Poetry Chaikhana Forum

[silent_lotus]

How Competition Kills Craft

by Andrew Oldham

http://www.viewfromheremagazine.com/2009/11/how-competition-kills-craft.html

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How Competition KIlls Craft
by Andrew Oldham

http://www.viewfromheremagazine.com/2009/11/how-competition-kills-craft.html

This article is the first step to generate an open discussion on UK Publishing; whether to embrace a new ethos of co-operation or to continue with the principals of competition. This debate must be held as we move into new technologies, new social networks, new ways of selling, reading and writing, in a bid to connect directly to an audience. The old argument of art for arts sake is lost, withdrawal of ACE funding, the move towards sustainable business models all dictate this. Writing, reading and publishing is now, more than ever, a global commodity thanks to the internet. The internet is built in one ethos, co-operation. Years before the web became a place to sell books, writers and poets where using it to improve their work, at such places as, ABCTales, East of the Web and Poetry Circle. Now, UK publishers are starting to see the web as another way to sell and compete. Think. What does competition mean to you? Competition provides choice. Wrong.

If you want proof of the failure of competition look at your own high street, the same names, same supermarkets and out of town shopping malls that could be in any UK city. It is a cheap lie that competition creates choice; it kills craft and creates carbon copies. Now, a whole new generation of writers and poets want to be next Terry Pratchett or JK Rowling. Rarely do they want to be the first of something new.

Competition undermines the independent publisher, reader and retailer. There is the old tired argument that the independent bookshop cannot compete with the big chains and this is transferred to the independent publisher too. Wrong. Stop thinking in a competitive manner, it is not about competing, it is about providing a choice to the reader. There are ways in which you can connect with the reader, and still sell.

A number of independent publishers have embraced the spirit of co-operation. Comma Press (Manchester) are now producing films by pairing poets and film makers together and connecting with new audiences. TTA Press (Cambridgeshire) is out at the conventions, festivals and has a connection to their readers via forums and podcasts (Transmissions from beyond). Route Publishing (Pontefract) are tying in with successful films (Looking for Eric), launching podcasts, forums and blogs. All our regional based UK Publishers. All have a National and Global identity by connecting, co-operating and working with readers.

It is important to remember that competition and promotion are two different things. Being competitive is a fruitless past time. Fifteen years of promoting reading and publishing has taught me this. I have sat on panels at Literature festivals and at local libraries, under the banner of how to get published. There is a constant question, why them, not me? You have already provided your own answer.

I have not met any publishers that are alike, not one editor, not one reader, not one poet or writer but for some reason many feel they must be in competition with each other, believing they have or are the next Terry Pratchett or JK Rowling. Wrong. Here is the universal truth if you believe this, they do not exist, there is only one of them and you’re not them. The upside is that you are the only you, now celebrate this and write like you.

Yes, it is true that publishers compare their writers and poets with other writers and poets, this is promotion. It helps readers it doesn’t help writers or poets. It really doesn’t even help the publisher. Readers are clever than that.

Then there is silly competitive part in UK Publishing, selling. Big chains force down book prices, generate figures on how much one cheap book is out selling another cheap book and big publishers have a knee jerk reaction and produce the next Dan Brown. Wrong.

Unfortunately, competition and knee jerk reactions are creeping into the Independents too. In 2003, I founded Incwriters with the aim of bringing publishers and readers together. In six years I have seen doors close for new and established writers, poets, publishers but the choice for readers has exploded because of the web. This cannot be sustained. A reason for this is competition. Publishers are running scared. Publishers cannot afford to take chances. With the death of chance goes co-operation. Incwriters has set up Save Our Presses to turn back this tide, bringing together over thirty publishers who want to co-operate and take a chance.

Not every UK Publisher is mean spirited or co-operative but the growth of the web, of social networks will mean readers are more connected with publishers, writers and poets than ever before. It will reveal those who are truly committed to excellence in publishing and those who are just looking to make money quick. True.

