Uncategorized | April 14, 2004

I have a thousand dollars…in theory. Periodically, I offer my theoretical thousand dollars to authors by way of letters and e-mail in exchange for their outstanding works of non-fiction. I’ve never actually had a thousand dollars in hand, much less a thousand dollars I can give away, but thanks to The Missouri Review, I can realize that dream.

As a member of the solicitation team, I have been given the opportunity to work with Speer Morgan and Michael Kardos to attract promising authors and their works of non-fiction. It’s surprising what a theoretical thousand dollars can buy.

Here’s a list of things a theoretical thousand dollars can buy:

1. Outstanding non-fiction submissions
2. Unusual experience concerning communication with authors and letter writing
3. At least two lines on my resume that will cause a human resources person to raise his or her eyebrow and nod approvingly

Maybe those three things aren’t important to you, but that’s probably because you’re not trying to get a job in publishing. The Missouri Review, in giving me the chance to offer authors a thousand dollars I will never be allowed to hold in my hand and call my own, has given me at least that much money in experience. They have also given me the opportunity to say, “We at The Missouri Review are now offering 1000 dollars for accepted works of non-fiction.”