Sunlight at Midnight, Darkness at Noon

[Hosh]

For those who have yet to see Bill's latest opus...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iT50VFtVy.../TIyHP9byQRo/s1600-h/cc_opens_sunlight-10.jpg

This is a PRESENTATION COPY, which included an original painting by each author & comes in a BoSP clamshell. The binding smells like REDEMPTION.

The sold-out LETTERED EDITION (which a handful here have ordered) comes bound in red cloth, & they're currently making their way to Chi-town for eventual distribution to the faithful worldwide! It looks a little something like this:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iT50VFtVy_I/ShWW_U3Jz-I/AAAAAAAAIl0/lhIMh8a3JDY/s1600-h/hmcc3.JPG

A box full of the trade edition (which is on sale right now) looks like this:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iT50VFtVy_I/ShSmAviNFkI/AAAAAAAAIlk/Dx_ATu-eo4A/s1600-h/Sunlight+box.jpg

& all versions come with a copy of THE SUNLIGHT TAPES, designed by Sean Lynch & using Chris Roberts terrific artwork again. The CDs should look like this:

Cover: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iT50VFtVy_I/Sf2kgj_pf1I/AAAAAAAAIfY/W3-gntQDnVI/s1600-h/sunlight+tapes.jpg

and the Liner Notes: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iT50VFtVy...Q/gXgLHxKvBR0/s1600-h/sunlight+tapes+back.jpg

If you haven't already, we hope you'll consider picking up a trade edition!

 

[hoochmonkey9]

I can't see the pics. can anyone? or is it just me?

 

[Gerard K H Love]

nor I.

 

[hank solo]

I couldn't in the thread, so I checked the URLS. There they are. Quirky. Hope you don't mind hosh, i changed them to links.

 

[marina del rey]

I know it's been said a dozen times before, but the art on the cover is truly fantastic. Beautiful book. And I'm sure the words inside are just as great. I missed out on the lettered copies, but I'll definitely pick up a trade edition.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

I'm an ass. I should have sucked it up and just gone for it.

Lovely work. I'm sure the words are easily as good.

 

[strangegirl]

Great pics Hosh. I have said it before and I'll say it again, Can't wait to get this baby in my hot little hands. Oh and the CD... added bonus.. yee haw! Now I'll have a voice to go with the mosaic picture of you. Cool!

 

[Hosh]

I couldn't in the thread, so I checked the URLS. There they are. Quirky. Hope you don't mind hosh, i changed them to links.

Sorry everyone, that I can't make the glowing box work right. Thanks for the fix, Hank.

I can't thank everyone enough--for all they did to make the book look so fantastic, & all of you for the kind words & support. It's no secret, I am really proud of this book!

& Purple--man, it's a nice book, but certainly nothing to live under during the back east winters...so you made the right choice...a house is infinitely more useful!

 

[Purple Stickpin]

Yeah, but I could have had both. Spouse anxiety for no good reason; she would get damp over that too.

 

[strangegirl]

okay dumb question, So who will get the Presentation Copies? because the gold on those things are really sweet. They look like they have leather bindings.
All of the books are beautiful.

 

[cunningham]

thanks everyone for the good words; this book in any of its forms is an amazing thing, and I am humbled by the efforts of everyone involved.

the presentation copies are going to the publisher; the illustrator; the layout king; the master book binder; the two worthless authors; and finally a special benefactor who helped bring aspects of this production to life.

I just finished signing all of them and they will be at Orange Alert Press on Saturday. the nice thing about the 26 lettered is the MANUSCRIPT broads; the presentation copies don't have the poems...

really, I wept a bit when I opened that box and held one of them...the silky binding, the genius layout, the cover art, all of it...

 

[bospress.net]

I am going to announce the option of having a custom clamshell made to fit them book. The price will be $60 in the US and $70 overseas, postage included, of course. The clamshell will be in matching red to match the spine (I will use the EXACT same material).

Anyone interested can PM or e-mail me. No hurry though. I can make these whenever.


Bill

 

[cunningham]

can anyone from BUK NET who ordered a Hardback version of SUNLIGHT please PM me or hosh with your address? I got some of them from the GPP Rolls but we lack a couple.

books start shipping tomorrow! we hope everyone enjoys the read and the craftsmanship of Big Bill Roberts and his tiny assistant, the Smallest Person In The World, miniscule ol' Hosho McCreesh.

;)

thanks again for the support...

(of course, the trade paperback is still available for anyone interested..)

 

[HarryC13]

Echoes of everyone else ... beautiful cover, can't wait to read. Count me in for a trade paperback ...

 

[Hosh]

Thanks HarryC13!

A quick update: all paid copies SHOULD be landing on the mail trucks this week...so they should be in our waiting hands soon. Thanks much to all the kind folks here who've graciously supported the book. Hope you all like the book & the CD too...our splintered Noot faction did a bang up job!

 

[Hosh]

Ugh...another update--& a small press lesson learned:

Unbeknownst to us, these POD printers piggyback, under the umbrage of Amazon, with certain booksellers...& list small press books for sale. How can they buy a book for $16 + $3 shipping from the small presses & sell it for $12+$4 shipping you ask?

Answer: they can't.

Instead they get copies directly from the POD printer (& who knows how cheaply), sell them via storefronts on Amazon...the buyer pays the shipping, & they keep the white meat. Now, the printer pays the publisher something--but I don't know how much--so I guess the screwjob could be worse...but I just wanted to make it clear to folks here that buying the book through Amazon will not included a CD...as the orders aren't filled via our 100trade copies, but rather, a new book is just printed at the printer & shipped out.

