‘More risk… but more meaningful?’: The Future of The Letters Page
By Arwyn Clayton, Elodie Edwards, Zoe Lidbury and Bernadette O’Hara
Edited by Naomi Adam
This third instalment of The Letters Page’s web team’s reflective series investigates the future of the journal, from potential challenges to ultimate goals.
There is, in editor-in-chief Jon McGregor’s words, ‘a weird tension’ between The Letters Page’s insistence on physical submissions and its simultaneous reliance on digital media. The journal mandates that submissions are sent via post and yet Jon admits that the journal ‘wouldn’t exist’ without the digital tools which are vital for its production. In its first year, The Letters Page insisted on handwritten letters which were then published in the form of downloadable .pdf files, with Jon acknowledging ‘the irony’ of this arrangement. A combination of emails, social media, and this very website are integral to building the journal’s public profile and updating as well as entertaining its audience between publications.
Despite all that technology has to offer, The Letters Page refuses to completely eschew its roots in physical media. Jon admits that he will always be drawn to tangible material over digital communications, observing:
Letters present a wealth of information before they have even been opened; a stamp shows you where it has come from, its weight indicates how long it is.
He acknowledges that producing print copies is ‘more expensive, and more of a risk’, but asserts that it is a risk he is willing to take, as the finished product is ‘more meaningful’. He notes:
Ultimately, you’re less likely to forget a letter on your desk than if it was buried electronically, under a pile of emails.
Today, the increased presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is almost impossible to ignore, even within literature and the arts. The prevalence of generative AI signals a worrying trend that endangers creativity and imagination. Though constant improvements in AI output means it is becoming more difficult to identify, and more tempting to users, Jon remains confident that it poses no significant threat to the journal. He points to a ‘strange smoothness’ in the material produced by these intelligence models, at odds with the goal of writers looking to create something that is beautiful because of its lumps and imperfections.
In the same way that people are drawn to handmade pottery over its cheaper, mass-produced counterparts, Jon hopes that people will stay true to authentic writing for its thumbprints and idiosyncrasies – the inimitable traces of humanity left behind by a writer engrossed in the creative process.
Another challenge faced by The Letters Page is the UK’s rising cost of living. In 2013, when The Letters Page first cast out its net for submissions, a first-class stamp cost 60p. Today, the same stamp will set the humble epistolist back £1.70. Jon admits that he receives fewer postal submissions than he used to, and he doesn’t dispute that this may be due to this inflation which renders stamps a luxury many individuals simply cannot afford. As The Letters Page continues to evolve and grow, the issue of drawing more submissions is paramount, and one of its future goals is to tackle these barriers to accessibility. Jon also encourages readers to consider whether they really need that coffee this morning (a Starbucks espresso is currently priced at £1.80) and might consider writing to him instead…
Can you spare the change for a stamp? The Letters Page team are back in the office, and ready to read your real letters again. We publish stories, essays, poems, memoir, reportage, criticism, recipes, travelogues, and any hybrid forms, so long as they come to us in the form of a letter. We are looking for writers of all nationalities and ages, both established and emerging.
Your letter must be sent in the post, to:
The Letters Page, School of English, University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
See our submissions page for more information.
theletters.page 