Comments on: Blazevox Scandal Has Me Thinking About Poetry Sales (and Book Sales in General)

By: Stacia

Stacia — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:40:25 +0000

Thanks for your comment on my post, Jeannine, and for this thoughtful post of your own, in which you really nail something I feel strongly about: we should all be supporting poetry more. I.e., buying poetry books from small presses. Money IS the issue, and yes, some presses should market better (or at all). But if the hard truth is that poets are the ones primarily reading poetry, we should be buying it, not trashing presses and writers for making choices about funding books that are different from choices we ourselves might make. I appreciate your writing (poetry and otherwise!), and your thoughtfulness on this topic!

By: Dee

Dee — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:28:20 +0000

Very insightful. Thank you.

By: Jeannine

Jeannine — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 05:07:30 +0000

Thanks for your comments, ya’ll! I think it’s good to have these conversations at all – I feel like to a lot of new poets, this is all brand-new info.

By: Justin Evans

Justin Evans — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:35:56 +0000

I’ve been saying it for a long time that poets need to support presses actively and not use reading fees to pretend they are supporting presses. Poets need to champion presses, be their patrons, AND heaven forbid: Give away books we buy if they are not to our liking to those who may find some worth in them.

By: Jessie Carty

Jessie Carty — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:13:51 +0000

My first chapbook didn’t really have a financial “gain” to it but my second one, as well as my first full length, did well enough that I’ve never had to pay out of pocket for copies. Enough small royalties so I make a few dollars when I go to readings. Maybe enough to pay for gas, but I don’t feel the need to make money off of my writing anyway. I just want to write!

By: Collin Kelley

Collin Kelley — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:05:41 +0000

Here’s my two cents on BlazeVOX.

http://collinkelley.blogspot.com/2011/09/blazing-away.html