Blocked and Reported

Episode 257: Faux POC Poetry (with Leigh Stein)

April 21, 2025

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  • Authors can leverage creative and even satirical social media stunts to promote their books, as demonstrated by Lee Stein's "Ritual" campaign, which generated significant buzz and sales. 
  • The digital media landscape has evolved from an era of low-paid personal essays to a creator economy where platforms like TikTok enable serialized, binge-worthy storytelling, fundamentally changing content creation and consumption. 
  • Hoaxes in the literary world, like the Jasper Ceylon case, highlight the complex interplay between identity, perceived victimhood, and the incentives within publishing to promote certain narratives, raising questions about authenticity and editorial bias. 
  • The book publishing industry is heavily feminized, with women comprising 73% of its workforce and dominating bestseller lists, leading to intense competition among female writers. 
  • The perceived decline of white male writers in literary fiction is attributed less to race and more to gender, with the industry's focus shifting to diverse voices and experiences. 
  • The low starting salaries in book publishing create a barrier to entry for individuals without financial support, contributing to a lack of diversity in the industry despite well-intentioned efforts. 

Segments

New Book and Creative Marketing
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(00:00:07)
  • Key Takeaway: Authors can use unconventional and satirical marketing tactics, like Lee Stein’s “Ritual” Instagram campaign, to generate significant interest and sales for their books.
  • Summary: The conversation begins with an introduction to Lee Stein and her upcoming book, a gothic suspense novel set in a TikTok hype house. Stein discusses her creative process, including collaborating with an artist for tarot card illustrations and her unique marketing approach for her previous book, ‘Self-Care,’ which involved a viral Instagram stunt that satirized wellness culture.
The Ethics of Digital Content Erasure
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(00:12:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Writers face a complex ethical dilemma when attempting to remove past personal essays and blog posts from the internet, balancing the desire for privacy and personal growth against the preservation of the historical record.
  • Summary: Katie Herzog and Lee Stein delve into the personal and ethical implications of deleting old online content. Both express embarrassment over their early writings, particularly personal essays, and discuss the challenges and successes of getting their work removed from various websites and archives, reflecting on the nature of online identity and regret.
Literary Hoaxes and Identity Politics
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(00:35:22)
  • Key Takeaway: Hoaxes involving writers submitting work under false identities, particularly those exploiting marginalized identities, expose the pressures and biases within literary journals to publish work that aligns with specific progressive or activist agendas.
  • Summary: The discussion shifts to a literary hoax involving a writer named Jasper Ceylon who submitted poems under various personas, including a genderqueer Nigerian diaspora member, to literary magazines. The hosts analyze the motivations behind such hoaxes, the editors’ reactions, and the broader implications for publishing, diversity initiatives, and the concept of ‘own voices.’
Feminization of Publishing
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(00:48:22)
  • Key Takeaway: The book publishing industry is overwhelmingly dominated by white women, influencing bestseller lists and the types of stories that gain prominence.
  • Summary: The conversation begins by discussing how the publishing industry is heavily feminized, with statistics showing a vast majority of people in the industry are white women. This is linked to the observation that bestseller lists are also dominated by female authors, leading to a discussion about the competitive landscape for women writers.
Vanishing White Male Writer
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(00:50:09)
  • Key Takeaway: A recent article highlights a significant decline in the representation of young white American men on prestigious literary lists and awards.
  • Summary: The discussion shifts to an article from Compact Magazine that argues for the decline of young white male writers in American letters, citing data from The New York Times notable fiction list and other publications. The hosts explore the reasons behind this trend, questioning whether it’s due to race, gender, or a failure to capture the current zeitgeist.
Race, Gender, and Publishing
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(00:53:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The perceived ‘disadvantage’ for white male writers is debated, with some arguing it’s more about gender dynamics and competition among a large pool of female writers than racial bias.
  • Summary: The conversation delves into whether the issue is primarily about race or gender, with one host suggesting it’s more about gender due to the sheer number of women in the industry and the intense competition. The role of women spending more on writing workshops and coaching is also considered as a factor in their publishing success.
Poetry and Interpretation
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(01:04:03)
  • Key Takeaway: The value and interpretation of experimental poetry, like Flarf, are subjective, with ’trash poems’ potentially serving a rebellious or provocative purpose.
  • Summary: The latter part of the conversation focuses on poetry, specifically examining two poems by Jasper Ceylon. The hosts discuss the nature of ’trash poems’ and Flarf poetry, debating whether they are genuinely bad or intentionally provocative. They analyze the wordplay and potential meanings, particularly in the poem ‘Decolonizing Astray,’ which is seen as clever and symbolic.