When I started this blog (back in '05?), my idea was to have a shared podium for members of the poetry group 13 Ways. For a while, I was joined here by Robert Thomas, very occasionally by others in the group. But neither Robert nor anyone else is really interested in keeping this going. I'm not sure how much I'm interested in keeping it going. Like many others, I've found the drive-by posts on Facebook to be more than enough.
Recently, Blogger had me migrate my site so that I no longer publish it through FTP with the website 13 Ways. And so it seems a good time to make a break from the past. (Or as good a time as any.) I'm going to make this a solo blog, for now, on the subject of poetry and being a poet in the world and whatever else comes up. (The website www.13ways.org, which I mean to entirely revamp as well, will continue to be about the group and the individual poets in it.)
So we'll see. I hope you will come here and comment and make this a conversation, or it's going to get very quiet. As I said recently, I'd like to collect some good ideas for marketing poetry books, as a start. ( I will attempt to be a better conversationalist too.)
That's enough for now, intent and direction. I think I'm coming down with something, so that's as ambitious as I want to be at the moment. Will turn in and read some of the 22 books beside my bed.
This Just In …
Conjugated Visits is now available from Dream Horse Press, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Powell's. Or send me your address (dianekmartin [at] sbcglobal [dot] net) and $15 to get a signed copy.
:: Upcoming Events ::
Reading: September 11, 2011
Booksmith
Time: 4:00 pm
Location: 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
Reading with 13 Ways poetry group
Reading: October 2, 2011
Corte Madera
Time: 4:00 pm
Group reading
Reading: November 9
Sunset Poetry by the Bay
333 Caledonia Street, Sausalito
Time: 7:00–9:00 pm
Reading with Robert Thomas and Susan Kolodny
Blogs I Read
2 comments:
There's always the "give it away" school of marketing. Was it the screenwriter of The Hurt Locker who stood on street corners giving away tickets to the movie when it was first released, in the hope of getting someone to see the film and generate some word-of-mouth?
I think there's a lot to be said for that strategy. First off, it's not like the book is going to be a best seller anyway. (Hmm, although The Hurt Locker, the book, might have made bestseller status, I seem to remember.) But then, I'm pretty sure word of mouth is the best advertisement. Or anyway, consider Microsoft Word. Way back when, everyone pirated it, until it became the tool of choice. Which isn't to say you can make a poetry book a household name, like that. But if the book is good and people like it, well …
Post a Comment