we haven't reached the "bottom", yet!

Japanese author Koji Suzuki, of the 1998 Hollywood film "Ring," poses with toilet paper rolls printed with drawing of a ghost on them to promote the product in Fuji, central Japan, Saturday, May 23, 2009. The product, dubbed "Japan's scariest toilet paper," carries Suzuki's latest horror story "Drop" for release next month. The toilet paper roll would be "a horror experience in the toilet," manufacturer said. (AP)


Okay, we hadn't thought to go there yet. Perhaps we might have come to this eventually. There is no line between advertising and product "placement" anymore. Everything goes - everywhere!!!
Reminds me of something, say.....

Economics of Poetry

I was sent this NPR article this morning on the business of poetry:


Large publishers have been hit hard by the recession... But one corner of the publishing world has its own strange economy. Poets and those who publish them are used to earning next to nothing for their work... For editors like Bob Hershon, poetry is also a labor of love. His Hanging Loose Press advances poets the money they need to print and bind their volumes. Poets try to recoup that cost by doing readings and coaxing friends to buy their books. Hershon says his friends in commercial publishing are losing their jobs. "But we can't be out of work because we don't take any salaries," he says. "We're nuts, but my co-editors and I work out of our hip pockets.


This sounds eeerily familiar to me.When we took over the press in 2003, my meagre "real job" income was not only supporting us, it was the life support for the press. We considered it a triumph in 2005 when the press was actually supporting itself. There was even a moment when we were almost thinking that one of us might one day be monetarily compensated for our work. But that moment passed and we returned to our routine.


In the six years that I have been co-running Plan B Press, I haven't been paid a dime. I get thank you's and compliments, which are much appreciated, but the possibility of a salary somehow escapes me. When we receive inquiries from graphic designers looking for a job, it makes me chuckle a bit. They never mention the phrase pro bono, nor would expect to see it. But in a business as small as ours, if the only two current employees aren't getting paid, neither would any additional staff. Small arts organizations thrive on volunteers. Without volunteers, many small businesses would crumble.


Running a poetry press is a labor of love. It certainly isn't a money making venture. We can all agree with the NPR article- poetry is recession-proof. As Bob Dylan famously sang: When you got nothin', you got nothin' to lose.

-

Update on Book Schedule 5/28/09

Moving along at,…well not breakneck speed, but we’ve completed all but one book, and the layout on that one is nearly finished. Ever since getting our computer back from the shop it’s been coming and going, freezing when overtaxed (every 45 minutes or so). I’m growing frustrated with the whole thing. Is it the RAM? It’s all Apple-origin! I just don’t know.
We anticipate Talia Weisz’s book going to the printer on Friday. Bob Marcacci’s book should be back any day now. And the proof for congregations should be with the author soon, once we can get a contract together.


So we’re swimming along nicely.


I will be cutting airplanes out of paper this weekend. At least I won’t be relying on our computer.

-

ripples across the pond in Philly (2)

also wanted to mention that Plan B Press poet ryan eckes is the host and curator of the Chapterhouse Reading Series in Philadelphia.

ripples across the pond in Philly

A handful of years ago now, after I stopped hosted the Eternal NOW! poetry series at Robin's Bookstore in Philadelphia, I was discussing the next evolution (as I saw it) in poetry reading presentation with Michele Belluomini and Jim Mancinelli. We all agreed that having poets in art galleries would be an ideal situation.

It took years for the timing to work out but Jim happened into a good situation at Fishtown Airways Gallery where he began curating a poetry series in April 2009 with Plan B Press poets Ryan Eckes and Michele Belluomini. Here's a note from Jim pertaining to his new series :

The Fishtown Airways Poetry Series

LOCATION: Fishtown Airways Gallery
200 E. Girard Ave. (2 blocks from the Girard Ave. El stop)
Philadelphia, PA 19125
fishtownairways@aol.com
WHEN: The 3rd Tuesday of every month (except August)

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
May 19 JC Todd & Catherine Staples
June 16 Mel Brake & G. Emil Reutter
July 21 Jim Mancinelli & Christian Bullard (winner of the 2009 Plan B Press poetry chapbook contest)
August 18 NO READING
September 15 Liz Abrams-Morley & Courtney Bambrick
October 20 Leonard Gontarek & Samantha Barrow
November 17 Jim Cory & Dan Maguire
December 15 Acoustic guitar virtuoso An Evening with David Falcone
(A FAPS Free event!)

This is a new reading series that will take place on the 3rd Tuesday of
the month. There will be a hiatus for the month of August. The Fishtown
Airways Art Gallery is at the corner of Shackamaxon and Girard, in the
“Riverside” section of Fishtown. The exact address is 200 E. Girard Ave.
and it is two blocks from the Girard Ave. el stop. This is a newly
renovated space and is perfectly designed for readings. The format will
include two featured poets, each having 20-30 minutes, with a break in
between each poet. The last poet will be followed by an open reading
where a participant can read one long piece or two short pieces. I will
moderate the series.

