The Blotter

The Blotter Magazine exists to nurture underground, outsider literature and art and to provide it to a wide audience. We believe that the economic viability of good art and writing should not interfere with its life, liberty, or happiness; and we deliberately seek to avoid the pretension and "overintellectualism" for which the world of literature and art has become known. Our goal is to treat contributors, donors, and readers alike with dignity, friendship, and respect.

The Blotter Magazine is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. That organization currently publishes The Blotter Magazine and is pursuing a book-publishing venture. The corporate entity consists of Publisher, President, and Treasurer Martin K. Smith and Editor-in-Chief Garrison Somers, along with a board of directors (Mac Henry, Durham, NC; Marilyn Fontenot, Chapel Hill, NC; Brace Boone III, Raleigh, NC; Richard Hess, Durham, NC; Laine Cunningham, Hillsborough, NC) and some extremely generous and talented editorial and marketing staff volunteers. The business office is located in Durham, North Carolina and the editorial office is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In May, 2003, the magazine began distributing free at selected newsstands in the North Carolina Triangle area. Since then, our free distribution has expanded to other fine cities in the Southeast. We also ship subscriptions throughout the United States.

Our editorial direction draws equally from classic and mundane, sublime beauty and a good Saturday-morning sugar buzz. What would be fun for our readers? What would yank their chains? What would make them laugh, or cry? How can we teach old dogs a new trick or two? Every emotion is fair game.

From the very beginning, we have tried to defy expectations; those of our readers and critics as well as our own. Looking back over the history of the publication it's easy to see a healthy heterogeny — yeah, I said it — but as with the broad, unfocused gaze of a shaman or a hunter a certain unity also appears. The material we publish is intelligent but we are anti-intellectual. We know that there is many a publication read only by its contributors and the occasional librarian. Our readers are an eclectic bunch, and our contributors run the gamut: precocious high-school kids, collegiate philosophers, working-class dogs surreptitiously typing during lunch, professional writers and artists, slackers, bartenders, and doctors, from all over the United States and Europe.

As a business, our goal is to continue to exist. We actively sell ads in the magazine, promote subscriptions, and raise funds through donations and sponsorship, that we might maintain an amazingly frugal and Spartan budget. We've also been raising money and with a Spartan operating budget have been producing some pretty terrific books. We'd like to continue to do this.