Gulf Stream Literary Magazine to host “First Book Journey: Three Publishing Narratives”

Joshua Ceballos/Assistant News Director

 

Students looking to publish their first book who are at a loss in the world of publishing have something to look forward to out of FIU.

On Saturday, Feb. 3, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine will be hosting an event entitled “First Book Journey: Three Publishing Narratives,” a panel in which three speakers who are professors at FIU will talk about their experience releasing their first books. The event will be held at CIC Miami from seven p.m. to ten p.m..

Gulf Stream Magazine is a publication based out of FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus and associated with the Master of Fine Arts program, according to T.C. Jones, the managing editor for Gulf Stream.

Jones said that The Gulf Stream office hires “exclusively” students in the creative writing master’s program at FIU for their publishing work, and students either work on a volunteer basis or for credit in a class called “editing and publishing.”

The Magazine’s primary purpose is to bring together online writing submissions from around the world and finding the best to publish.

“Two or three times a year we’ll release a new issue highlighting the best fiction, poetry, and nonfiction,” said Jones. “We do interviews and book reviews of writers around the country, local and national.”

The First Book Journey event, Jones said, serves a dual purpose: as a fundraiser for Gulf Stream Magazine and as a chance to help students who feel intimidated by the publishing process.

“The publishing world is confusing and it’s hard to navigate without someone showing the way, so what we’re doing here… [is] answering questions that the community has about publishing and relay their stories about how they published their books,” said Jones.

Some of the confusion when it comes to publishing, said Jones, stems from the uncertainty on how to handle publishing poetry as opposed to prose, or nonfiction versus fiction and vice versa. Most people do not know the different procedures that are involved in publishing in different genres, which is why the guest speakers John Dufresne, Julie Marie Wade and Denise Duhamel each have their own experiences from a variety of genres.

Jones stressed that this panel is not only for English or creative writing majors, areas of study normally associated with book writing, but for all majors and even for people outside of FIU.

“We want to reach out to more than just people in English because there are people out there who are in other majors or people who aren’t even in school, like the rest of the community, who also write on the side,” said Jones.

One such student who is interested in writing, is Daniel Inbriaco, sophomore mechanical engineering major.

“I’d really be interested in [writing] a fiction book. I’ve read a lot of fiction, so I’d definitely do something in that genre,” said Inbriaco.

Inbriaco said that in high school he grew up reading fantasy series like “Percy Jackson” and “Fablehaven,” and this has influenced his interest for writing. He also said that he has had some experience in story crafting through role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, in which he wrote out a storyline for other players to follow and experience his own fictional world.

Inbriaco said that it is important for people looking to publish to go to events like the one being hosted by Gulf Stream and he would attend if he had the time outside of his school schedule to actually write, but he’s not sure how helpful it will be.

“I feel that second hand knowledge can only take you so far,” said Inbriaco. “Instead of professors talking about their experience, maybe you should have actual people in the publishing business explaining what they look for and how exactly to publish.”

More information about the event can be found on Gulf Stream’s facebook page or on eventbrite. Free parking will be provided at the location of the panel.

 

Featured Image courtesy of Gulf Stream Literary Magazine