Senior Editor and Publisher, Carve Magazine

The literary journal is a dying species. Big publishers wonder why that unknown mid-lister, Jane Austen, hasn't been dropped yet. If the book isn't dead, surely its days are numbered.

Not quite, according to Melvin Sterne, editor/publisher of the electronic "Carve Magazine" and Mild Horse Press. The book and literary magazines are far from dead; they're just being redefined. It is true that publication success is a matter of economics and not just quality of writing, a fact of life at any time. When monks and clerics hand-painted and copied books on parchment, few could afford them. The invention of the press made books more affordable for more people. The same situation exists today where postage, printing and paper costs are making the hardcopy literary product more expensive and driving even the oldest literary magazines into oblivion.

The answer to the problem (the 21st century equivalent of the new printing press) may well be electronic publishing. As an example, Melvin said that "Carve Magazine", which is now free to all readers, could afford to pay staff salaries and authors and even make a profit if subscribers paid a mere $5/year to read the magazine online. In fact, he predicted that free online subscriptions will be a thing of the past within five to ten years when electronic publication becomes the norm--and the hope of good authors.

Born in Georgia and raised in west Texas, Melvin Sterne first attended college in 1973, but dropped out to "see the world." For 20+ years he traveled the west working union construction with the Boilermakers and the Ironworkers, with odd jobs here and there. He returned to college in 1999 to pursue his life-long interest in writing and teaching. His poetry and short stories have won several awards. His publication credits include: Cold (short story) and Last Call (poem) published in the 1999 Ficton Springs Review; Ghost of Elvis, and Snow in the Desert (poems) published in the Spring 2000 edition of interSECTIONS; The Couch (short story) published in Amarillo-Bay Magazine; Fault Lines (short story) published in Il Posse Review. Visit Carve magazine at www.carvezine.com.