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The Argotist Online |
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Susana Gardner
(Editor, Dusie Press)
Susana Gardner was born and
raised in Rhode Island, now living in Switzerland with her partner and young
daughter. Her first chapbook, To Stand to Sea, was published this year
by The Tangent Press and is presently being translated into Italian and
forthcoming from Canterena Press, Genoa.
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: In the last year alone, I have certainly witnessed an enormous change in the small-press publishing world—POD publishing via sources like Lulu, Café Press, Lightning Source, Book Mobile and more. Small presses are no longer just publishing chapbooks, e-chaps and the occasional book. Small presses are now publishing just as many books as well. With the chains of the financial purse strings being lifted, publishing (especially Indie-publishing) has been set free. We are no longer reliant on any other, governing poetic body or financial institution, but our own. POD publishing has introduced and enabled a very liberating sense of democracy, as well as experimental poetry, to flourish.
I have experienced this with my own small press, Dusie which initially began as an online poetics journal in 2004. Though I had long dreamed of starting up my own press, I had never had the money or financial backing from another source to do so (I don’t frequent circles that consistently have $2000 to spare, or dispose of at will). In the last year alone, Dusie has branched out in many ways as a press, and in other interesting ways. Dusie made its debut in the paper press world officially in July 2006, with its first perfect-bound bookbook, Cornstarch Figurine by Elizabeth Treadwell. This book was printed by Dusie Press Books utilizing the POD services of Lulu Press. Concurrently, the online poetics journal Dusie published 40 e-chapbooks, in part with the inaugural *dusi/e-chap kollektiv project The kollektiv was a group of poets who came together under the auspices of Dusie to participate both physically and virtually in a community writing/publishing project. All chapbooks were produced in a small print-run of 50 or so, and numbered, signed and sent out to all of the members participating. There was also a fairly active list-serve which I created specifically for the project, and which still continues. This list-serve created much enthusiasm, banter and general chatter on the part of the participants. Each chapbook was created and designed in whatever design the poet wished. This was a wonderful thing, really seeing the books of the participants resulting in book-art visions. The only request on the part of Dusie (with the purpose of creating some kind of cohesiveness among the participants) was that the Dusie pressmark, as well as the URL and publisher information, should appear inside each book. Poets writing and communicating with each other—circulating their poems in the old fashion post! How old school, especially in the dying age of the letter-writer! And so, when the first kollektiv issue debuted the traffic was so high that the site crashed intermittently for the first week of its première. Self-publish or perish is not a new concept, nor is it new in the circles of experimental poetry. Dusie simply made it possible for many known and unknown poets to take part, as well as adding the online element of publishing all chapbooks as e-chaps online. In this way, Dusie acted as the distributor of the chapbooks, making them available to readers. Others outside of this group were allowed in to peak around and see all that we had been up to—the exclusivity erased.
Since the e-chap kollektiv issue, the collective efforts and fervor have continued, by way of a special festival held at Dickinson College in the fall, which featured Dusie Kollektiv members alongside Flarfists. Forthcoming is a panel discussion about the Dusie kollektiv project to be held at the Seattle Poetry Festival. Both of these events have occurred without any organization or effort on my part, and it is quite exciting when such a project spirals into various other avenues on its own accord, thus continuing the energy and excitement of collaborative projects and poetics.
With the affordability of POD there is greater possibility for the publisher to take risks. This does perhaps negate the need to sell a specific number of books, as a minimal investment of, say, $150 can produce and place a book in a potentially infinite market place with a distribution package making it available to readers. I think this is a freedom which is granted to both the reader and writer. Freedom by way of taking chances, and producing poetic works for the world. The editor ultimately has to have faith in what they're publishing, and POD technology allows editors of experimental poetry to publish in what will surely become an amazing technological poetic renaissance for writers, readers and publishers of poetry.
Q: Why does poetry continue to create schools and movements who feud?
A: Well, I think art will always have varying degrees of feuds as well as schools of thought. I don’t think this is necessarily problematic. While ideas are frequently centered more on the ego putting them forward than on the ideas themselves, there is still room to disagree. Different ideas should be allowed to evolve and come out of different environments or subcultures—that’s just growth. And there are so many ways to get one’s ideas out there, such as blogging. I bet even more new schools of poetic thought will come about because of this and other Internet technologies.
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 need for art grants and subsidies exists more than ever with the advent of POD. Both editors and poets need bread to live, it would be great if there were more artistic grants out there to aid projects, as well as for artists at various points in their career who make exceptional contributions to poetry and poetics. This would not only be of assistance to the artists but the arts in general, which simply do not get enough funding. Distribution and general circulation are still desperately in need of assistance in order to make even minimal sales possible; the profits of which go to pay the base costs of editors so they can pay royalties to poets and launch further publishing ventures.
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: Poetry
presses, at least in the community I frequent, do make huge efforts to
publish, and thus widen readership greatly. Many in the same vein as Dusie,
where the editors publish online journals as well as e-chaps and books. Moria
poetry published 5 books last spring alone, and editor Bill Allegrezza has 12 up
and published! All since the spring—all of which are available to read, for
free, as well as for purchase at his Moria store. Bruce Covey’s Coconut
Magazine, also has many free e-chaps up for perusal. Meritage
Press editor, Eileen Tabios who also has a Lulu store (and I might
mention made the change-over to POD publishing utilizing Lulu this year) also
edits the online Galatea
Ressuurects, which is an online e-zine of poetry reviews and the
like. Very interesting stuff and all of which are becoming more and more
popular, another of which being CutBank
which also run on blogger IS the literary journal of the University of Montana,
Missoula! How’s that for innovation! BlazeVOX
has long been making waves in way of indie and post-avant POD publishing and in
response to the very tragic news of the early and unexpected death of poet Kari
Edwards, ceremoniously and instantaneously published a 129 book which was still
in the works (having been blue for charity) and as BlazeVOX editor
Geoffrey Gatza states: 'And with no motive other than coming together for her we
have placed this book online as an ebook at her BlazeVOX [books] webpage.' I do
hope that BlazeVOX does make a bound book as well, as this is something I would
really like to have on my bookshelf.
copyright
© Susana Gardner |