Peter Cole is an amazing dude and an amazing publisher who does great things for both the online and print indie community in general. I feel like this honest interview is a good time to point out that doing what we do, writing, editing, reading, publishing, is hard.
Q (Nicolle Elizabeth for Fictionaut): Hey Peter. I see you have a Keyhole group going on here on Fictionaut. Explain yourself to us. What is Keyhole (and its counterparts), and what does the group hope to do. Whats your deal, man?
A (Peter Cole): Keyhole is not much more than an assortment of other people’s work. Keyhole is a pimp.
Q: Are you going to apply your various roles as reader and editor to steer the group or are you going to watch what I would call, the Internet ants under a picnic basket theory? (I love ants, I want a tattoo of an ant.)
A: I can’t figure out what to do with the group. For one I’m hesitant to talk to people. The Internet is the worst place to talk to people. I like clicking Like on Facebook and leaving it at that. And aside from getting people to add stories to the group, the only other option appears to be the forum. I do think that groups were a good thing for Fictionaut to add, sending the users out to journals.
Q: What are your thoughts on internetting in general? (And specifically, if you want — I’ve got all day, I have no life.)
A: The Internet is a good way to make things happen. Also a good way to get hate mail because I’m not as fast as the Internet–there’s just not enough time for everything on the Internet. I try very hard to only use it for pressing tasks, and then ignore it.
Q: In what ways if any have you found Fictionaut helpful, interesting, or neither etc.
A: I do hope to find new writers on Fictionaut, and I have accepted a few stories through it already from authors I already knew. Some contributors have added their stories to the group, which is a nice way to give samples of what we like to Fictionaut users without having to do anything myself. Any outlet to connect publishers with authors is a good thing.
Q: If you had to choose chewing your arm out of a bear trap or explaining how difficult it is to run a non profit web literary journal to Kim Jong Il, knowing you may not make it out, which would you go for?
A: I’d be more likely to survive the bear trap. Kim Jong Il might put me out of my misery.
Nicolle Elizabeth checks in with Fictionaut Groups every Friday.
Nov 22nd, 2009 at 10:14 am
Why am I not offended by the implications of Peter as pimp?