|
Post by colindardis on Jan 8, 2009 23:06:47 GMT 1
Hey all, just wondering what people think of self-publication? Do you feel it is a valid way of getting your work to a wider public? Or it is an exercise in vanity, and people should concentrate on trying to place their work with established publishers?
I'm done a few chapbooks of my own... with various degrees of success, :/ ... so I'm interested to hear what others think
Cheers, Colin
|
|
|
Post by gerard on Jan 9, 2009 2:08:07 GMT 1
I'm not saying that no self publishing is not vanity but it really bugs the shit out of me when someone mentions self publishing and someone else starts referring to it as vanity press. (Not saying you're saying this mate, this is just based on some previous conversations I've had with folk). Self publishing is valid if you want to get your work out there and have it reach a wider audience. Vanity press is when you publish a book and have it at home in a wee glass case. Bands nearly all put out their own CDs before they're picked up by labels and no one criticises them for doing this. I think writers who self publish should be regarded the same. I think chap books are sometimes the way forward especially when most poetry publishers are really aloof and don't seem to realise that we'll do the art they can stick to the business and not shove their ideas of what's valid and what's not down our fucking throats.
Whether you like them or not A.A Milne, Jane Austen, (I think) The Brontes all self published at some point.
|
|
|
Post by Marcus on Jan 9, 2009 3:00:27 GMT 1
I am interested in this chapbook business.
|
|
|
Post by oceanangel on Feb 10, 2009 14:13:08 GMT 1
I agree, if self publishing helps you get your reputation up and running its def a good thing, it would no doubt be that you have some sort of talent or wouldnt be thinking along those lines and know lots of people who would be interested in see your work, as Gerard said, it only becomes vanity when you are doing it for the purpose of saying look i have printed a book.
Poetry is such a hard genre to get into and so many people have so many opinions what is good and bad, if there are people out there appreciating your work and you want to give them access to it, why not! (smile)
|
|
|
Post by josephhargraves on Sept 7, 2009 1:43:05 GMT 1
Nothing wrong with self publication at all: unless the poems are not any good.
I am ex-friends with a rather famous American poet. When he was starting we were best-friends. He was tricky. He would pay for and print his own chapbooks; but with a twist- He had them put out by a female friend under her invented "Small Press." All as a way to pretend it was not self publishing. Hey, it worked for him. Dishonesty seems to pay off a little too much for my tastes.
|
|
|
Post by davey on Jan 20, 2010 22:10:01 GMT 1
If I won da lottery Dis nis what Id do. I get a wee book together And I publish a thusand or two Then i would bye dem all And became afamuss man But because Im skint Ill have to keep mine in da can You can say what you like Is this a load of crap But Id be out there, like man. I be a famus chap So is it art or vanity Am I trying to in press Or am I a transvestite Who composses under His dress
|
|