The Internets have been buzzing about Dave Eggers all week, applauding and booing his $250,000 grant from the Heinz Foundation--an award going straight to Eggers' non-profit writing center, 826 Valencia.
No matter what you think, you should listen to the man's advice about writing. The Guardian has an interview about his "literary philanthropy," and the article had a few lessons for fledgling writers about how magazines and other publications will function in this new media world.
The sky is falling in the writing industry, and things will look much different in ten years. Eggers models the ideal writer: somebody comfortable with small staffs, extracurricular work, and multi-tasking. Dig it:
"With The Believer (www.believermag.com) the question was how to put together a publication without ads and without raising any money. How do you keep the staff lean? You design a template simple enough that one person can maintain it - the copy-editing, photos, layout, everything, even at 65,000 words ... I just know it works for us: small, agile, adaptable, and the centres are as self-reliant as possible."