Introducing Barton Booth

Several years ago, the San Francisco-based literary outfit, McSweeney’s, embarked on an experiment to challenge people’s assumptions about the printed word and our own demand for it. At the time, newspapers and other non-digital publications were caught in a catch-22 of their own making—dedicating column inches to stories about the slow demise of their own column inches. No one is going to buy a newspaper in five years! Everything is going digital. The future is now! Printed books? For losers.

But deep in the gut of everyone who has ever held a book was a nagging feeling. Books are really great. We like the smell of books, we cried. Newspapers are so convenient and they make a great rustling sound when opened at the breakfast table. McSweeney’s experiment was founded on these self-same beliefs. The printed page is what got us all here, to this place where no human has ever been.

So they printed a newspaper—a big, Sunday edition that they sold on the streets of San Fran for just five dollars. They filled it with original news, sports, and arts coverage, comics from people like Chris Ware, and original journalism and fiction. And it was a big success, selling out almost right away. Their experiment proved that there was still a demand for original writing and more importantly, people still wanted to pop open the page and give it a read.

I’ve embarked on an experiment of my own, inspired in many ways by the work McSweeney’s is doing, but also n+1 and the dozens of other small presses championing original writing. I believe there is an opportunity to showcase the work of playwrights and theatre writers the same way we do with other creative writers—with a literary journal of our own.

So I’d like to introduce Barton Booth, an 18th century English actor of some renown, but also a new publishing imprint just for playwrights.

Barton Booth is an experiment in exposure. Our goal is to help playwrights get noticed and, ultimately, get produced. Or, if you are an established writer, to be a place where you can publish your weirder ideas and goof off a little bit. We want to publish everything but your production-ready, full-length plays. Think of Barton Booth as a home for all the odds and ends in your own work—the short plays, homeless monologues, essays, “un-producible” scripts, and rejected ideas.

Think of Barton Booth as a home for all the odds and ends in your own work—the short plays, homeless monologues, essays, “un-producible” scripts, and rejected ideas.

The benefit for you, the writer, is that your work starts to be read with more frequency. People become aware of your particular brand of dramatic writing. As you continue to push your own career forward, this can only be considered a good thing. Barton Booth is another way in which people become aware of your work.

Right now, Barton Booth exists online only at bartonbooth.com. The website is a place for us to establish a routine and get to know our contributors. We are planning for a physical edition of the journal to be published at some point in 2013. The first publication will feature writing from our website, as well as commissioned plays, essays and more. Our publications will have a strong emphasis on design and the presentation of the printed word. Like McSweeney’s, we want to publish unique editions that simply demand to be cracked open and read.

Eventually, Barton Booth will host readings, workshops, special events, and full productions of the works featured in our publications. Just as we believe in the power of the printed page, we also believe in getting things on their feet. Once we are at a place where we are producing original work for the stage, Barton Booth will operate as half small press and half fledgling theater company.

So, hopefully this has piqued a little interest for you. Maybe you are already thinking about what you have stashed away that could be published in Barton Booth. But even if you don’t have something to submit right now, we would still like to get to know you and see how we could work together.

To get in touch, ask some questions or to submit to Barton Booth, e-mail us at barton@bartonbooth.com or submit your material here.