[New-Poetry] Recommending Poetry Presses?

[Skip Fox]

I was joking. I know all too many of them.

-----Original Message-----
From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu
[mailto:new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] On Behalf Of jfq at myuw.net
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 9:20 PM
To: NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News &Views
Subject: RE: [New-Poetry] Recommending Poetry Presses?




On Fri, 18 Jan 2008, Skip Fox wrote:

> (Actually some people have made their names by winning prizes, but I can't
> remember any of them.)

BH Fairchild is probably the best example. If I recall correctly, his first
manuscript was published after he won a contest. Also, Anthony McCann's
Father of Noise is a contest winner that's very good.

I can see the attraction of being legitimized by a publisher, but what if no
one ever legitimizes you? Cory Doctorow has made very interesting progress
as a writer giving his novels away for free and self publishing, and in the
end you're as legitimate as your work is. Sure most self published books
suck, but so do a sizable majority of major press poetry books. The
legitimization of the markt, that is, people buying your book, is ultimately
what matters if you really want to sell your work. And it's been proven a
couple of times now that it's possible to do that without the backing of an
established poetry press.

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