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Wed, 23 Jun 2010
Remembering Allen Hoey and Richard Moore
I'm sad to report the passing of WordTech author Allen Hoey this week. We published books by Allen in 2008 and 2005. Allen was a poet whose work melded traditional Western forms with influences from a variety of other traditions, including Eastern thought, country music and the blues, and more. His work could both swing and contemplate, and the same cannot be said of many poets. He will be missed. I neglected to report this last year, but WordTech author Richard Moore also passed away last year. We also published a couple of titles by Richard, one in 2007 and one in 2008. Richard was a master of formal verse: in his hands rhyme and meter were tools that he wielded effortlessly, and the result could break your heart with its piercing of insight and emotion. While his work was less well-known than some others of his generation, it is no exaggeration to say that he was a peer of X.J. Kennedy and Richard Wilbur in his command of technique. The world has lost a great craftsman. Mon, 07 Jun 2010It's with sadness that I report the passing of WordTech author Rane Arroyo last month. Rane was the author of The Sky's Weight, which we published in 2009, and several other collections. He was a graceful poet who never shied away from the difficult parts of the world even as he celebrated the world's persisting beauty. He will be missed. Fri, 04 Dec 2009
Reading period is on: Some thoughts
We're about halfway through the annual submission period for the WordTech Communications poetry series. I haven't started reading in earnest yet, but perusing the large number of entries so far, I've seen a few trends worth commenting on. One thing that I'm observing is a distressingly large number of submissions that show no evidence of having read our guidelines closely. If you read our guidelines thoroughly, you're aware that the press places significant emphasis on the poet's ability to help promote his or her book through readings and similar events. A strong submission takes this fact into consideration, and the author makes some effort to tell us how they can assist in the promotion of their book. Such statements don't guarantee publication, of course, but a strong manuscript coupled with a strong record of doing readings--or good ideas on how to help promote the book--makes a very compelling case for publication. There are some of these submissions in the pool, but not as many as I'd like to see. A larger proportion of our manuscripts include a standard cover letter with a biography and credits, a bit of discussion of the manuscript, and perhaps a line or two about which imprint the manuscript should be considered for--our guidelines ask poets to address this. These manuscripts are a bit harder to evaluate in terms of their sales potential, because the poet give little indication of how he or she might help promote the book. In such cases, when we have a strong manuscript, we have to make an educated guess about the book's sales potential, based in part on the poet's background. The most disappointing submissions are those that come with only a brief cover letter and biography, or worse, no cover letter at all. Such submissions are usually set aside quickly unless the poetry is absolutely stunning. It's difficult to believe that a poet will be on board with our approach to publishing if they don't even make a cursory effort to show they understand it. I make no apology for this approach to selecting our manuscripts. Excellence is the first criterion, but as a private press operating without subsidy from public agencies or private foundations, we survive solely on book sales. This absolutely requires the poets we publish to assist in the promotion of their books. There are plenty of presses out there that take a different approach, and if you're not comfortable taking a hands-on role in bringing your work to an audience, then we're not the press for you. Fri, 24 Oct 2008I've created a new mailing list for folks to get updates on the books we publish. If you want to stay in touch and find out about the latest titles, as well as other press news, visit http://www.wordtechcommunications.com/mailinglist.html to sign up. Tue, 26 Aug 2008We here at WordTech Communications do take pride in offering an alternative to the mainstream contest system in publishing poetry: one that relies on alternative distribution methods and an alternative business model. Since we rely on book sales, we don't have to charge reading fees to poets when we consider their work. However, we won't be reading this year. We're taking a one-year break to get the titles we currently have under contract into production. We're fully committed through the end of 2010, and it seems a good time to take a breather. We plan to begin reading again in the fall of 2009. Any interested poet can check our website at that time for guidelines. Are poets getting more and more fed up with poetry contests as the means to publish their books? It would seem so. There's a lot of chatter this week on poetry blogs about various poetry contests. I won't comment on the specifics of any one contest--the facts in these cases aren't always clear, or complete--but Reb Livingston's blog has an excellent take on the flaws of the poetry contest system. Her suggestions about what steps poets can take to improve the situations are well-taken. (Not so well taken are Bill Knott's comments calling for poets to "rise up in rebellion and demand their due" from commerical publishers, "willing to risk arrest martyrdom in the name of upheaval and disturbance...") Tue, 18 Dec 2007There's just a couple of weeks left in WordTech Communications' 2007 reading period. If you want to send us a manuscript to consider, with no reading fee, please see the guidelines. While we haven't made any final decisions yet, this year's group so far is shaping up to be a strong one. That's very gratifying. Tue, 19 Dec 2006We're currently knee-deep in manuscripts; it's been quite a fruitful submission period, and it will continue until the end of this month (and most likely later, if a lot of people wait until the last minute to send). One thing I've noticed about the submissions is that there seem to be some authors who pay special attention to guidelines, and some do not. Our guidelines are very specific about how we're different from other poetry publishers--particularly our emphasis on book sales and author involvement in that process--and we ask authors to demonstrate they have some understanding of our approach. The authors who, in their cover letters, show they understand our approach tend to do a lot better in the submission process than authors who simply fire off a generic cover letter--or don't include a cover at all. Authors who submit to lots of contests are used to not providing a lot of information with their manuscript, because that information tends to get removed by screening panels. But we want this information. No sense in wasting our, and the author's, time, if he or she is uncomfortable taking an active role in doing readings and other activities to help promote that author's book book, should we decide to publish it. Of course, it goes without saying that if the writer's work isn't good enough, no amount of promotional enthusiasm will persuade us to publish it. But that additional information can, and often does, make the difference when we are evaluating two equally good manuscripts. |
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