On Wed, 15 Apr 1998, Anthony Frazer wrote:
> I suspect a British SPD is unlikely to come into existence, partly because
> it would have to depend on (extensive) public funding
- yup. I've been dealing with SPD for years, love 'em, they pay bills and
re-order. I recall that when the protoPassword was being set up (Pig Press
was a member then) the model was very much SPD - no restrictions on book
format etc were made (and no readability tests either!). Time passed, and
Password increasingly placed strictures on our book production, so we
jumped ship - and entered our "most successful" period of UK bookshop
sales, with Pete Hodgkiss repping Pigs alongside the highly diverse range
he covered at that time. We were the only poetry publisher on the list
(tho Pete had a few Galloping Dogs with him I dare say) - the rest were
farming books, walking books, and Yale University Press. Don't get me
wrong, we hung onto the day job - but we were, briefly, supplying books to
shops I've never heard of in towns I've never visited, rather than the
konner-sewer market we're more familiar with. Fingers were cut on
the packing tape dispenser, and we fully appreciated the difficulties of
packing non-standard formats - that sort of thing. Most of the bills got
paid too.
> What's needed is a website...
- again, yup. Whenever I've mentioned a title on this list, a tiny trickle
of orders follows, not all from the usual suspects, not even from members
of this list (remember the britpo archive is scanned daily by more folk
than are actually members. Hi, list-scanners!). So, whilst there are still
(self-evidently) many people who we aren't reaching, there are a few more
who we are reaching. Anthologies help too - attract small numbers of new
readers who wouldn't otherwise etc.
Cause for unbridled optimism? Perhaps not - but maybe cause enough for an
end to that negativism which says that nothing can be done, that it's all
gone to hell in a bucket and we're calling it wrong and no-one could
possibly understand it anyway.
RC
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