is there any small presses out there that publish black sparrow type works?
who are they?
who are they?
what publishers resemble black sparrow these days?
- Thread starter orangutanblues
- Start date
Do you mean in terms of the content? Because then it would be a matter of finding out who the 'next' bukowski and fante are and finding out who publishes them.
Do you mean in terms of form, with the textured covers, colored inside cover, and thicker paper?
Or do you mean in terms of editing skillz? Because in this department, BSP set the bar pretty high by waiting until Bukowski passed away and then changing the meaning of most of his yet unpublished work.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
Not to self promote too much, but check out my books at www.bospress.net.
LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
http://www.bospress.net/
http://www.bospress.net/
http://www.bospress.net/
http://www.bospress.net/
http://www.bospress.net/
Bill does more good work than just about anybody going today. I've said it before and I'll probably say it again, but Bottle of Smoke hits that perfect balance of good design and good writing that a lot of other small press publishers have one or the other (or sometimes neither). Anything you get from BOSP is worth every penny.
Also good:
http://chancepress.com/
http://www.soredove.com/
Uh... I know there's someone missing and I apologize for missing them... Too lazy to go look at my shelves...
http://www.bospress.net/
http://www.bospress.net/
http://www.bospress.net/
http://www.bospress.net/
Bill does more good work than just about anybody going today. I've said it before and I'll probably say it again, but Bottle of Smoke hits that perfect balance of good design and good writing that a lot of other small press publishers have one or the other (or sometimes neither). Anything you get from BOSP is worth every penny.
Also good:
http://chancepress.com/
http://www.soredove.com/
Uh... I know there's someone missing and I apologize for missing them... Too lazy to go look at my shelves...
I think Bottle Smoke has better covers that BSP. You could check out Lazy Fascist Press.
jordan
lothario speedwagon
you guys don't have to feel obligated to mention us just because we're here. one of the requirements for being a publisher is to release books, which is something we barely ever do. maybe if black sparrow published one bukowski book every two years in editions of 15 copies, the comparison would be apt. now, bottle of smoke on the other hand...
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I am a huge fan of the folks over at Chance Press. Hell, I even have the RARE Hurder #0 book and the 1st 1 release bibliography!
Bill
Bill
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I was trying to sell mine to him, but he said that he had "another source".
Bastard!
Bill
Bastard!
Bill
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
There is no way that you could have cracked my password, which, ironically, was PASSWORD...
all three would be worth learning about
great thanks!
thanks for all the info!
although shiny and paperback, what do you guys think of my book cover? All feedback welcome.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I like the look, but would want to print it letterpress. Ha!
Seriously the thing about POD that I like is that you can do short runs, buy a bunch as a discount and strip the covers and replace them with something even cooler. I have even been known to remove the covers and hard bind them. That let you offer a book that does not look POD.
Still, it is a nice looking cover.
Bill
Seriously the thing about POD that I like is that you can do short runs, buy a bunch as a discount and strip the covers and replace them with something even cooler. I have even been known to remove the covers and hard bind them. That let you offer a book that does not look POD.
Still, it is a nice looking cover.
Bill
so you're saying that you would literally tear off the front cover then replace it with better material? then keep the orginal POD paging for the rest of the book?
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
yep, rip those bitches right off. The biggest downside that I have with POD as well as low cost/short run printers is that they are very limited int heir offering of cover and text stock. Not a lot that you can do about paper stock, but you can change the covers. get something like Canson Mi-Teintes or Fabriano Tiziano paper and letterpress the cover. Then score it carefully, glue it on the text block and trim it slightly on three sides. Now you have a book that looks like it was in no way printed POD.
I could do this, or you may be able to find a local printer in St Louis that could do it. If you are talking letterpress, you need a printing plate, which will cost you about $1 a square inch in copper, but that plate will last forever. Then you need someone with a Vandercook Press or similar to get the massive amount of pressure to print a form that size, especially with that much solid area. May also want to have plates made for the spine and back (isbn, etc)
If you do readings and sell books there, this would help set you apart from the others...
Bill
I could do this, or you may be able to find a local printer in St Louis that could do it. If you are talking letterpress, you need a printing plate, which will cost you about $1 a square inch in copper, but that plate will last forever. Then you need someone with a Vandercook Press or similar to get the massive amount of pressure to print a form that size, especially with that much solid area. May also want to have plates made for the spine and back (isbn, etc)
If you do readings and sell books there, this would help set you apart from the others...
Bill
what kind of paper does the cover of "Mockingbird Wish Me Luck" have? That has a glorious feel to it.
anyways, I would be interested in sending over my cover to have you work on it. What more do I need to know?
Thanks,
Mitch
anyways, I would be interested in sending over my cover to have you work on it. What more do I need to know?
Thanks,
Mitch
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
Mockingbird is a laid cardstock. Probably something like Mohawk Via Laid would be close and they will have it in a color similar to the gray that you used.
It would not be a bad idea to go online to Mohawks website and order a swatch book. If you have an Xpedx in town you can swing by and pick one up.
