just wanted to say that the POD mania has got to stop.
suddenly we're at this place where certain "publishers" are choosing to publish *chapbooks* POD...WTF...POD chapbook is an oxymoron. why the ef' would a "publisher" want to "publish" chapbooks POD? oh yeah, so they can take credit as a "publisher" without having to do any of the work...
but isn't "the work" half the fun?...contrary to belief, collating doesn't suck, stapling doesn't suck, folding doesn't suck, mailing out doesn't suck...all these things are part and parcel to the process of making a literary object (and if you *do* think they suck then, full-circle, you shouldn't be making books)...POD (i'm talking about chapbooks now) is the masturbatory version of publishing, it satisfies the needs of the individual (the "publisher," to get his press name out there) yet demands little effort by way of creative thinking and human interaction ("just order a copy from Lulu, they have infinite meta-quantity...for meta-forever")...
hear hear to the Hot Whiskey's and the Chax's and the Cy Gist's and the Big Game's and the Transmission's and the Outside Voice's and the Hooke's and the Ugly Duckling Presse's and the Effing's and the House Press's and the Lame House's and the Taxt's and the and the...
so let me just say this, i think you're an asshole that probably shouldn't be "publishing" anything if you choose to "publish" chapbooks POD...
...
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11 comments:
ok i am showing ignorance - what is POD? i dont get it :(
Print On Demand
DIY chapbooks all the way! Also, screw those Sarabande chapbooks.
contrary to belief, collating doesn't suck, stapling doesn't suck, folding doesn't suck, mailing out doesn't suck...
this why there's been no mo both both
just sayin
(imagine a wink)
moted!
naw, i'm bringin' it back soon soon...
o really? i think pod chaps is a great way to publish more when the means are simply just not there. and it's better ecologically, ya know? take Dusie for example, ya know, the same Dusie you have a pod chap with? it is not an all or nothing thing, it never is...or say Moria, does both pod and possibility of purchase....it does not eliminate much of the work...most goes into editing, I would think...my gripe is when people market and charge for POD files, what is that about?
Maybe we should make a distinction between things that are pod and POD services. Like, on Armand's site or dusie for example you can print out chapbooks as you demand them (saves paper and whatnot)... the editor's role is then to choose, curate, gather, publicize, keep the website updated. There's no way to guarantee quality of printout which is a shame, but chapbooks are infinitely available which is great.
With POD services like Lulu quality is kinda hit-or-miss. The books rarely look all that great. You can publish anything you want whenever you want. Personally, I don't have a problem with that. But people need to be their own worst critics. It would be great if every poet was also a good editor. But so many poets are, pardon the sexist language, sluts.
Personally, I tend to only invest in handmade chapbooks... not even the xerox-and-staple kind, but things by the presses you mentioned in your post, John (and dusie's wee chaps). But I won't complain if people send me POD or xeroxed chapbooks for free.
pod, POD and handmades serve different purposes. As a consumer, I'm probably not going to actually print out a POD. I would sooner just read it online.
susana,
i don't get it. the chapbook i did for the dusie kollectiv was printed in a run of 50 copies, finito...what do you mean i "have a pod chapbook" with dusie...maybe my definitions of POD are muddy...
i don't consider printable pdf. books POD (again, maybe they technically are (?), you tell me, but that's not what i'm talking about here)
jessica,
i agree with everything you say...i would never spend my money on a POD chapbook...i have a huge *object* fetish. i'm a packrat.
and yeah, i forgot dusie's wee chaps...for sure the beat!
in so much that it is available to print on demand. part of the reason i went for this pod style was to acknowledge both parts to a 'book' as such...the print possibility on part of the authors was intimate and a writers thing, for all of us, distributing it wider as pdf let others into what we were doing, i know many who tried to do the pod to read the books in hand and to check out alternate means of publishing... i do see your point tho, esp when people are charging for a damn pdf copy...
susana,
yeah, we're totally talking about 2 different things.
just to be clear, i have absolutely no problem with pdf (as you call pod) books...in fact, i have 3 pdf. books online and i'm very proud of them and the presses that host them, 2 published by Detumescence and 1 by Dusie...so were on the same page with that one.
i'm talking about publishers who accept a chapbook ostensibly for print publication but decide to print the book using a POD service like LULU...that's lame.
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