WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.750 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:00:01.750 --> 00:00:03.390 align:middle line:84% So just as there are several joys, 00:00:03.390 --> 00:00:07.170 align:middle line:84% there probably several challenges as well. 00:00:07.170 --> 00:00:14.970 align:middle line:84% I'm curious about the challenges of attracting a readership 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:18.165 align:middle line:84% and how do you create a relationship with your readers? 00:00:18.165 --> 00:00:22.810 align:middle line:90% 00:00:22.810 --> 00:00:29.110 align:middle line:84% The wonderful and very famous small press publisher Jonathan 00:00:29.110 --> 00:00:33.220 align:middle line:84% Williams, who ran Jargon Books for ages, 00:00:33.220 --> 00:00:37.960 align:middle line:84% once said there are 200 readers of poetry in this country 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:39.280 align:middle line:90% and I know every one of them. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:41.530 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:44.360 align:middle line:84% Now Jonathan was something of a curmudgeon. 00:00:44.360 --> 00:00:48.280 align:middle line:84% I think it's right that Chris framed us 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:51.760 align:middle line:90% as "one of the challenges." 00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:54.430 align:middle line:84% And I don't know that I can answer that challenge, 00:00:54.430 --> 00:00:58.510 align:middle line:84% but we do certainly still know a number of our readers 00:00:58.510 --> 00:01:01.090 align:middle line:84% or know who they are, although I think that is 00:01:01.090 --> 00:01:03.790 align:middle line:90% changing in this digital age. 00:01:03.790 --> 00:01:09.670 align:middle line:84% And you know, I know even in the last four to six years, 00:01:09.670 --> 00:01:15.040 align:middle line:84% we are selling more books than we ever have 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.280 align:middle line:90% and reaching more readers. 00:01:18.280 --> 00:01:21.460 align:middle line:84% And I don't know who all those are anymore 00:01:21.460 --> 00:01:25.370 align:middle line:84% and it was an exaggeration that I ever did. 00:01:25.370 --> 00:01:29.770 align:middle line:84% But I don't know that I think of it 00:01:29.770 --> 00:01:32.770 align:middle line:84% as a part of the work I could control 00:01:32.770 --> 00:01:36.070 align:middle line:90% or would want to, anyway. 00:01:36.070 --> 00:01:39.070 align:middle line:84% I don't think that one just publishes a book 00:01:39.070 --> 00:01:41.203 align:middle line:84% and then says eh, you know, it's out in the world, 00:01:41.203 --> 00:01:42.370 align:middle line:90% I don't have to do anything. 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:46.120 align:middle line:84% I used to work very hard for them, you travel for them, 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:49.450 align:middle line:84% you write about them, you get other people 00:01:49.450 --> 00:01:50.530 align:middle line:90% to write about them. 00:01:50.530 --> 00:01:54.280 align:middle line:84% You work to place them in individual bookstores. 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:56.620 align:middle line:84% You work to place them in festivals and fairs, 00:01:56.620 --> 00:01:57.685 align:middle line:90% and all sorts of things. 00:01:57.685 --> 00:02:00.860 align:middle line:90% 00:02:00.860 --> 00:02:05.680 align:middle line:84% But all that said, some books are 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:08.130 align:middle line:84% going to find much wider readership than others. 00:02:08.130 --> 00:02:10.815 align:middle line:84% I know I'm hardly in the mix, I'll stop. 00:02:10.815 --> 00:02:12.190 align:middle line:84% But one thing I would like to say 00:02:12.190 --> 00:02:18.760 align:middle line:84% is I feel like our commitment, and this is maybe 00:02:18.760 --> 00:02:22.510 align:middle line:84% part of being non-profit that I don't know that, that is 00:02:22.510 --> 00:02:26.830 align:middle line:84% the telling thing here is equal to our books that 00:02:26.830 --> 00:02:29.360 align:middle line:84% sell the least as to those that sell the most. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:33.820 align:middle line:84% It is not more important to me that 00:02:33.820 --> 00:02:38.380 align:middle line:84% to spend time on the books that are selling the most. 00:02:38.380 --> 00:02:41.980 align:middle line:84% I think that we publish things with the vision of what 00:02:41.980 --> 00:02:42.980 align:middle line:90% we want to publish. 00:02:42.980 --> 00:02:45.810 align:middle line:84% And so our full commitment is behind everything. 00:02:45.810 --> 00:02:51.460 align:middle line:90% 00:02:51.460 --> 00:02:55.910 align:middle line:84% Yeah, I certainly don't know who all our readers are, happily. 00:02:55.910 --> 00:02:59.320 align:middle line:84% And I remember that statement and perhaps 00:02:59.320 --> 00:03:03.460 align:middle line:84% more recently, it's bumped up from 200 to 1,000 poetry 00:03:03.460 --> 00:03:04.780 align:middle line:90% readers in the US. 00:03:04.780 --> 00:03:06.220 align:middle line:84% I don't know how true it is, but. 00:03:06.220 --> 00:03:10.840 align:middle line:90% 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:15.100 align:middle line:84% So the question, is that a challenge-- 00:03:15.100 --> 00:03:19.310 align:middle line:84% are getting our books to our readers? 