Please email me at bill@bospress.net to discuss.
Bill
It would not be a bad idea to go online to Mohawks website and order a swatch book. If you have an Xpedx in town you can swing by and pick one up.
Please email me at bill@bospress.net to discuss.
Bill
Bill,
Could you give me a few recommendations of publishers that I can submit my work to? I know that B.O.S. mirrors Black Sparrow in some areas...but any other publishers with similar style would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Could you give me a few recommendations of publishers that I can submit my work to? I know that B.O.S. mirrors Black Sparrow in some areas...but any other publishers with similar style would be appreciated.
Thanks,
mjp
Founding member
You should submit your work to publications/publishers that you read. That's the only way to know whether they are on your wavelength.
Small press publishers aren't HarperCollins or Random House, so if you can't be bothered to buy their products and read them, it's unlikely most of them will bother to publish you. That's not always the case, of course, but reading a publication/publisher has always been the best way to know if you should send them your work.
Pro Tip: Typing things like "what publishers are like..." or "is there any small presses..." are going to rub a lot of editors the wrong way, since they are fussy about trivial things like, you know, grammar and stuff. FYI.
Small press publishers aren't HarperCollins or Random House, so if you can't be bothered to buy their products and read them, it's unlikely most of them will bother to publish you. That's not always the case, of course, but reading a publication/publisher has always been the best way to know if you should send them your work.
Pro Tip: Typing things like "what publishers are like..." or "is there any small presses..." are going to rub a lot of editors the wrong way, since they are fussy about trivial things like, you know, grammar and stuff. FYI.
understandable, but there is a lot of noise in this modern world with a lot less time to do anything meaningful. this isnt the old days. basically, you answered my question and that just about solves the problem.
basically, I want to know who is currently publishing the next charles bukowski.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
It is a tough question. Those publishers that print letterpress, like myself will be able to do less releases as they take a lot longer while on the other end of the spectrum, the online publishers can put out a release a day by just uploading the poetry (I know that it is not that easy.)
It is a good idea to put a list together. No need to replicate SPR, but a list of publishers that specialize in "our kind" of poetry.
Another thing to do, if you are looking for someone that publishes writing similar to Bukowski, is to submit to magazines that were around and publishing Bukowski. Not a whole hell of a lit still around, but a few that really come to mind are:
Gargoyle (Virginia)
Abraxas (Madison, WI, I believe)
Evergreen (Online only, I think, if they are even still doing that)
NYQ (New York)
Then you have folks that really are into the whole DIY side of publishing like Bree in Cleveland (Green Panda Press), Leah Angstman (Alternating Current, Bill Schute (Kendra Steiner Editions). If you send these publishers something that they dig, they can get the work out fast.
There are a lot more, but I am tired and need sleep.
Have you checked out the late Len Fulton's site (Small Press Review). They had a listing of small presses. Not sure what they are doing now that he passed, although they seem to maintain the database.
On second thought, since very few are publishing Bukowski today, it may be a good idea to read work by contemporary poets that you dog and submit where they are being published. What other contemporary poets do you read?
Bill
It is a good idea to put a list together. No need to replicate SPR, but a list of publishers that specialize in "our kind" of poetry.
Another thing to do, if you are looking for someone that publishes writing similar to Bukowski, is to submit to magazines that were around and publishing Bukowski. Not a whole hell of a lit still around, but a few that really come to mind are:
Gargoyle (Virginia)
Abraxas (Madison, WI, I believe)
Evergreen (Online only, I think, if they are even still doing that)
NYQ (New York)
Then you have folks that really are into the whole DIY side of publishing like Bree in Cleveland (Green Panda Press), Leah Angstman (Alternating Current, Bill Schute (Kendra Steiner Editions). If you send these publishers something that they dig, they can get the work out fast.
There are a lot more, but I am tired and need sleep.
Have you checked out the late Len Fulton's site (Small Press Review). They had a listing of small presses. Not sure what they are doing now that he passed, although they seem to maintain the database.
On second thought, since very few are publishing Bukowski today, it may be a good idea to read work by contemporary poets that you dog and submit where they are being published. What other contemporary poets do you read?
Bill
Coming up across the Ohio river from Nashville back home to MI (not that anyone cares in particular), I stopped in at a real quality small bookstore by the name of Village Lights in downtown Madison, IN to find something by my other 20th century writer-liver-hero (besides Bukowski); a guy by the name of Harlan Hubbard. He and Bukowski have in common that neither one has much good to say about people or society, but Hubbard went down and lived by the river for thirty years, whereas Bukowski stayed right in the middle of the junkyards and high-risers duking it out with the concrete demons of contemporary urban dwelling.
Anyway bad digression I doubt most of yall give two hoots about a guy like Hubbard, but the upshot was that at the bookstore they had a full case display of small press publications. Something you don't see every day. Some beautiful work by a Kentuckian outfit name of Larkspur Press.