Publishers who seek to dominate the market are barking up the wrong tree. They are over compensating for a sense of inadequacy.

Unfortunately, inadequacy spreads easily and is the root of all our competitive natures. Inadequacy is easily transferred between publishers, readers, writers and poets.

Readers feel inadequate that they are not well read compared to other readers. Poets rage at why their poems are rejected while another poet they know is always published. Writers seethe at not being having that big but simple idea that Terry Pratchett or JK Rowling had. We call this competitive spirit. Wrong. Inadequate spirit. True.

The idea that we are in competition with each other must be guarded against, laughed at. Competition kills craft, kills co-operation and could kill the web.

Publishers, poets, writers and readers must celebrate the individuality of themselves and others. Publishers, poets, writers need to accept that readers don’t really care if you’re the next someone, they want to know if you have something to say.

Just remember next time you walk down your high street past all those names that can be found in any UK city, competition leads to monopoly, monopoly leads to no choice, which leads to apathy, apathy leads to frustration, frustration leads destruction. Just to be global.

You can do that by switching on your computer and opening a social network.

Andrew Oldham is the Director of Incwriters (www.incwriters.co.uk). He is an award winning poet and writer. You can continue the debate at Incwriters or through these pages. the View From Here is an active member of Save Our Presses.
_________________
" May your voice be loving enough to silence your own fears." ..... silent lotus

[Michael Firewalker]

VERY cool, silent lotus!!!

I am so glad someone is finally SAYING this!

I HATE competitiveness, and have refused it always and gone my own way...

don't care about "success"...

don't care what anyone else thinks about my work...bless them for whatever they think &/or say or don't...

DO care about having the freedom to write my own way, take my own time doing it, and doing with it whatever I choose to do with it whenever and however I choose to do it...

amen...




mikey

[narinder bhandari]

[quote]

Publishers, poets, writers and readers must celebrate the individuality of themselves and others. Publishers, poets, writers need to accept that readers don’t really care if you’re the next someone, they want to know if you have something to say.

[ quote]

ah,

just to be oneself

to love the self

and be , just be ........................


AUM

[annaruiz]

However, competition does hone our craft, our skills, in the truest sense.

We have allowed competition to become another *bad* word.

As always, the nature of competition depends on what we do, (or not) and what we say speaks volumes to different disintegrated parts of ourselves. That's how we *selectively listen* and hear only what our minds allow to enter the sphere and space of our being.

An integrated heart/mind connects to the essence, here there is no competition, just a mutuality born from a genuine desire to share, including the parts of us we have *disowned*.

Light of awareness is tantamount.



~A
_________________
“Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.” ~ Jayne Goodall

[Dick]

Competition with detachment,
no fear of losing, no shame in that,
no gloating pride in winning,
only training in playing, enjoying
the beauty of that.

Dick

[annaruiz]

Amen. However, a *bravo!* or a non-reaction is not entirely *detachment*,
is it?

Then detachment must be from *detachment*.





~A
_________________
“Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.” ~ Jayne Goodall

[Dick]

Hi Anna,

I take detachment to be freedom to train and enjoy fully. In that sense, detachment is anything but uninvolved. When I'm feeling detached in composing a poem, or, more like it, a poem is composing me, detachment feels exhilarating. A continuous Bravo for the Sole Bard in every breathtaking breath. And as it is in art, so it is in sport and other superfocused activities.

:Dick

[Michael Firewalker]

[quote="annaruiz"]However, competition does hone our craft, our skills, in the truest sense.

We have allowed competition to become another *bad* word.

As always, the nature of competition depends on what we do, (or not) and what we say speaks volumes to different disintegrated parts of ourselves. That's how we *selectively listen* and hear only what our minds allow to enter the sphere and space of our being.

An integrated heart/mind connects to the essence, here there is no competition, just a mutuality born from a genuine desire to share, including the parts of us we have *disowned*.

