Forum / Rosemetal Press Chapbook Award

  • 147.thumb
    kate hill cantrill
    Jan 16, 04:51pm

    My flash fiction chapbook, Hello Friends and Neighbors, was the first runner-up in the Rosemetal Press Chapbook contest. (I just found out via email this morning). While I'm happy and appreciative of this, this chapbook has been a finalist in the Diagram/New Michigan Press Awards as well as the previous Rosemetal Press Awards and I kind of just want to see this thing in print already! I thought about going DIY before and publishing it through Lulu, and now I'm closer to doing that. Anyone have thoughts/opinions about self publishing? I mean, I'm kind of punk rock to begin with, so maybe this will just solidify my mad-wicked hard core-ness.

  • Author_photo.thumb
    James Lloyd Davis
    Jan 16, 05:12pm

    If it's good enough to be a finalist entry, recognized by more than one group, it's good enough for a publisher to take a chance on investment. Chapbooks? I am no expert, but if flash fiction is so popular, someone ought to have the nerve to promote it.

    I'm personally, ideologically opposed to self-publishing, so I'm hardly one to give advice there. If a writer spends precious time packaging and promoting their work, when will they have the time to write? It's one thing for a rock group to go on tour, hawking their CDs at concerts, but how many lucrative venues exist for a writer to imitate their methodology?

    I've heard there are groups of writers that form coalitions to self-publish as a communal effort, but I don't know who they are or how successful they've been.

    Maybe the better investment of your time would be to send it out to as many publishers, agents as possible, all the time writing more and new work.

    That's my thirty cents. Worth every penny, but hardly even the price of a latte.

  • Linda.thumb
    Linda Simoni-Wastila
    Jan 17, 02:27am

    Kate, I have no answers to your questions (though James' advice sounds solid to me), but wish to offer you congratulations on your chapbook. A real honor. Peace...

  • 147.thumb
    kate hill cantrill
    Jan 17, 02:23pm

    Thanks, Linda! And thank you James for your comments. I don't think I'd self pub a novel ever, or even my full collection of stories, but a chapbook is more of a tiny art project to me and every story has been published in a magazine somewhere so I see no reason why it shouldn't be pulled together by me. We'll see. I'm changing my views of traditional publishing every minute. Thanks again for you $.30-- I don't drink lattes anyway, so no worries!

  • Author_photo.thumb
    James Lloyd Davis
    Jan 17, 03:03pm

    Me neither. If my coffee doesn't bite my lip, it's hardly worth brewing. Best of luck.

  • 453.thumb
    Jon Davies
    Jan 17, 08:10pm

    I guess you need to ask yourself what it is you aim to achieve with self-publication. I think that the self-pub route is going to become more and more common, since there really aren't the financial hurdles there once were to it. But then, are you actually hoping to sell books? Are you frequently doing readings or something like that, where people are asking for your book? To me, the big problem with self-publishing is marketing, but then it's an issue with publishing as well--you might have the assistance of a publicist at a publisher, but in the end, a lot of the legwork is still yours to carry out and get people to buy the book.

    I agree with you, however, that a chapbook is different from a regular book of stories or a novel. So perhaps sales aren't as much of an issue.

    Maybe talk to Jack Swenson, who has self-published quite a bit.

  • 147.thumb
    kate hill cantrill
    Jan 17, 08:58pm

    Thanks for your thoughts, Jon. I wouldn't try to make money off my chapbooks--just break even. I just want to create a book-arts sort of thing--I draw, too, so I'd incorporate that. I'm definitely going to stick with my agent or go the small press route for my novels and full story collection. In any case, I think marketing is on the author's shoulders in every case nowadays except for very few situations.

  • Mosaic_man_marcus.thumb
    Marcus Speh
    Jan 17, 09:12pm

    i don't have much contribute here - dazed and confused as i am - congratulated you elsewhere already, but i found this which is a useful and interesting read for others if not for you: the <a href="http://howpublishingreallyworks.com/?cat=151">how i got published series</a>...

  • 147.thumb
    kate hill cantrill
    Jan 18, 08:36pm

    Thanks, Marcus!

  • You must log in to reply to this thread.