Anyway bad digression I doubt most of yall give two hoots about a guy like Hubbard, but the upshot was that at the bookstore they had a full case display of small press publications. Something you don't see every day. Some beautiful work by a Kentuckian outfit name of Larkspur Press.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I have never heard of Larkspur, but they seem to do amazing work.
They only had paperbacks on display at the bookstore. Very 'hand-made' quality to them. Since I'm new to appreciating small press publications, I can't describe the binding very well but the pages were stitched in bundles of 8 or so, and then pasted (i believe) all together to a back sheet of thicker card stock, maybe 80lb. Then the front/back cover (same cardstock) was simply wrapped around the whole thing like a dust-jacket. I hadn't recalled seeing that before, where the cover was just floating that way, and not attached to the book itself. Is that typical for paperback small press publication?
As far as content, I didn't dig real deep into the poetry of the books on the shelf, since I have to be in a specific 'okay I'm going to open up to discover a new poet now' mindset, and at that time I was more focused on getting works by and about a couple of guys I already knew I could rely on. But I am a sucker for woodcuts, and it seemed to me that the woodcut aesthetic blended perfectly with the slightly marbled cover card stock. Beautiful books to look at for sure.
Other question, Bill, do you have stores that do displays of your stuff, too? It seems like that would be an easy sell, just because that display of small-press work gave the whole store an atmosphere of artisanal beauty that most bookstores, with their racks of plastic-looking industrial byproduct, are lacking.
As far as content, I didn't dig real deep into the poetry of the books on the shelf, since I have to be in a specific 'okay I'm going to open up to discover a new poet now' mindset, and at that time I was more focused on getting works by and about a couple of guys I already knew I could rely on. But I am a sucker for woodcuts, and it seemed to me that the woodcut aesthetic blended perfectly with the slightly marbled cover card stock. Beautiful books to look at for sure.
Other question, Bill, do you have stores that do displays of your stuff, too? It seems like that would be an easy sell, just because that display of small-press work gave the whole store an atmosphere of artisanal beauty that most bookstores, with their racks of plastic-looking industrial byproduct, are lacking.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I sell mostly through my website, but have a few GREAT dealers that carry my stuff. The problem is that these are not traditional "bookstores" but are book dealers (Water Row Books, Jeff Maser are my two best dealers). They do not have a traditional store that can be browsed in person. I have a few titles in great stores (Acorn Books in Dover, City Lights in San Francisco, Oak Knoll in New Castle Delaware, Kilgore in Denver), but not a lot. This is a good way to get new readers. The problem with these small book stores is that they almost never pay. They seem to have every intention of paying, but theirs is a tough business and when it comes time to pay the bills, they can either pay their biggest distributor and get the best selling titles, or pay people like me. They tend to push people like me off until the day that they close their doors. I have a few bookstores that I have sent books to, and NEVER been paid. All of the ones that I mentioned above are great customer and always good for the money.
I am sure that with a push, I could get my books in a bunch of independent book stores. I'm also sure that I will never be paid for most, if not all of these books EVER.
For example, I have a bookstore in Cleveland that owes me several hundred dollars and I could not even get them to reply to my email asking for payment. Finally I just gave up. They are still in business and likely still have some of my books. that they will some day sell for 100% profit.
Hosh
hoshomccreesh.com
My experience with my local bookstores, and trying to hustle them with books I've written is varied...as in "it varies...from totally fucking aggravating to a complete waste of time."
Abject refusal to answers phone calls and emails is as good as it's been for me. Worse is when they DO bother to stock 3 copies...for 2 months...then lose one and say "oh, well, sorry" and then, weeks later when they find it under an old pair of shoes, have the gall to call me up and say "Yeah, we told you to come pick up your book weeks ago..."
Better to sell books in a bar, or out of an old steamer trunk...
Abject refusal to answers phone calls and emails is as good as it's been for me. Worse is when they DO bother to stock 3 copies...for 2 months...then lose one and say "oh, well, sorry" and then, weeks later when they find it under an old pair of shoes, have the gall to call me up and say "Yeah, we told you to come pick up your book weeks ago..."
Better to sell books in a bar, or out of an old steamer trunk...
Gotta thank you Bill! Hearing about the back end of contemporary small press publishing and distribution, as challenging as it sounds, is fascinating too. It would seem like those small bookstores would have some solidarity with the small press, but I guess paying the bills comes first - and you're right, the bookstore game is tough and tight in its own right.
I had never really heard of a 'book dealer' before, but I looked up Water Row Books to see what it was like. Clicked on 'Charles Bukowski' and right there I saw your collection of 10 watercolor postcards. Beautiful stuff! I notice they have a 'search bar' at the top of the page, but it only works by 'author' and 'title,' not by 'publisher' :/ I guess if somebody is into your editions specifically they can just cruise over to bospress.net though ...
Reminds me a little bit of what I've read about Bukowski's first 15 years or so of trying to get his work out to publishing houses, stuffing envelop after envelop. Obviously in his case persistence paid off, but so did being fucking awesome.