Hello Ian -- my comments were based only on my experience of the one
print-and-demand book I have.  How did the avantgarde festival go?
Mairead

On 10/19/05, ian davidson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> print on demand shouldn't necessarily be equated with anonymous internet
> companies. it is used by a braod range of very respected academic and
> literary publishers to get over the problem of print runs, storage etc,
> allowing them to operate in a just in time economy.
>
> i'm beginning to think (but not that sure i care much) that it's more
> important than the internet in terms of making lots of poetry available to
> lots of people and enabling publishers to develop extensive lists, some of
> which might not sell many in the short term.
>
> ian
>
>
> >From: Robert Heffernan <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: Robert Heffernan <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: thoughts on "print on demand"
> >Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 16:26:08 +0100
> >
> >On 10/19/05, mairead byrne <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > > I don't like print-on-demand.  I have been engaging in quite a few
> > > conversations about the economy of poetry recently.  That economy, for
> > > me, is warm.  Print-on-demand is a broken link: stone cold.  If you
> > > can deal with a pod company you know, where you have contacts, can
> > > call etc, it would be different.  My experience has been no human
> > > contact and I didn't like it.  Opinions vary widely on this topic.
> >
> >I hadn't thought of that.  Interesting...
> >
> > > I publish a lot online.  It's indispensable to me.  I love it.  Having
> > > a blog surprisingly does not replace books, however.  I need those
> > > little demons. They are the handshakes of poetry, to say the least.  I
> > > put them in people's hands and they put their books in mine.  We all
> > > lose out (financially!).
> > > There's nothing to beat a book designed and printed by someone you
> > > know or will meet, I think.  My best readers in the world are my
> > > publishers.  I learn most from them.  Also because of the investment I
> > > know they are making, even more in time than money.  I am asking them
> > > to take time to move a letter one space left and they do.  It
> > > strengthens my relationship with and understanding of poetry.
> > > Opinions on this vary of course.
> >
> >I feel the same way about books.  I love the book as an object.  I
> >have books of poetry that I hate that I would never throw away because
> >they're old and I like the binding.  I also love the spatial relations
> >that the page enforces on a piece of poetry that are, to a large
> >extent, missing from a piece of work on the web.  When it comes to the
> >web, no matter how hard you work, you can never get something to look
> >the same for everybody (well, except if you distribute your work as a
> >pdf or as an image, but this goes against the philosophy of the web
> >somewhat).
> >
> >I have often watched a scene in a movie where there is a bookcase in
> >the background and found myself looking at the books rather than at
> >the actors.
> >
> > > The idea with paper is to make the poem worth it somehow.
> >
> >I think this is the thing that print on demand demolishes.  This stuff
> >is now so cheap that you don't really have to take such things into
> >consideration if you don't want to.
> >
> > > I have taken to enclosing short poems like dollar bills in envelopes I
> >send.
> >
> >:)
> >Much more of a handshake than a book can ever be.
> >
> > > The web and print complement each other madly.  They are a crazy
> > > couple.  Who would have thought it would work out.
> >
> >I'm not sure that they are, which is why I brought the topic up in the
> >first place.  I have the feeling that a lot of people who publish on
> >the web want to "graduate" to being published on paper.  This is not
> >to say that everybody thinks this way, of course.
> >
> > > RE vanity: have you ever heard that recoding of Pound in his last days
> > > reciting "Pull down your vanity ... This is not vanity ... Pull down
> > > your vanity..."
> > > Oh spooky scary chilling fractured sad.
> >
> >No, but if you had a link I would love to.  In fact, if anybody has
> >links to any recordings of Pound I would be delighted to get a hold of
> >them.
> >
> > > I would so totally love to have "a nice website."  All I have is a
> > > primitive blog and the couches of friends.  I'm an oldster and print
> > > is in my bones.  Time, money, opportunity: these are the criteria when
> > > it comes to a choice between books and web.  There's no need to set up
> > > a false choice.
> > > Many people have a truly excellent both.  And more.  But of course
> > > there's a wide variety of opinion on this.
> >
> >I should use this opportunity to say that I enjoy your blog very much.
> >  The advantage of a service like blogger is that what you describe as
> >a "primitive blog" is much, much, much better than the sort of thing a
> >lot of people might cobble together by themselves.  This way you only
> >need worry about the content, and I need not worry about having to
> >wade through terrible ugly web design to get to the content.
> >
> >bob
>