Ken Edwards

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Ken Edwards

(Editor, Reality Street Editions)

Ken Edwards is the editor of Reality Street Editions. In the 1970s he ran Share Publications, publishing home-made pamphlets of poetry. He co-edited the magazine Alembic, originally an off spin of a regular poetry workshop with Robert Hampson and Peter Barry. In 1978 he started a magazine called Reality Studios, a forerunner of Reality Street, which ran for 10 years and among other achievements was the first UK outlet for many of the US Language writers. In 1993, Reality Studios amalgamated with Street Editions to form Reality Street Editions.

Q: How has publishing changed with the advent of short-run printing and print-on-demand possibilities? Does this negate any need to sell a specific number of a title? Is this a freedom from traditional print expectations/values?

A: It has liberated my publishing activities by: making viable books that will have an initial sale of 100 copies or fewer; making longer books possible; eliminating the need for storage space; enabling trade sales direct from the printer/distributor without need for my intervention. But I emphatically do not see it as “a freedom from tradition print expectations or values” – although I recognise that as a possible downside.

Q: Why does poetry continue to create schools and movements who feud?

A: Because it is mostly made by human beings, alas.

Q: With POD possibilities, including various organisations that will take on anything without a set-up fee and simply send royalties to the author, do poetry publishers need arts council subsidies any more?

A: The ability to get books printed without the need for subsidy and all its associated bureaucracy and claptrap is a godsend; but funding bodies should not get off the hook so lightly; there are other things they can do, like fund decent marketing/distribution networks.

Q: If poetry presses are concerned with cultivating a wider readership, could this not be done more effectively via the Internet (where there are thousands of potential readers) rather than worrying about sales of printed poetry?

A: The Internet is great for increasing the readership but not a substitute for books. The man said: “Everything exists to end up in a book” not “Everything exists to end up on a website”. With reason.