Unfortunately, it also means our colophon is wrong. Well, more inaccurate than wrong...

There are
~7 clamshells presentation copies + both author's paintings + CDs;
~26 lettered hardbacks w/ manuscript broadsides & CDs;
~100 trade copies that come with the CD
~AND there are an indeterminate number of NAKED, RED-HEADED, BASTARD STEPCHILD copies - sold via Amazon, with no CD.

Okay--just wanted to clear the air, as we just found out this morning...& were a little put off by it.

And it got us thinking: As a response to the PODprinters striking up these sorta deals with massive bookselling conglomerates--I'd recommend that all small press types, who must use their great printing prices to put out books, should DEFINITELY make additional editons (hardbacks, extras like broadsides or CDs included, etc.) of each project...such that we use Amazon to reach new people...while the WISEST, TRUEST small press fans can still buy special editions & support presses directly! FIGHT THE POWER!

Okay...we've cracked that case, back to Matlock...

 

[bospress.net]

Hosho,
Amazon is pure evil. I'm not kidding.


Is there any way for the publisher to have the book pulled from the site? The reason that I ask is that Amazon makes a lot of money fucking the small press. I'll give you a hypothetical:

They buy the book from the printer for $5 each.
They sell the book for $12.
The Printer pays the publisher 10% of the sale price ($5 was the sale price from the printer).

Amazon makes $7 on the sale of the book
the printer makes $4.50 on the sale of the book
The publisher makes $.45 on the sale of the book
The authors each make $.025 on the sale of the book.


If it were me, I'd try to find a way to get the book removed from Amazon.com. It is just the principal. We are about supporting those out in the trenches, not exploiting the small publishers and poets.

Bill

p.s. The above were estimets. Feel free to play with the numbers and see how the publisher and poets do not get fucked by the man in this deal...

 

[mjp]

You can't pull it from Amazon, but you can delete the project from the POD site (or in some cases make it "not public").

 

[Hosh]

Yeah...I'm been rolling it around in my noodle all day &, despite trying to 'make the best out of a bad situation,' I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.

Just as the terrible grocery stores have driven people back to locally grown produce, so Amazon drives the small press back to local printshops so, at the very least, you can keep the lion's share of the profits (& by profits, I mean the 14 cents you clear after covering your nut...IF you're lucky).

On the upshot--all the folks here will likely only ever see the special, hand-made editions & can take heart in the fact that everyone involved really gave themselves to the book...& they came out beautifully.

& if those numbers of Bill's are right...honestly, shame on them all. And their filthy, artless hearts will reap the whirlwind...

 

[strangegirl]

well that certainly has convinced me to not buy on Amazon. I am happy i got to buy my copy from the Authors themselves.
And it seems even more evil that you can't pull your book from Amazon and have to delete it from the POD, which i am guessing means Production on Demand. Sorry still learnin the lingo.
So is it that if you want to sell through Amazon you have to have a POD deal?
It really is unfortunate that in order to reach a broader audience you have to sell through them and they take such liberties. Sometimes i guess you really do have to sell your soul to the devil.

 

[marina del rey]

A quick update: all paid copies SHOULD be landing on the mail trucks this week...so they should be in our waiting hands soon...

Well, that was quick - my copy landed in the mailbox today. It really looks great. Looking forward to getting started on it tonight.

 

[mjp]

That means I should get it today. Woot! As the kids say.

 

[Hosh]

It really looks great. Looking forward to getting started on it tonight.

Thanks much MDR!

Have the books landed for anyone else yet?

They haven't yet made it back to my neck of the woods...but a few reports are trickling in...

 

[hoochmonkey9]

got mine today. haven't read any yet, but it's a beautiful thing to hold.

congrats to all involved.

 

[Magick Stallion]

Just got my copy today and started reading a bit. There's a lot of lines in there that blast off the page and cut through everything. Really nice work. Will be reading more tonight.

All I need now is a clam shell case for the book.
And a presentation copy.

 

[mjp]

Received mine yesterday. Does the USPS transport Media Mail in spinning cement mixers? The battered and bruised book seem to suggest they do.

But it is in one piece, and it is a fine chunk of work. I only had a chance to read a few pages last night, but listened to the CD on the way to work today. Now the mysterious men have voices that I can associate with my tenuous and blurry mental images of them.

Fine bookmanship, fine words - it's a sparkly production all the way through. You two must feel like rock stars. Or proud fathers or something.

 

[Magick Stallion]

yeah, with my copy I think it was Rugby.

 

[Hosh]

Everyone--thanks much for the kind words. Have I said we're really proud of the book? If I haven't, well we are.

The USPS, on the other hand...we're not so proud of. Chalk it up as yet another lesson learned the hard way...We're aware of some minor shipping problems--& by minor we mean MAJOR. Ugh.

However, we are currently schemeing on exactly how to make it right. For those currently reading--you might strive to finish...as our plan MAY involve rebinding the books (at no cost to you, of course). We will contact everyone soon...

For now, enjoy the book for what it is... & we'll make it right soon!

 

[Black Swan]

I also got my copy a couple of days ago. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL.
Great work. I am opening it in a few minutes.

 

[bospress.net]

What is the condition of the book? Was it in a box or in a padded envelope?

Bill