Emphasize the Why. Improvise the How.

I just posted these thoughts over at Paul Goyette's place (see blogroll) and thought I would also put them here, expanded a bit.

Paul speculated that some might find Chris Hamilton-Emery's piece (which I referred to a few days ago) depressing, but I hope not.

I think it is refreshing to see a (smart and also funny) poetry publisher talking about the difference between the art of poetry and the business of publishing it. Listen: folks who do not discern the difference between "why" and "how" are set up for the most disappointment.

Poets are crazy, but truthfully, poetry publishers are just a little bit crazier. We persist because we believe we can beat the odds, the indifference, the market pressures, or at least break even. And many of us do. (And some of us do it by publishing a teeny amout of poetry in a list full of other better-selling things.) Salt's POD model is fantastic, I think. They've demonstrated that an alternative model works and in the process disproven some very outmoded ideas about production values.

I have long known that most of the poetry (etc.) that I value isn't equally valued by the market--a market that as an editor for a small press I can't ignore. But you have long known that too. What I love as a poet/reader is sometimes different--and I should emphasize always more--than what I can afford to take a risk for on behalf of the press. So I am thrilled to see micropresses, self-published chapbooks, blogs, and other DIY outlets popping up all over. All these good nuts! Each of these new (or newly rediscovered) routes reduces the art's dependence on a market that has proven itself indifferent if not unkind.

The realities of the (poetry) publishing business are not new. But there are all kinds of new options for poets (etc.) who want to make their work available to the audience it deserves/deserves it.

Poetry is not a business. Publishing is a business. Does that seem like a subtle difference to you? Can you see the division between the two? If you prefer to offer your art for appreciation without becoming a hustling self-sales rep playing the po-biz game--or in addition to becoming a hustling self-sales rep playing the po-biz game--you may do so. Grab thee a saddle stapler. Get thee a blog. Sign up for PayPal or organize a swap. You crazy kids who enjoy discovering and promoting the work of others, get thee a low-cost web journal or simple zine. Voila!

It should be liberating to realize that you don't have to worry about the bottom line...and all that goes with it. So you're an artist, not a businessperson--that's cool. New technologies like desktop publishing, blogging software, low-cost webhosting, and the distribution possibilities of the internet with its wide, wide reach mean you can be a poet more freely than you could before. Find your way if the way is not the way. Your ideal reader (who is superintelligent and unflaggingly hungry) will follow her curiosity to your door. Get busy on that invitation.