After the Ren Faire?

 There's currently a documentary series showing on HBO about the largest Renaissance Festival in the U.S., and how its aging creator is fighting advice to retire. I can see how he's loathe to leave behind his greatest creation. After all, as Mel Brooks's Louis XVI in "History of the World" said, "it's good to be the King."

I've admired people who had multiple talents. Tonight Show host Steve Allen was a well-known "Renaissance person," a skilled raconteur, comedian, writer, and musician. Plus, he made it clear he loved his wife and supported efforts to uplift humanity. He didn't really want to be the king. These days, despite a plethora of "influencers" and talking heads in the media, real Renaissance role models are in shorter supply.

For the past dozen or so years, I've tried to help speculative fiction authors by providing a venue to express their ideas, as the editor and publisher of Third Flatiron Anthologies. I gained skills as a science editor and writer from my years with the Geological Society of America and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and these transferred easily to the field of publishing. I didn't see myself so much as "the Queen" as a facilitator. With a lot of hard work, and help from my friends (aka First Readers, artists, and podcast voice talent), Third Flatiron saw steady growth, and we became Affiliate Members of SFWA. I nominated our writers in award programs and readers' polls, and they even won some.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. That, plus more advertising emphasis on live media such as Instagram and TikTok, seemed to put the brakes on, or to at least move us over to the slow lane. Twitter tried to make me pay to claim that I am a real person. In order to "give back" to readers, I even produced an anthology, "Gotta Wear Eclipse Glasses," and am making it free on Smashwords. After all, a venture is not a failure simply because it fails to make money. At least the authors got paid.

A true Renaissance person has other interests, right? I certainly do, such as my own fiction writing, reading, music (did you know a mandolin is a form of lute?), and travel. I've written several novels and am active in a critique group. However, my writing, while well reviewed, seems to have gone down the same rabbit hole as my publishing business. (Or maybe a parallel universe rabbit hole?)

It's not as though I wasn't warned. David L. Felts, who encouraged us early on, closed his anthology run after about 10 books, moving to an online review site at SFReader. We've all heard that 90 percent of small businesses never make it, nor do 99 percent of writers. But I'm noticing a renaissance of new publishing ventures, some run by authors starting their own imprints using Kickstarter campaigns. Hope springs eternal.

A marketing expert advises bosses (including, I assume, editors) to keep their eye on the priorities, instead of constantly putting out small fires and pulling out bindweed. And instead of trying to do all the marketing (support our Patreon!), I should hire one of them. Well... ok...

A recent episode of Shankar Vedantem's "Hidden Brain" podcast about the search for happiness hints that although it's important to be seen as useful and helpful, trying too hard can backfire on you.
But I would add that being sustainable requires a lot of hard work.

So, that's our story to today. How's that renaissance thing working out? Hard to say for sure. Maybe it's time to go to YouTube and take a jazz lesson from Steve Allen. (Oh, and don't miss the Third Flatiron Anthologies video trailer.)