Light of awareness is tantamount.



~A[/quote]



"An integrated heart/mind connects to the essence, here there is no competition, just a mutuality born from a genuine desire to share, including the parts of us we have *disowned*.

Light of awareness is tantamount."


I like that very much...

and I am willing to allow difference in what is perceived, from one to another, because of the essentially subjective nature of all human perception...

we do the best we can...

we see differntly from one another...

we need to allow those different ways of seeing..

we need to not ever force our way of seeing on others...

difference is good...it needs to be openly expressed...

if I like something, I like to have the freedom to say so...

and also the freedom to say I don't like something, and why...

that is a basis of competition too, one that allows for difference, and therefore for the honing of skills and the development of art...



mikey

[Michael Firewalker]

sooooo...I also love reacting, and NOT always worrying about "detachment"...

such worrying can result in a lack of emotional honesty and spontaneity...

we cannot always be concerned about how we are sounding to others, or how we look to them...

sometimes, we just gotta let 'er rip, and "be"!




mikey

[Ness]

true, often attachment hides in Detachment the way pride hides in Humility

[narinder bhandari]

[quote="Ness"]true, often attachment hides in Detachment the way pride hides in Humility[/quote]

[quote] Dick
Hi Anna,

I take detachment to be freedom to train and enjoy fully. In that sense, detachment is anything but uninvolved. When I'm feeling detached in composing a poem, or, more like it, a poem is composing me, detachment feels exhilarating. A continuous Bravo for the Sole Bard in every breathtaking breath. And as it is in art, so it is in sport and other superfocused activities.

:Dick

[quote]anna

As always, the nature of competition depends on what we do, (or not) and what we say speaks volumes to different disintegrated parts of ourselves. That's how we *selectively listen* and hear only what our minds allow to enter the sphere and space of our being.

An integrated heart/mind connects to the essence, here there is no competition, just a mutuality born from a genuine desire to share, including the parts of us we have *disowned*.

Light of awareness is tantamount.

[quote]

ah ................................
so profound .............. !
so true ..................!!.


ah narinder,
detachment, non-attachment, humility,renunciation ..............

words are only words ............
till, they become Truth ..... the Being ............................... Love in action

When, ..............................................................
narinder is narinder no more.............. nor nari is narinder .......... nor narinder nari .............

When ....................................................
ONLY The Un-nameable exists .............. rules the inner Kingdom of the self ...............
the Supreme Immutable Law, its tool of Love for the Self .........

and when, ........................
the self,
choosing the self, ,
Graced by the Self,
becomes the Knower of the Self ................................

Then, .......................................................
no doubts remain .............
only Silence sings the song of Shoonyatta , non-duality ............
for the Joy of the self ..........

attchment no more, true humility sings lovingly ................................

detached action of the self
non-action, non-doing ..........un-activity, passivity,
dances as much activity , neither 'doing' , nor 'not-doing'
in the timeless-ness of the Moment Now ................

the world of the self,then, is illumined by Knowing, Joy and love .............

freed forever from anger, lust and greed,
one is one's own Proof,

beyond praise and censure .........
the Self truly becomes Love in action
love that does not wax and vane at every behest .................

Love that is Ahimsa, the Voice of the buddhas
the Blessing of the Buddhas ................
non-arrogant, humble and detached !!!


