Pressing ahead: PressPress poetry - Guest Post by Chris Mansell [23.07.2010]

Why are people interested in poetry?

It’s a non-question I’m often asked and one which has, hidden in its depths, an absent phrase – ‘instead of more profitable stuff, like prose’. This comes from a naïve idea that most writers of creative fiction make money from their work. (Snorts) As if.

Poetry is alive and well and has been for centuries. Get used to it.

What poetry doesn’t do is sell bucketloads of any one title at any one time. It is not the Olympics; it is not the Grand Prix; it is not Avatar; it is not KFC.

You’ve got a choice if you’re a poet and/or publisher. You can bemoan the state of the universe and try to educate people about how poetry is good for them, that they are morally obliged to consume it: cod liver oil for the intellect. Or you can put it out there and if people like it, they’ll come, they’ll buy it, they’ll read it, they’ll participate. If you’re not prepared to do this, I suggest you go and stand on a street corner and call out ‘Love me! Love me!’ – it will be about as effective as trying to tell people that they should like poetry.

I’m a poet. I work from the premise that poetry is good, and that (at least some) people like it. If I were an oboe player, I’d work from the premise that oboe playing was good and that some people like to hear oboes. I refuse to accept the patronising crap that some greet this with.

So. This is why I set up a small poetry press. I am not insane. I knew before I started that there were going to be distribution/sales issues, so I chose to consider those before I published a single item.

Because I’m a poet, I know how poetry is most often bought: at readings, at specialist bookshops and from poets. Because, in the past I’ve flogged off a literary magazine and books of poetry with other presses, I knew what the economies of these were and how big a slice has to go to bookshops and distribution and the question was: how much you are likely to get back from selling that way? Answer: bugger all. Or, if you did get enough to make publishing economic, the cost of a book of poetry would be high and the enterprise shaky. This went against the grain – I wanted to get it out there – and also, as I am a poet, I have very little money (aka capital) to launch such a venture. At the time I was also exceedingly time-poor. (You don’t want to know.)

Cutting to the chase: I set up PressPress to be as simple an operation as it could be, with the economies of time and money taken into account. I chose chapbooks because they are a very economic format: they use standard sizes of paper, envelopes, postage and simple, flexible technologies. I chose not to sell to bookshops and, until very recently, did not even have a trade price. I only have one now because a few of bookshops were very keen. This price only applies in very specific circumstances. Mostly the chapbooks sell from the site, from the poets, and at readings.

How does that work? Patiently. That’s how it works. The chapbooks don’t usually sell a large number immediately. They sell slowly, over a long period of time. They don’t go out of print. This means there is a backlist which is always active. No doubt in the future I will cull the backlist, but it’s early days and a small operation. I see no need to do this at the moment.

I want to support the poets where I can afford to and have the inclination and resources. The poets who sell are the poets who are proactive, who do readings and get out onto the net and into the cafes and CWA halls. PressPress gives them a page on the site and publicity when they tell readers what the poets are up to. As an operation, it’s as cut back as is possible.

Will PressPress be moving into ebooks? I don’t know. I’m thinking about it. I want poets to be paid for their work and I can’t see it being an economic model for small poetry publication yet. Yet. Further down the track I’ll be going this way. For now I’ll be sticking to the physical artefact that is designed to fit into a shirt or jeans pocket.

Each chapbook has been lovingly edited, designed, fretted over by poet and press. They’re small but taken seriously. They’re political and not, humorous and not, profound, light, socially aware or not. Because the initial investment is mostly in love and labour, I can take big risks in content. Frankly, the way the press is set up, if I love a manuscript, I publish it whether or not I think it will sell. It will always sell some.

I’ve begun to publish in languages other than English because I think it’s a good idea to expand our ideas and our reach. I’m answerable to no one other than the poets. This is the great strength of small publishing: a wild independence that feeds, quietly sometimes, into the cultural soup.

The unofficial motto of PressPress is ‘Poetry in a time of fire’. I think it has been a time of fire for a very long time. It is never an easy time for poetry, but it’s never a time when poetry is entirely extinguished either.

PressPress is hosting a number of upcoming events. For more info, head here.

Chris Mansell has an articulate take on what she does (see the note on her poetics). She writes, gives writing classes and reads extensively and has won and been short-listed for a number of awards.

For a sample of Mansell’s work, including some new media poems, head here.

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