Argh, I read these posts and want to scream! Why don’t you just tattoo the letters AMATEUR across your forehead.*
I know what you’re thinking… “But I can finally publish my lousy, self-absorbed poems and people will love me and want to buy my book and maybe sleep with me.”
No, that’s not what poetry is about. And don’t dare visit Lulu! Only idiots use Lulu for their own creative validation.
And then you upload your crappy ass covers that scream CorelDRAW and MS Word and you want publishing cred?!?
If you’re going to DIY and publish poetry in a unique and deserving manner, at least exhibit an intimate love for the physical package of a book… like this or this.
*Forgive me, after seven years of publishing independently I cringe when people make the same mistakes I made during the early years. And, not to brag, but I have been able to sell and ship over 14,000 copies of various titles at my current post. Rule #1: Selling books makes you a publisher. Rule #2: Printing a book makes you a printer (duh, not a publisher). Rule #3: Just because you publish it doesn’t mean people will give a flying flip and actually buy it. Rule # 4: Covers sell books. Rule #5: I don’t care what’s beyond the book cover, the cover sells the book. Rule #6: See Rule #4 and #5, again. Rule #7: Have a business plan including production, distribution and customer service details. Rule #8: If you don’t know the difference between RIO, P&L and ISBN, don’t get involved in publishing just step away from your laptop and go back to Kinkos where you belong and photocopy your precious little chapbook and pass it out to friends and family and vagrants. Rule #10: If you read this far you realize Rule #9 are missing. It contains secret ingredients that I can not post, but may be able to e-mail you.
Coffeehouse Junkie 