The publishing recession has forced a generation of writers to improvise new ways of finding readers. On the Morning Media Menu last Friday, University of Detroit Mercy English Professor Nicholas Rombes, pondered parallels between punk rock artists and do-it-yourself authors of the 21st Century.

Rombes wrote "Cultural Dictionary of Punk" to explore an historic moment for American creativity. Click here to listen to the whole show (after a technical delay, the discussion starts at the 2:00-mark). "Punk would not have been possible without the world-wide recession," Rombes explained around the 18:00-mark. "It forced a lot of these bands to do it themselves."

Around the 19:30-mark, he explained how he utilized that same ethos for his own book promotion: customizing books for readers, creating his own free stickers, and interacting with a vast network of punk rock aficionados on the Internet. Over at FishbowlNY, editor and co-host Amanda Ernst has more about the media headlines discussed during the show.