Mc Sweeney's is an independent publishing house based in San Francisco. It publishes a quarterly journal (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern), a monthly magazine (The Believer) and an ever-growing selection of books under various imprints.
Dave Eggers is the founder and editor-in-chief of McSweeney's. He is also the author of ten books.
What is McSweeney’s?
McSweeney’s is a San Francisco-based publishing company that produces an array of offbeat books, magazines, and websites. It is the brainchild of renowned author Dave Eggers and is a nonprofit.
It is also known for its satirical articles, which range from the humorous to the downright ridiculous. The website’s homepage divides articles into five categories: Today’s Feature, Recently, Also New, Popular, and Columns. Some of the site’s more popular articles have skewered natural birth techniques, gender inequities, and Joni Mitchell’s attempt to become a tenure track philosophy professor.
Some of the most notable contributors to McSweeney’s include Denis Johnson, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Chabon, Susan Straight, and Roddy Doyle. Some of the best stories in McSweeney’s are the ones that focus on the intimate, the real, and the tragic. One story from the anthology focuses on Nyuol Tong, a 22-year-old Duke University senior who fled his native Sudan with his family to escape a brutal civil war.
Aside from the aforementioned best-of-the-best collection, McSweeney’s also publishes a quarterly literary journal called Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, which was founded in 1998. The magazine features short stories, nonfiction, and illustrations.
The most impressive part of the Quarterly Concern is its unique format, which changes from issue to issue. For example, one issue came out in the form of a bundle of junk mail. Another featured a short story printed on giant playing cards that were readable from any angle.
In addition to the magazine, McSweeney’s has a number of other projects aimed at helping young people. These projects include 826 National, a San Francisco-based non-profit that works to help youth with writing and tutoring; and ScholarMatch, which connects low-income students to sponsors and resources.
What is McSweeney’s Internet Tendency?
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency is a website that was launched in 1998 by the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers. The site features daily humor written by a wide variety of authors.
Since its launch, McSweeney’s has had a big impact on the comedy world. It has helped launch the careers of writers like John Hodgman, Ellie Kemper, and Wendy Molyneux. It is also a place where writers can develop their work and gain exposure.
While the site’s content is certainly funny and witty, it also aims to cultivate literary culture. Its satirical writing is full of irony and sarcasm, and it encourages its writers to critically look at the world around them.
In addition to publishing articles and essays online, the Tendency also produces physical items such as books and anthologies. These items are often published as a way to collect the best pieces from the website.
For years, the website has been ad-free and funded entirely by donations. But last year, the site started to use a single spot of advertising to help pay for its servers. The website has recently filed for nonprofit status, which will allow it to accept more donations and foundation support.
The Tendency’s staff is small, but they are committed to a particular vision of the journal. Editors Chris Monks and John Warner are constantly thinking about their mission as they work to cultivate new writers.
One of the ways they do this is by allowing readers to submit their own work for consideration. As Monks explains, “If you have something that hasn’t been published yet or it has been a long time since the last piece was published, then you can submit it to us.”
He says he’ll judge a submission based on its potential for humor. He will also look for references to current events and pop culture.
Another important part of the process is figuring out which pieces will fit the theme and style of the site. The editor will look for a combination of lowbrow and highbrow humor, he says.
What is McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern?
McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern is a literary journal founded in 1998 by Dave Eggers, who served as an editor of Esquire at the time. Unlike most journals and magazines, McSweeney’s does not have a fixed format and changes its publishing style from issue to issue. This has made it a unique publication and an exciting one to read.
The Quarterly Concern is a literary journal that publishes fiction, poetry, reportage, and other forms of literary writing. Its articles often focus on themes of culture and society, though they can also explore issues of religion and politics. Typically, each issue contains short stories, poetry, and essays, with the occasional comic strip or novella.
Founded by Dave Eggers in 1998, McSweeney’s is published by the company McSweeney’s Publishing Company, located in San Francisco. Since its inception, McSweeney’s has remained a successful print magazine. The quarterly was originally funded by selling lifetime subscriptions for $100 apiece. It is now 17 years old, and even though Eggers thought the magazine would only last for two years at the beginning of its existence, it has continued to thrive.
In fact, its success is largely due to its unusual form and paratextual elements. In particular, the Quarterly’s unusual title serves as a paratextual device that suggests that the magazine is edited by Timothy McSweeney, rather than by Dave Eggers. Genette argues that the title of a work may function as “an artificial object” that adds meaningful dimensions to the work as such (55-56).
Another paratextual element is the shape of the journal itself, which has varied from a simple hardcover book to something as unconventional as a newspaper or a bundle of junk mail. Past issues have been printed on paper, in hardcovers, and in softcovers, with some having magnetic bindings or cigar box housings.
Some of the most recognizable issues have been printed on paper, with a textured, cloth cover and dark green end papers. Other issues have been printed on hardcovers and feature beautiful, intricate designs.
The quarterly’s format has influenced the design of other magazines and books. In particular, the quarterly’s use of paper, cloth covers, and dark green end papers have influenced other publications, such as The New Yorker and The New York Times. Its distinctive, aesthetically pleasing style has helped it become known as an innovative literary magazine. The magazine has a strong presence in the literary community and has a wide range of authors contributing to it.
What is McSweeney’s Publishing Company?
Mc Sweeney’s is a San Francisco-based independent publishing company founded in 1998 by Dave Eggers. It has grown to include four literary journals (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Wholfin, Lucky Peach and The Believer), a web humor magazine (McSweeney’s Internet Tendency), a scholarship program (Scholarmatch) and two human rights organizations (Voice of Witness and the VAD Foundation).
McSweeney’s also publishes books under a variety of imprints, including fiction, nonfiction, comics and art books and humor titles. The company has published a number of acclaimed authors, including Nick Hornby, Jonathan Lethem and Zadie Smith.
The company is now a nonprofit, but its publishing business still primarily relies on selling print books and magazines subscriptions. Executive Director Amanda Uhle told Axios that 2020 book sales were up 55% year over year, while subscriptions to both "McSweeney’s Quarterly" and "Illustoria" grew by 133%.
Despite the onset of the pandemic in 2017, McSweeney’s remains a thriving business, with monthly unique visits to its humor website now more than triple its average pre-pandemic levels. And this October, the company has acquired a Las Vegas-based literary journal, The Believer, after UNLV announced it would stop producing it because of financial constraints caused by the pandemic.
In a recent issue of the Believer, archivist Amy Armstrong highlighted a few pieces from the company’s archive that were previously unavailable to researchers: some manuscripts and correspondence from authors including Nick Hornby, Jonathan Lethem and Richard Powers; mock-ups, dummies and design materials; proofs and photographs.
As a result of its acquisition of the archive, the Harry Ransom Center has fully cataloged the collection and made it available online for research. Its contents will be added to the Ransom Center’s extensive publishing archives, which also include records from Alfred A. Knopf, P.E.N International, Nancy Cunard’s Hours Press, Anvil Press Poetry and the London Review of Books.
The Harry Ransom Center is proud to be able to make this incredible resource available for the study of American publishing history. We hope this collection will become a valuable resource for historians, scholars and writers of all kinds.