00:03:19.310 --> 00:03:23.980 align:middle line:84% I would put that on the joy side of the list actually as well 00:03:23.980 --> 00:03:28.630 align:middle line:84% and our authors get the books to the readers as well. 00:03:28.630 --> 00:03:32.950 align:middle line:84% They do readings, and signings, and travel, 00:03:32.950 --> 00:03:36.580 align:middle line:84% and are talking about the books as much as we are. 00:03:36.580 --> 00:03:43.570 align:middle line:84% And we have a weekly newsletter online, and a blog, 00:03:43.570 --> 00:03:44.260 align:middle line:90% and website. 00:03:44.260 --> 00:03:49.840 align:middle line:84% And we're starting to do what's called virtual Book Tours, so 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:52.750 align:middle line:84% sending our books around to different blogs 00:03:52.750 --> 00:03:58.300 align:middle line:84% every week or month, so trying to really use the internet 00:03:58.300 --> 00:04:01.960 align:middle line:84% to attract a new kind of readership. 00:04:01.960 --> 00:04:04.450 align:middle line:84% And I would definitely agree with Charles 00:04:04.450 --> 00:04:08.350 align:middle line:84% in that perhaps the books that need our attention more 00:04:08.350 --> 00:04:11.230 align:middle line:84% are the ones that don't sell themselves as easily 00:04:11.230 --> 00:04:14.290 align:middle line:90% and that's really fun too. 00:04:14.290 --> 00:04:15.940 align:middle line:84% I mean, there's a huge commitment 00:04:15.940 --> 00:04:20.470 align:middle line:84% to whatever it is that we bring in and we spend our time-- 00:04:20.470 --> 00:04:24.490 align:middle line:84% editing, and designing, and making, and getting out 00:04:24.490 --> 00:04:26.410 align:middle line:84% into the world that it certainly doesn't 00:04:26.410 --> 00:04:29.440 align:middle line:84% stop after the books are delivered to our warehouse 00:04:29.440 --> 00:04:32.540 align:middle line:84% or we finished finding them ourselves. 00:04:32.540 --> 00:04:34.660 align:middle line:84% So that's part of the joy too, is 00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:37.120 align:middle line:84% helping them have a life out there in the world. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:41.440 align:middle line:90% 00:04:41.440 --> 00:04:44.310 align:middle line:84% One of the things that we found to be very useful in attracting 00:04:44.310 --> 00:04:49.980 align:middle line:84% a readership is him, out there in the breezeway, who's 00:04:49.980 --> 00:04:50.890 align:middle line:90% turning slowly. 00:04:50.890 --> 00:04:52.300 align:middle line:90% It's Richard Siken. 00:04:52.300 --> 00:04:53.520 align:middle line:90% Richard Siken, really? 00:04:53.520 --> 00:04:57.360 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:00.925 align:middle line:84% So you say Spork like, Oh, is that Richard Siken's journal? 00:05:00.925 --> 00:05:04.800 align:middle line:90% And I say, yeah, yeah, it is. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:07.050 align:middle line:84% And then we got Drew Krewer as one of our authors 00:05:07.050 --> 00:05:07.590 align:middle line:90% over there. 00:05:07.590 --> 00:05:09.573 align:middle line:90% Hello, Drew. 00:05:09.573 --> 00:05:11.490 align:middle line:84% So they attract a readership all on their own. 00:05:11.490 --> 00:05:15.600 align:middle line:84% And we also have every week, we publish 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:23.040 align:middle line:84% something online, a fiction piece and then a poetry, bit. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:26.790 align:middle line:84% And that I think is there's a constant gauge when 00:05:26.790 --> 00:05:31.080 align:middle line:84% we respond personally to every single submission that we get. 00:05:31.080 --> 00:05:34.020 align:middle line:84% Not just writing personally and saying no, 00:05:34.020 --> 00:05:37.500 align:middle line:84% but you know, actually giving complete and thoughtful 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:41.130 align:middle line:84% responses to every single thing, which we think 00:05:41.130 --> 00:05:43.290 align:middle line:90% makes people happy with us. 00:05:43.290 --> 00:05:45.660 align:middle line:84% Even when we're saying no, we always get thank you, 00:05:45.660 --> 00:05:48.310 align:middle line:84% Oh my god, you actually wrote a paragraph to me. 00:05:48.310 --> 00:05:50.580 align:middle line:84% And so I feel like we are just constantly 00:05:50.580 --> 00:05:56.140 align:middle line:84% in contact with everybody, with -you use constant contact, 00:05:56.140 --> 00:05:56.910 align:middle line:90% don't you? 00:05:56.910 --> 00:05:59.160 align:middle line:84% She uses constant contact, I didn't mean to use that. 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:02.190 align:middle line:84% We don't use constant contact, we are in constant contact 00:06:02.190 --> 00:06:04.620 align:middle line:84% with the people who are engaging with our magazine 00:06:04.620 --> 00:06:07.410 align:middle line:90% and our books. 00:06:07.410 --> 00:06:12.210 align:middle line:84% Other than that, where we're just out sometimes all 00:06:12.210 --> 00:06:18.510 align:middle line:84% over the place, talking about the awesome things that we do. 00:06:18.510 --> 00:06:21.720 align:middle line:84% We were up until 4:00 in the morning sanding books. 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:23.850 align:middle line:84% We sand the edges of our books, so I'm 00:06:23.850 --> 00:06:26.760 align:middle line:84% going to drift periodically in my answers. 00:06:26.760 --> 00:06:30.780 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:06:30.780 --> 00:06:32.500 align:middle line:90% Thanks for the warning. 00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:33.000 align:middle line:90%