Why do anarchists put so much emphasis on publishing?

Question

Shouldn't they be doing stuff on the streets instead?

Answer 1

i don't have what i would consider a complete answer for this, but a partial answer is that anarchists disagree with each other more than most/any other tendency, and are probably (perhaps?) more misunderstood by outsiders than any other tendency too.
all this disagreement and misunderstanding requires a whole lot of explaining, clarifying, and foot stomping.

edit: and as should be obvious, doing stuff in the streets is not incongruous with publishing, and vice versa.

Answer 2

Okay dot, how about this:

Anarchists put an emphasis on publishing to explain the many reasons we're doing stuff on the streets. Those of us who are involved in publishing are also occasionally out on the streets doing stuff unrelated to our publishing.