Joseph Robert’s publication, The Prophet of Whimsey, is out in Unlikely Stories Episode IV this month. Editor Jonathan Penton calls it fiction-esque, a pretty apt description! Like myself, my writer hubby likes to break the mould with work that falls somewhere within the depths of the vast realm of poetry and prose… Go ahead and try it on for size: where does it fit on your perception continuum? But the problem is where to start the process on Kolb’s Experential Learning Model! 😉
Armando Halpern, author and editor of Ariadne’s Thread literary journal, hosted the launch of Issue 4 at The Old Ship Inn last night. Contributors from the current issue and past journals read their poetry and prose. The venue gave a nice, relaxed atmosphere for the readings and the pub staff were happy to turn the music off. My cross-genre piece, Homeostasis, bridged the gap between poetry and prose. I’m more accustomed to reading my poetry at events so it was new (but fun!) territory for me to be reading something a bit different. Check out Joseph Robert‘s interesting camera work, that I think adds an eerie dimension to my work!
Over the New Year break while I was browsing at the Southbank Poetry Library, I noticed a sign on the door about recent thefts. Apparently the staff have had to do bag searches because this has been a problem over the past few months. I have to admit I was as much surprised as I was annoyed. Surprised because I didn’t think the type of people who would appreciate poetry would be the type to steal books. This isn’t an entirely unjustified thought, when you consider that during the 2011 riots, it was interesting to note how all the shoes/ clothes/ food shops at Clapham Junction were shown on the news being broken into and looted, leaving only the Waterstones bookstore untouched among the chaos. Incidentally, that particular store has now closed.
I’ve also noticed when I go book shopping myself, in any of the numerous Waterstones/ Foyles stores in central London, that the poetry section at any branch is not only small, but virtually empty. Of course, this might be something to do with shoppers buying poetry ebooks or shopping through Amazon, but I’d always assumed that poetry catered for a small market anyway. So, while the guilty part of me has to admit I was happy to note how popular poetry actually is, it really annoyed me to think of people stealing from poets who work hard, and often for no profit! Poetry is mostly a labour of love – a love of performing live, a love of the spoken word, an appreciation of having a nicely printed and bound collection of work… all to be nicked by some inconsiderate person, albeit with good taste!
Amazon, Smashwords, Autharium, Online Originals, Bubok… these are the Ebook publishers I’ve heard of and there’s probably many more I have yet to come across. Lately, I’ve been researching Ebooks and wondering if this really is the future of publishing. Other writers I speak to have various thoughts on the future of books… that large publishers will prevail and the smaller ones will fold, or the opposite: that large publishers tend to stick to only ‘safe’ work, and won’t keep up in the face of changing trends, and therefore, smaller, edgier publishers will take over. And then there’s the role of literary agents; are they going to become less important now that authors are choosing to self-publish through kindle or kobo or any of the other Ebook options available online? In 2003, when I bought the Writers and Artists yearbook to do my research, I noticed that most of the publishers stated ‘unsolicited manuscripts welcome’, but now, the majority seem to say, ‘no unsolicited MS’, or ‘via a literary agent only’. Another interesting thing I noticed is that ten years ago, self-publishing was considered a less preferable option, whereas now it seems to be encouraged.
I’ve looked around at some Ebook samples and author profiles and it seems to me that as much as there are obvious pros to self-publishing online, there are many cons. Quality of the work for one: not many Ebook publishers seem to have submission guidelines. Traditional publishers definitely do. A benefit of Ebook publishing is the online publicity the author will get, however a downside is that since Ebook publishing is available to anyone, professionals will appear alongside hobbyists and some writers are put off by such a fact. Of course, Ebooks aren’t the only solution; I have seen ‘author-funded’ and other self-publishing packages, but they can sometimes charge a lot of money and give little or no promotion to the author, compared with free Ebook publishing options and generous royalties. In terms of online presence though, I’ve found that many self-publishing places offer services such as a sales page on their website, in addition to a nicely printed book that you can distribute at poetry reading nights or other literary events.
Writing is such an isolated occupation that the pros and cons of both need to be weighed up properly. In my humble opinion, the nature of publishing is changing and new trends have not yet been fully established. So for potential authors submitting to traditional publishers and frustrated when they get a reply slip that says ‘not taking on any new clients’, I can understand why they turn to Ebooks and other self-publishing options.
My poetry chapbooks are available from: http://meandibooks.bigcartel.com/
Before I was a writer, I was an artist. Before I was an artist, I was me. But every person has layers. What do you get under the surface? Hopefully not this kind of soul! These I painted when I was 16. Much has changed since!
‘Melted Woman’ and ‘Dragon Lady’ – watercolour paint on watercolour paper, A3 sized. Pencil outline to start with, flesh tones and lighter colours filled in next. Shading/ highlighting created by mixing green with a dash of red to create a khaki-grey hue. And remember people, ‘Don’t lose the light’ – in this case, not of one’s own soul, but of the eyes (window to the soul) of the poor tormented creatures in your painting!
Metamorphosis of Woman/ Realms of Man:
http://meandibooks.bigcartel.com/
About this blog
Decanto Issue 61
Joseph Robert’s poem, If Only, appears in Issue 61 of Decanto, out this month. I always enjoy reading Decanto. From time to time, other poetry anthologies can be hit or miss in terms of the standard of poems – but Decanto is always consistently good. I hope independent poetry places like this can survive the postage hikes and rough economic times!
There’s no better way of finding out that you’ve had work accepted for publication than getting a contributor copy in the post! Last week I came home from work, only to find my copy of Graffiti Issue 12 waiting for me. It was a lovely surprise to see my poem, Embroidery Soul, on page 32. It also cheered me up to read the interview with the editor, Rona Laycock. She described how she’d love to be writing all day everyday, but wrote that ‘unless you strike it lucky with a boy wizard or a sexy misogynist, that means doing a lot of other work’. I’m with you there, Rona! As much as I consider myself fortunate in my day job of running a creative writing group for teenagers, among other pursuits, I often dream (on rainy days like today) of a day when I can write full time. Preferably on a beach somewhere, sitting under a palm tree with my laptop on my knee and my author hubby next to me working on his own projects!
My short story, Arachnid of Life, is in issue 23 of Sarasvati this month. It was a fun coincidence to see that another contributor, Liz Rowlands, had written a poem called Spider, which was similar in theme to my story. Great minds think alike, it seems!
Reading Sarasvati 23
