marginalia

1. Marks made in the margins of a book or other document. They may be scribbles, comments, glosses, critiques, doodles, or illuminations.

2. A short article by Simon Groth that takes a few minutes to read, delivered to your email inbox every so often. It may be about books, movies, publishing, culture, technology, and figuring out how to tell stories in the modern world.

reading and writing in a connected world

Between 2011 and 2016, I contributed a regular column to Writing Queensland magazine that ruminated on my work in progress and the state of technology and publishing at that time.

Since then, things have changed. Now is a strange and exciting time to think about how the written word fits into our lives. While the anxiety and optimism that surrounded ‘the future of the book’ has abated, the relationship between publishing and technology has only become more fascinating as the stakes have risen exponentially.

I think of marginalia as the successor to that column, short pieces on ideas big and small in a format that never takes itself too seriously.

who?

I’m a writer and long-time observer of publishing, technology, and creative industries. I’m a contributing editor for the Writing Platform. My books include collections of rock music interviews, novels for young adults, and remixes of short stories from the nineteenth century. With if:book Australia, I also created a series of experimental publishing projects, some of which even won awards.

why an email newsletter?

Email is a different kind of reading experience. It’s active. You have to sign up, effectively asking to be a reader. It’s easy. Once you’re signed up, you don’t have to do anything to read it other than open the message. It’s personal. It’s a message delivered directly to you. If you’re not ready to read it, it will wait for you.

In some ways email is closer to the reading experience you might get from a book (still the gold standard in case you were wondering).