AUM

[Michael Firewalker]

[quote="Ness"]true, often attachment hides in Detachment the way pride hides in Humility[/quote]

yes, nessie, that is exactly so...the way pride hides in humility...yes...

and the way religioisity wears a gaudy mask of pretended spirituality...

and is always driven to show off its egoistic self...

in a long, loud, showy, colorful, virtuoso spectacular,

which is specifically designed, not to humbly communicate Love to others,

but to draw attention to the superiority of the self...


mikey



ps....but perhaps that is a different discussion than the one silent lotus has placed before us, which posits the possibility that the nature of competition itself can somehow ultimately damage the craft of creating art...

the thing that has always bothered me about competition is, that by its very nature, it requires a winner...

and so, if there is a winner, then there must also be losers...

that is how we do actually perceive competiveness here in 3D, as a polarity between winners and losers...

in order to win, we must perform in such a way that others lose, or there is no competition...

that sets up a greater-over-lesser scenario, which is essentially and definitively UNbalanced...purposely unbalanced...resulting in emotionally valuing the winners more than the losers...

and that is not Love...


mikey

[Ness]

Cast not, mote in eye, etc.
===

My sense of what was being said there at the top of this thread - competition as in market competition does tend to displace craft over time... in the interest of efficiency of profit. Yet, at all times, the mercantile also supports and funds very high levels of craft, in the pockets of the carriage trade. Often, we see the artifacts of the carriage trade of earlier eras, and make assumptions

In 3-D competition does not in fact require a winner, unless that is the POV adopted.

Competition like Anna (I think it was Anna) said can also provide energy for enthusiasm. Competition can teach some deep stuff, about detatchment and being in the zone (a form of karma yoga)... and competition can teach the most basic teaching of Life and the nature of 3-D: who wins today loses tomorrow, and vice versa. Winning and losing itself becomes a game... a dance... and an insight to the 10,000 ways of seeing, 20,000 ways of going, 1,000,000 ways of being.

[narinder bhandari]

aum



.......................... and an insight to the 10,000 ways of seeing, 20,000 ways of going, 1,000,000 ways of being.



................. ........................


AUM

[Michael Firewalker]

[quote="Ness"]Cast not, mote in eye, etc.
===

My sense of what was being said there at the top of this thread - competition as in market competition does tend to displace craft over time... in the interest of efficiency of profit. Yet, at all times, the mercantile also supports and funds very high levels of craft, in the pockets of the carriage trade. Often, we see the artifacts of the carriage trade of earlier eras, and make assumptions ;)

In 3-D competition does not in fact require a winner, unless that is the POV adopted.

Competition like Anna (I think it was Anna) said can also provide energy for enthusiasm. Competition can teach some deep stuff, about detatchment and being in the zone (a form of karma yoga)... and competition can teach the most basic teaching of Life and the nature of 3-D: who wins today loses tomorrow, and vice versa. Winning and losing itself becomes a game... a dance... and an insight to the 10,000 ways of seeing, 20,000 ways of going, 1,000,000 ways of being.[/quote]




yes, agree with "cast not, mote in eye, etc"...and also agree with the balance for that, which is the necessity for the weighing of truth in those very balances...both are necessary to third dimensional wholeness...

I cannot see any competitive situation that does not essentially result in some form of the win/lose scenario...so what do you mean when you say:

"In 3-D competition does not in fact require a winner, unless that is the POV adopted"

IF one competes with another, and there is no winner, then there was no competition,

because competition itself is defined as winner vs. loser...

Dictionary.com:
com⋅pe⋅ti⋅tion  /ˌkɒmpɪˈtɪʃən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kom-pi-tish-uhn] Show IPA
Use competition in a Sentence
See web results for competition
See images of competition
–noun 1. the act of competing; rivalry for supremacy, a prize, etc.: The competition between the two teams was bitter.
2. a contest for some prize, honor, or advantage: Both girls entered the competition.
3. the rivalry offered by a competitor: The small merchant gets powerful competition from the chain stores.
4. a competitor or competitors: What is your competition offering?
5. Sociology. rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in common, usually resulting in a victor and a loser but not necessarily involving the destruction of the latter.
6. Ecology. the struggle among organisms, both of the same and of different species, for food, space, and other vital requirements .


THAT'S what makes it competitive...

without that, it is merely shared exercise in whatever...

but with a winner [and therefore also a loser] resulting, one can say there actually was competition...


mikey