Hi Rupert,



For a few years my husband has participated in Postcards From the Edge, a show and sale of original, postcard-sized artworks on paper by established and emerging artists. All artworks are $75 and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The works are signed on the back and exhibited so that the artists' signatures cannot be seen. While buyers have a list of all participating artists, they don't know who created which piece until it is purchased and the signature is revealed. A collector might end up with a work by a famous artist or one they don't yet know. Either way, they walk away with a great piece of art while supporting Visual AIDS's important work. 


Benefit Sale
Saturday, December 1 on World AIDS Day from 12:00 - 6:00 PM &
Sunday, December 2 from 12:00 - 4:00 PM

Hosted by James Cohan Gallery
533 West 26th Street (between 10th & 11th Avenues) 


I imagine the poetry vending machines are a literary version of this.


Cheers,

Mill
-----Original Message-----
From: RUPERT MALLIN <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:25 am
Subject: Re: Publication



Dear Peter 
 
Thanks so much for yours re Poetry Vending Machines. I'm surprised others on the list think it's all jolly ha-ha. I take jokes - fine. You're suggestion is exactly what we're following up. 
 
And yes - I both lug and install! I am passionate about the concrete purpose of poetry - not online alone but out there. 
 
My 'day job' is also in inspiring young adults in taking control of their lives through youth democracy/arts/music/multi-media projects. As said, we've so, so much to learn from them. 
 
Thanks, Rupert 
----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Cudmore" <[log in to unmask]> 
To: <[log in to unmask]> 
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 1:45 AM 
Subject: Re: Publication 
 
Do you have to lug them around, Rupert, or do you install them? It occurred 
to me that the Poetry Library & Scottish Poetry Library would be places 
where it might be possible to install them. I guess there would be quite a 
capital cost in purchasing multiple machines, huh? 
 
P 
 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
> Behalf Of RUPERT MALLIN 
> Sent: 11 October 2007 17:57 
> To: [log in to unmask] 
> Subject: Re: Publication 
> 
> Mark 
> 
> You make some very pertinent points here. I'm not a businessman nor an 
> academic but need to survive or I go back on the dole in the UK. 
> 
> My/our turn to the Poetry Vending Machine (PVM) is in large part a search 
> for an alternative to accepted forms of publishing. PVMs themselves won't 
> provide a living. At best, after taking out discounts/commission, material 
> costs and all, poet/artist is going to be lucky to realise £1 from each 
box 
> vended. Vending via old cig machines carries a further problem: boxes have 
> to be vended with coins, the change in ones pocket, so we can't expect 
> punters to carry more than £5 in coins. We could charge a lot more if we 
> vended big name artists and poets but then we'd be denying ourselves. Yes, 
> we'd like to 'guest' big names but the excitement of the PVM lies beyond. 
> 
> From all the pilots we've done the PVM actually implores readings, 
launches, 
> exhibitions and a range of spin offs. Novelty requires this external 
focus. 
> Young people are really into PVM boxes because they're like a quirky gift. 
> Often, where vended, an opened box sits on a table and discussion ensues. 
> Thereby, the machine itself kind of attracts involvement. 
> 
> The spin offs - art multiples - can make money for the artists and poets 
> involved. This isn't selling out for we'd not criticise a painter for 
> selling her/his work for £500 a throw. 
> 
> What we're doing doesn't deny traditional book/let publication but 
enhances 
> it. Open up a box and find a poem you love, you're going to want the 
poet's 
> book! 
> 
> Of course, we've had no funding for our Poetry Vending Machines but are 
now 
> going full-hog for funding because the PVMs do best with non-poet 
audiences. 
> 
> What I love about the PVM concept is that it's so physical (lugging the 
> machines around is back breaking). Image-Text-Image (you'll find link to 
> them on our website) received funding for an on-line poetry jukebox. Great 
> idea! But as soon as funded - nothing! A fossil within 18 months! This 
kind 
> of cynical approach to both audience and funding is not only the worst of 
> self-promotion, it does nothing to build interactive audiences for the 
> future. Young people have a far more concrete relationship to the internet 
> than us oldies, in my view. MySpace Music isn't a gramophone equivalent 
but 
> a means to bring people to gigs while showcasing their work. 
> 
> More is possible. 
> 
> Rupert 
> 
> www.inprintartsandpoetry.co.uk 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]> 
> To: <[log in to unmask]> 
> Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 4:48 PM 
> Subject: Re: Publication 
> 
> 
> > For those who don't run presses, here's a quick lesson in economics: 
> > 
> > In the US at any rate to receive grants large enough to pay for the 
> > considerable time spent satisfying the application requirements a press 
> > has to produce a large volume of new titles every year, which means that 
> > running it is a fulltime job, which means that salaries are involved, at 
> > least for the press' owner. 
> > 
> > The vicious circle: no small press can afford to pay salaries unless it 
> > receives grants. 
> > 
> > Here's why. If I market a book at $10, $1 (whether in cash or books) 
goes 
> > to the writer, $2 to the printer (less with greater volume, but then 
> > there's storage to pay and a lot of unsold books), $4 to retailers, 
> > between $6.00 and $7.50 if sold to a distributor. Which leaves $3 if 
sold 
> > to a bookstore (or the author--after his free copies I give a 40% 
> > discount, which is pretty standard), at best $1 if sold to a 
distributor. 
> > Out of that pittance comes all other expenses--the free copies that go 
to 
> > critics, libraries of record, friends of the press, etc., any outside 
> > services like designers (I design all of Junction's books--it's fun, but 
> > also I don't get paid), storage, advertizing, damaged return copies, 
etc. 
> > If I discount to list members I wind up with $5, if I sell a copy at 
cover 
> > price ( not many of those) $7. 
> > 
> > The bookstore that gets $4, but only when the book sells, has to pay 
rent 
> > and utilities and usually two salaries (for independent stores), plus 
the 
> > usual business costs for book keeping, licensing, insurance. The 
> > distributor sells either to libraries, which usually want a discount, or 
> > to bookstores at a 40% discount. In the latter case the distributor 
makes 
> > $2-$3.50, but his expenses are mammoth--warehouses, book keeping, large 
> > staff, etc. Only the largest distributors and those, like SPD (the only 
> > one, I think) that receive outside funding, have been able to survive. 
> > 
> > Bottom line, it's pennies on each book. Even the big web sellers, like 
> > Amazon, can only survive on large sales volume. 
> > 
> > The situation outside the US is often better. Every country in Latin 
> > America, for instance, supports book production and sale at every stage 
of 
> > the process. The result: lots of books, though the distribution often 
> > sucks. 
> > 
> > My goal as a businessman, like that of most small press publishers, is 
to 
> > get back what it costs me (in money, not in time), or close to it, so 
that 
> > I can keep publishing books. 
> > 
> > Which is to say, given the economics, books are very cheap at the price. 
> > 
> > Mark 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > At 11:01 AM 10/11/2007, you wrote: 
> >>Mark wrote: 
> >> 
> >> > Here's a hint, with a hint of sadness. Readings in non-poetry 
> >> > environments tend to sell more books. A reading for a book club at a 
> >> > senior center, for instance, will sell more books than a reading in a 
> >> > series attended mostly by poets. Poets as a rule resist buying books, 
> >> > maybe because they're a bit overwhelmed by the quantity, but also I 
> >> > suspect because they expect to be given books. 
> >> 
> >>Two other factors: one, there are (paradoxically) a lot of poetry books 
to 
> >>choose from, and two (concomitantly) poets are frequently among the 
least 
> >>wealthy of arts enthusiasts. 
> >> 
> >>P 
> > 


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