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Introduction
Conversations on Expanded Publishing is part of an ongoing research and practice led by a consortium of artistic and independent publishers experimenting with new and hybrid publishing formats. Over two years, the Institute of Network Cultures, Aksioma, Echo Chamber, and Nero Editions conducted projects and experiments aimed at building an operational model for Expanded Publishing. These conversations form a key building block of this model.
This is a series of interviews with a few of the many practitioners of expanded publishing we relate to, align with, and admire. The conversations documented took place at Nero Editions in Rome, between July 2nd and 4th, 2024, in which the consortium members interviewed Clusterduck, Silvio Lorusso, Thomas Spies, Irene de Craen, Geoff Cox, Gijs de Heij, Yancey Strickler, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Dušan Barok. Just like its subject of research, the project is open and expandable. What you’re reading right now is one current and possible version of it. From speech mediated by video call, to collaborative note-taking on etherport, to hyperlinked online text and printable versions – the expandable conversations are a theoretical and practical exploration of the moving elements of publishing.
Towards an Operational Model for Expanded Publishing
Expanded Publishing has been referred to in connection with ‘multi-media’ to self-reflective, extended, alternative, hybrid and urgent publishing. However, they are all related to publishing practices that are more inclusive than traditional approaches. Expanded publishing enables a broader means of expression, including more features and inter-format connections, involving readership or peers, using open-source software or licenses and technologies that facilitate accessibility, integrating metadata of a publication and experimenting with non-publishable art or formats (e.g. an exhibition or a conference).
Expanded publishing is rooted in a mix of independent media practices, visual arts, publishing of theory and criticism, artistic research, Do-It-Yourself and experimental practices, perpetrated by grassroots technology activists and various small publishers who experiment and innovate in order to remain at the critical forefront of publishing and avoid being overshadowed by an archaic and overcommercialized publishing industry. Time and again, these very publishers, designers, coders, authors, and readers bring up the same problem: the ‘book publishing industry’ fails to fulfill the promise of a rich multimedia reading experience in the digital era.
Expanded Publishing is still in the making. It encompasses an ever-evolving set of practices, tools, workflows, business models, and approaches to editorial objects. It is not only a way of doing but also a way of seeing.
The operational model for Expanded Publishing is still in the making. It encompasses an ever-evolving set of practices, tools, workflows, business models, and approaches to editorial objects. The operational model for Expanded Publishing is still in the making. It encompasses an ever-evolving set of practices, tools, workflows, business models, and approaches to editorial objects. It is not only a way of doing but also a way of seeing. It asks us to see the book as an expandable object—transcending the conventional linearity of printed matter or digital text. It also entails viewing the ecosystem in which the book exists as a dynamic, participatory space to inhabit with its content, expanding the editorial and curatorial processes at every stage. Writing, producing, distributing, promoting, reading, collecting, and archiving are all potentially expandable.
Sometimes referred to as self-reflective, extended, hybrid, experimental, or urgent publishing – expanded publishing develops alternative technological and social formats of publishing alongside traditional ones. The result is a dynamic, creative, multi-medium, and accessible process and output. When put through the ‘expanded publishing machine’, the book becomes a container able to hold and shape content in manifold ways, a shapeshifting nomadic object traveling towards its readers, listeners, viewers, meeting them wherever they are.
Conversations on Expanded Publishing
The conversations are structured around four key concepts:
Why: Politics of Publishing. Here we explored some theoretical underpinnings of publishing practices, exploring the values, missions, and motivations that drive participants’ work.
How: Infrastructures of Publishing. We discussed the practical aspects of publishing, from the tools and workflows used in content creation to the revenue models supporting sustainable practices, highlighting the importance of innovation in editorial processes and distribution channels, as well as the challenges of funding both print and digital publishing ventures.
Who: Community of Publishing. The focus here was on the role of community, exploring how publishers engage with their readers and collaborators, and how building strong communities can create social capital.
What: Future of Publishing. The final discussion centered on the trajectory of publishing, addressing urgent issues such as the need for more inclusive and innovative models, speculating on how publishing might evolve in the coming years, including the possibilities for new tools, mediums, and audience engagement strategies.
What is the future of writing, reading, and publishing? What lies ahead for expanded publishing as a practice?
Certain key issues emerged with dual perspectives, the binary that is often maintained between “alternative” and “traditional” publishing practices, which runs parallel to the dichotomous distinction between printed and digital objects. Despite technological promises of a richer hybrid mediaverse, the book as a stable container for knowledge shows no signs of becoming obsolete. How should we reinvent this container along the ridgelines of technological innovations in publishing? The question of dissemination also surfaced frequently, examining what shapes publishing can take when pushed through the limited communication pathways offered by social media platforms. How can co-publishing, co-releasing, and other community-first approaches be refitted to the current landscape of writing, distributing and promoting expanded publishing objects?
What appeared to concern experts across the spectrum of publishing were its politics, particularly the role of emotional labor in a field which is underpinned by independent and passion-led projects. Current business models may negatively impact working conditions within an industry that, discursively, often positions itself as ethically conscious. How can governance and ownership structures be reimagined to ensure more sustainable publishing workflows?
The conversations served not as answers, but as a way to understand the questions which continue to shape the discourse: What is the future of writing, reading, publishing? What lies ahead for expanded publishing as a practice?