoetrypress.com
Total 5 5 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Table Top 10 Domains by Links Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Magazine Floating Bridge Press Crab Creek Review Raven Chronicles Floating Bridge Press Raven Chronicles Floating Bridge Press Crab Creek Review Crab Creek Review Floating Bridge Press Raven Chronicles
Domain thevirtualworld.blogspot.com www.centrum.org www.seedcake.com/mattbriggs newversenews.blogspot.com www.alissanielsen.com www.brianwithani.com www.brianwithani.com tygerburning.blogspot.com northwindarts.org andyhat.livejournal.com
Links 253 112 85 81 61 61 61 38 24 19
Table Connections (Network) Counts 256 Links 128 Links 64 Links 32 links 16 links 8 links 4 links 0 links
Domains 1 1 5 2 2 0 5 7
Percentage 4.35% 4.35% 21.74% 8.70% 8.70% 0.00% 21.74% 30.43%
Total 4 12 2
Percentage 22.22% 66.67% 11.11%
Genre (Network) Genre mixed poetry prose Tools Used for this Article
I used freely available and mostly open source tools to collect data and analyze it for this article. Blog and Forum Data: Blog Metrics -- www.blogpulse.com Word Cloud: Tag Clowd -- www.wordle.net Network Mapping: yED -- www.yworks.com Number Crunching: MS Excel -- www.microsoft.com
Magazine Details
The Raven Chronicles
The Raven Chronicles was founded as a multicultural journal, but unlike many journals dedicated specifically to a specific ethnic identity, the aesthetic of the Raven Chronicles was open to writers working in mainstream traditions. Part of this had to do with the magazine’s close association with the Red Sky Poetry Theater, a loosely run open mic that like any nerdy kid quickly got to know any new kid or poet who’d come to Seattle. In the late 1990s, the magazine reaffirmed to its commitment to cultural diversity, locality, and also openness. Bosche’s statement said simply: “The Raven Chronicles publishes work, which reflects the cultural diversity of the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and other areas of America.” The magazine publishes fiction, poetry, recipes, essays, and book reviews. The physical magazine up until 2008 was released as a thick, saddle stitched eight and a half magazine issue. Earlier this year the magazine announced that it will begin publishing online only. The magazine was the only one of the four journals to include original online content. The magazine has been published since 1991, when it was founded by Kathleen Alcala, Philip Red Eagle, and Bosche. Bosche has remained as a managing editor, and many Seattle writers have served as editors including John Olson, Elizabeth Myhr, and Jody Aliesen. The Raven Chronicles and Pontoon where essentially tied in terms of the overall volume of published articles in a three-year period. The Raven Chronicles published 149 articles from 20062008. Floating Bridge’s Pontoon anthology published 148. The Raven Chronicles includes a mix of poetry, essay, fiction, and was the only magazine of the three to include book reviews. Thus two staff members of the magazine, Elizabeth Myhr and Kathleen Alcala, appeared in the list of the top authors due to their contributions of book reviews and essays to the editorial content of their magazine. These two authors were in the top 2 percent of overall publications. Two-thirds of the authors in the Raven Chronicles had only appeared in the magazine a single time. This indicates the magazine was relatively open to new voices, certainly more so than Pontoon, but not as much as The Crab Creek Review.
Pontoon
Pontoon is an annual anthology published by Floating Bridge Press. The press describes their mission to recognize and promote the work of Washington State poets, through an annual Poetry Chapbook Award; the production of archival-quality chapbooks, anthologies, and broadsides; as well as community poetry readings. The press publishes only Washington State Residences. Floating Bridge has been publishing works since 1997. Their anthology is a handsome, perfect bound volume that usually features a fine art image on a white background. Several well-known local poets have or current work for the press including Peter Pereira (whose last two books have been released by Copper Canyon Press), Kathleen Flenniken (winner of the 2005 Prairie Schooner Prize), and Ron Starr (author of A Map by Dim Lamp). The anthology published about as many poems in three years as The Raven Chronicles published articles. Pontoon was the least likely to publish first time authors. Fourteen of the top authors appeared in the magazine. Nearly half of the contributions of all authors who had published more than a single article were contributors to Pontoon. Pontoon though was had the lowest percentage of new writers, with only 54 percent of the anthology containing authors who had appeared in the network a single time. So while it might be more difficult to gain access to Pontoon, once a writer appeared in Pontoon these authors become widely published in Seattle literary magazines. In contrast, Poetry on Wheels, also published by Floating Bridge Press, had nearly the highest number of new authors. Consequently, Poetry on Wheels had the fewest citations among the most prolific authors in the space. Eight-two percent of the contributors to Poetry on Wheels only contributed a single poem to the anthology and did not appear in other magazines.
The Crab Creek Review
Crab Creek Review has been a long-standing staple of Seattle literary magazines outlasting many of the magazines established in Seattle in the early 1980s including SkyViews, Bellowing Arc, and Fine Madness. The magazine was originally printed on newsprint and saddle stitched. It often features Seattle writers writing in what has loosely been described as the Northwest Mystic School. In the mid-1990s the magazine changed editorial staff. To mark the change, the magazine also changed format to a perfect bound, glossy covered review often with a woodblock image on a flat color. Although the Crab Creek Review was never explicitly a Seattle magazine, the new magazine began to noticeably writers from all over the country. Almost all of the editorial staff appeared in our list of authors, and many, such as Ronda Broatch, were among the top authors. The Crab Creek Review contained the lowest number of articles published by the most prolific authors in the space. Most authors, 81 percent, published a single article in the review and didn’t publish elsewhere. Furthermore, among the most published contributors, Crab Creek Review only had 27 citations out of 168, or 16 percent. In contrast, Pontoon had 42 percent and The Raven Chronicles 30 percent.