By
Marie Brown
People
come to the publishing process with an intention to reach an audience
with their work, to speak within and to a community. The sculpting of
an identity as a poet and the development of a career are nested within
each other and are intrinsically connected to this notion of reaching
an audience.
The
1990's have witnessed a proliferation of means by which a poet can reach
an audience - and a reciprocal burgeoning of interest in poetry. Readings,
performances, literally hundreds of literary journals and small presses,
CD-Rom, and the internet all are vehicles for poetry. And all are means
for reaching and developing an audience.
The
multiplicity of American voices reflected here in the Directory also
reflects a multiplicity of poetry audiences. It is important to recognize
that publishers no longer have the means of tapping a monolithic entity,
"the poetry reading public." The publication of a book of poems must
be supported by the development of an audience if the book is to be
read.
A
poet becomes known either through performance or publication, or both.
While the publication of a book of poems will increase a poet's visibility,
the audience a poet has already developed is one of the factors a publisher
considers when looking at a body of work. The path to publication is,
more often than not, determined by the poet's visibility, whether in
performance, on the literary circuit - from workshops and seminars to
cocktail parties - or in prior publication.
Most writers do not know what it costs to publish a book. Printing is
not publishing. Publishing is a process which includes editorial services,
promotion, advertising (which is always minimal), marketing, sales,
warehousing and distribution. No matter how small a publisher is, if
they have distributor, they can get a book to the marketplace. However,
effective marketing for a book of poems often relies on the active participation
of the poet.
Just
as there are many poetries and many poetry audiences, there are many
kinds of poetry publishers, generally categorized by size and structure
as 1) trade publishers, Norton or Knopf, for example; 2) University
presses; and 3) independents, including literary presses such as Copper
Canyon and Milkweed. These publishers acquire a manuscript, negotiate
a contract and take a book through the various processes that bring
it to its readers.
Trade
publishers produce a broad range of materials including literary titles.
Since they publish in fairly large print runs, only writers who have
published broadly in reputable literary journals, who have received
significant critical attention, or who have developed sizeable audiences
through other means, should consider sending their manuscripts to a
trade publisher.
It is essential for every writer to understand that any publishing enterprise
requires capital to produce and distribute the work. Though large trade
publishers often consider the publication of poetry to be subsidized
by the better sales of other books on their list, and the maintenance
of poetry on their lists as an investment in their literary reputation,
they will still be cautious about the potential for actually losing
money on a book.
University presses, supported as they are by the larger financial structure
of the university, are somewhat freer from the domination of sales projections
(traditionally very low for poetry) and the bottom line. Some university
presses have developed extremely reputable poetry series, including
Yale and Pitt. In general university presses have an excellent reputation
for keeping books in print over the long haul.
Much
of the diversity of poetry books represented in these pages is due to
the vitality of the independent press. The National Endowment for the
Arts reports a 500% increase in the number of small presses over the
last 30 years. In effect, desktop publishing has put the production
of books of poetry into the hands of a wider range of Americans.
Most independent presses publish specifically what interests them. It
may be a style of writing (Story Line Press, for example, is known for
publishing narrative poetry) or a kind of voice or subject matter they
feel is otherwise inadequately represented in print. By focusing on
one kind of work independent presses are often extremely successful
in reaching specific audiences.
Independent presses vary greatly in their goals, their resources, and
their reach. While the largest are nationally distributed, others seek
to reach a regional, or even local, audience. Some excellent presses
struggle with severe under-capitalization and lack of distribution.
Those which are not-for-profit sometimes struggle with these problems
as well as an unreliable funding climate.
Because
of these difficulties some publishers are unable to publish all of the
work in which they are interested without an investment from the poet
to help meet the costs of publication. This is usually done under a
separate imprint and is called subsidy publishing. Due to chronically
low sales figures for poetry, many publishers who will pay advances
to authors for works in other categories may require subsidies from
poets for the publication of poetry.
Another option is self publishing which, with Walt Whitman as an early
example, has a long literary tradition. The independence self-publishing
allows, as well as the personal control over both the process and the
product, makes self-publishing very attractive to some poets. There
are some small presses which can trace their origins to the successful
self-publishing of their founders.
Self-publishing
is particularly viable when a poet is just beginning to read or perform
publicly and is unlikely to attract a publisher, yet wants to have a
chapbook available for sale. In this way, self-publishing can serve
as one of the earliest tools a poet uses to interact with a developing
audience.
However, self-publishing also means that the poet must be prepared to
take on all the activities of a publisher if the book is to reach readers.
Self-published writers who believe that the act of publishing is printing
often face a deep sense of frustration when they find that their book
reaches only people with whom they personally interact. Poets planning
to distribute their own work in the way that a publisher would should
be aware that it is a very difficult, time consuming and expensive task.
All
of these publishing options have the basic intention of getting the
work to an audience. This is not the case with vanity presses. The vanity
press solicits business from writers seeking publication. They often
present themselves as legitimate publishers, however their intent is
to profit not from the sales of the book but from the its "publication,"
for which they will charge from $5,000 to $15,000, often providing minimal
promotion and no distribution.
When
seeking to publish, poets should evaluate their options carefully in
the light of the kind of visibility their work has already achieved.
They should seek a publisher who has published work which has something
in common with their own. This Directory can be very useful in that
regard. They should ask what aspects of the publisher's role are most
important at this particular point in their development as a writer.
A good match between poet and publisher is essential.
It is useful for poets to read widely about the book publishing industry.
Reference materials are available in a variety of publications both
in bookstores and libraries. Literary organizations such as Poets House,
Poets and Writers and the Council for Literary Presses can also help.
As in any field, writers benefit from gaining as much knowledge as possible
as they seek to bring their work into print.
Book
publication is part of a process of getting poems to their potential
audience. The process is complemented by readings and the development
of reciprocal relationships with new audiences. This is more than marketing.
It is community building. Its rewards are often slow.
