but in one week i am really self-publishing a book of my poetry free helvetica download download helvetica. and although i am ok with jokes about it, i actually think self-publishing is an effective way to get poetry to a wider audience
in october i self-published a chapbook that has reached about 1,000 people in print and 15,000 online. i only lost around $100 on printing and distribution costs. i spent quite a bit of time making chapbooks, but after a point, my traffic has become self-sustaining online to a degree, mostly from facebook and blogs. meanwhile, many poetry chapbooks, even really great ones, have a print-only distribution of less than 100
in 2011, poetry can find an audience without the permission or assistance of anyone other than the writer. it has been this way for a while, but it is becoming even more this way as presses struggle and online writing communities grow
self-publishing allows you to publish free online with a paid print version
i will post more about this later, but only a few publishers are willing to do this with their books. blazevox has done it, and they report higher print sales on their books that are also free online. free online is the way to go for undiscovered writers just like how mp3 sharing helps unknown bands. this is also how viral websites like LOLcats run usually and bloggers in other niches, as well as webcomics. post your content for free online, build an audience because people share your content, and then occasionally collect it into books. it is ethical, it is quicker than trying to sell everything, and it is the most fun
self-publishing, kewl
if you are good at design, self-publishing allows you to design more of your stuff if you want, so the book is more of a total work: your writing, your cover design, your distribution choices. there is also a page in the back of my book about veganism and a paragraph about "how to actually download helvetica for free." i don't know if publishers would have allowed that, but i like having them in my book
doing something different and interesting is the way to find an audience on the internet
some people think the lack of gatekeepers on the internet is too much: "Anyone can now be a writer, but should everyone be a writer?? LOL boing boing!" but for me the internet makes it much easier to distinguish yourself as a writer and that's great
if you can make something that surprises people and actually makes them laugh or feel something deeply, they will share it with other people on facebook. so schmoozing and impressing editors and following their submission guidelines ("hai plz use a paper clip rather than staples wassup babie") is not really necessary now to reach an audience
the internet also makes it easier for writers to build a readership across projects. the followers and subscribers i gained from my chapbook are mostly still aware of my presence online and will also be my readers for DOWNLOAD HELVETICA FOR FREE.COM
nice editors :) hi
actually there are very nice people who are editors, and they perform a great function of connecting writers together, either by sharing pieces of writing or by actually introducing people. after moving to chicago and meeting stephen tully dierks (pop serial), i became connected to many other writers. i think there may be a place for publishers in some form. but even stephen has admitted that just collecting stories and poems together in a journal may not be the way of the future
if publishing falls IRL and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound babie?
as i continue writing and posting online, i care less about prizes, publishing credits, legitimate reviews, or respected literary journals. my new project is a justin bieber fan twitter. acknowledgment from the literary world may provide some encouragement, but i would rather have blog readers, active facebook friends, and excited feedback from people in my email, which i am getting already and having fun
what i want to do is have a great time making poetry, build up a group of friends who can accomplish things together, find a way to develop donation-based income from art, and inspire people to do what they really believe in. i think i can do these things just as well, probably better, by self-publishing, and it's more fun, so that's what i am doing
i considered creating a paradoxical SELF-PUBLISHING HOUSE, but somehow that name is already in use by a serious company, anyway i will keep posting about my experiences with self-publishing. if we are really going to spread literature online, we need to share our experiences about what is working and what is not
there are viral videos that make me laugh out loud, and there are poems that make me laugh out loud, but for some reason poems don't go viral on youtube. together we will find out a way to make poems go viral on youtube
thank you very much
INTERNET POETRY is here + download helvetica for free + subscribe to my blog (rss)
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