Jim Mancinelli

News of our poets

Elizabeth Bodien reports that Plumb Lines is a finalist for the first ever Poetry Award that will be given by the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group. The winner will be announced at a dinner in late July. Congrats in advance to Elizabeth.

Dan Maguire's Finding the Words is going into it's 3rd printing since Nov. 2008.

Ryan Eckes' when i come here is also going into it's 3rd printing.

Jim Mancinelli continues to host and curate the Fishtown Airways Poetry Series, Fishtown Airways Art Gallery, 200 E. Girard Ave. (Philly) If you are interested in reading for his series, please send him an email. mancinelli51@gmail.com

Deborah Filanowski is busily planning for the next poetry festival to occur at Stonehedge in Tamaqua, PA this July. Details to follow.

Loving and Hating Apple

For two days I had been trying to telephone our Apple store to find out how our computer repair was going. Busy signals. beep - beep -beep... Since I had been told that they anticipated the part coming in on Tuesday, I figured Tuesday night would be a reasonable update day. Busy signal. How about Wednesday? Busy signal. Off to the Apple store we drove on Wednesday night. I made my way back to the Genius Bar where a perky concierge greeted me. I asked for a status update and she went into the back room to ask around. Meanwhile Steve and the kids are browsing laptops and walking loops in the stroller.

A few minutes later, Perky Concierge comes back to inform me (wearing her best saddened newscaster face) that the part hasn't come in yet. Then she smiles. This isn't smiling time. This is commiserating time. I've been without a computer for nearly two weeks now and she's smiling at me. No - beaming at me.

I knot my brow. "Well, when do you think you'll get the part?" Perky shrugs... and smiles. This is not an oopsie moment, Perky! Then she suggests that I call back for an update on Friday, adding that she hopes the phones are working by then. Friday? Call back Friday? Perky has no idea at all when the part will come in or when it will be installed or when the tests will be run. She's a concierge, a salesperson essentially. I understand that. I'm not expecting the world here.

I had been very happy with Apple's support up until recently. When everything seems to have died in my Mac all at once, all of the tech people I dealt with were responsive and provided updates, walking me through the process. Unfortunately, It seems that the Apply Way is to fix parts one at a time, and every part that is in my computer seems to need to be special ordered. If Mac Stores are many Apple users' lifeline for technical problems, you would think that they would carry some parts. I guess they only keep parts for their newest gadgets... you know, the ones that probably aren't breaking down yet.

I met Steve in the doorway and broke the bad news. He shouts, "What the fuck!" I suggest to him that we just leave before he screams at one of the employees. We walk out the door with our kids, the smoke curling off of Steve's head. Perky Concierge II smiles and waves, "Have a good night, guys!"

This is not a good night, Perky.

You are not Mary Tyler Moore, turning the world on with your smile.
-

Technical Difficulties III

Our little computer is back at the shop as of Sunday morning. It is supposed to be back today, but I've given up plotting a timeline. Needless to say, our entire book production is on hold.

A third printing of Ryan Eckes' book "when i come here" was sent off to the printer on Saturday before our computer decided to freeze on us again. But we haven't been able to make any progress on our spring season books. Luckily, now that the corrected proof is back, Bob Marcacci's "a man floats" should be heading to the printer once we make those edits.

We also bought hand made paper this weekend for Talia Weisz's "When Flying Over Water". And Steve and I were discussing cover ideas for "Congregations". We need to start on the contest winner's book too. But this will all come after we get our little metal dynamo back from Apple. We plan to purchase a laptop soon after so that we can prevent this supreme amount of downtime in the fture.

The upside: all contest winner responses have been sent; and we're spending more time discussing the future of the press, projects, and incorporation details.

Stay tuned...

Technical Difficulties: Update

As we are computer-less at the moment, it's amazing how little we can actually accomplish.

1) No proofs to authors. (in fact no progress on layouts or covers either)
2) No blog posting or website updates
3) No typed correspondence or purchase orders possible

We're back to pen and paper on everything. It's nice in a way to focus on other things. Our trusty Editor is writing responses very quickly on contest entrants now that he is is disconnected from the internet.

The library has proven itself to be a very helpful stopgap. It is free and accessible, but you are booted off after 30 minutes. No questions. No exceptions. Also apparently it's acceptable to talk loudly in a library if you are at the computer terminals. This is news to me. I thought there was still the Quiet Rule in effect at libraries, except for the kids' section where the occupants are literally incapable of staying quiet- especially around others.

So the computer is still at the shop, but we hope to be back up tonight or tomorrow, but I won't place any bets. It is Friday afterall and we're still in a blackout.

Thanks again for your patience.

Technical Difficulties

Well, our Macintosh just died on Sunday. The power supply is kaput. So our local Apple store has ordered the part and should have the working CPU back to us at some point between Wednesday and Friday hopefully.

Unfortunately this means that we're a bit out of commission on orders and general correspondence; although we are doing our best to address thing on a delay. Basically we ask that you be patient with us until we are back on track.