Comments on: Norman Lock interview and new website http://www.eugenelim.com/2009/03/30/norman-lock-interview-and-new-website/ 임유진 Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:19:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: EM http://www.eugenelim.com/2009/03/30/norman-lock-interview-and-new-website/comment-page-1/#comment-7182 EM Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:09:27 +0000 http://www.eugenelim.com/?p=91#comment-7182 Only 50 readers is an unfortunate testament to the scarcity of people who read small press lit. But it's called the small press for a reason. The hard truth is that most small press titles, as well as academic titles, will only be purchased by a couple hundred people, some of them libraries, and those may sit on shelves forever and never read. Unless you're writing for a paycheck, as I often do, you are writing for a personal reason and publication and sales should not matter -- as is the case with some things I write: they are for me, no one else, but if they find print and others enjoy them, so be it. This is pretty much the case of my two recent autoethnographic books, ZONA NORTE and AUTO/ETHNOGRAPHIES: I'll be lucky if they sell 100 copies by the end of the year, but that is not the reason why I wrote those books. Another cold hard fact is that commercially published books can flop as bad as well. There are many books that have had five fugure advances, printings of 30,000, publicity, and then got bad reviews (or none) and sold less than 500 copies. This is the case with some of Lish's books, as Gerald Howard stated in his essay on editing Lish for Slate, and that My Romance was a market failure. Only 50 readers is an unfortunate testament to the scarcity of people who read small press lit. But it’s called the small press for a reason.

The hard truth is that most small press titles, as well as academic titles, will only be purchased by a couple hundred people, some of them libraries, and those may sit on shelves forever and never read.

Unless you’re writing for a paycheck, as I often do, you are writing for a personal reason and publication and sales should not matter — as is the case with some things I write: they are for me, no one else, but if they find print and others enjoy them, so be it. This is pretty much the case of my two recent autoethnographic books, ZONA NORTE and AUTO/ETHNOGRAPHIES: I’ll be lucky if they sell 100 copies by the end of the year, but that is not the reason why I wrote those books.

Another cold hard fact is that commercially published books can flop as bad as well. There are many books that have had five fugure advances, printings of 30,000, publicity, and then got bad reviews (or none) and sold less than 500 copies. This is the case with some of Lish’s books, as Gerald Howard stated in his essay on editing Lish for Slate, and that My Romance was a market failure.

]]> By: <HTMLGIANT> > Blog Archive » Booklyfe 2 http://www.eugenelim.com/2009/03/30/norman-lock-interview-and-new-website/comment-page-1/#comment-3998 <HTMLGIANT> > Blog Archive » Booklyfe 2 Fri, 01 May 2009 22:05:38 +0000 http://www.eugenelim.com/?p=91#comment-3998 [...] And here’s Norman Lock on small presses & print vs. digital, via Eugene Lim’s wonder... [...] [...] And here’s Norman Lock on small presses & print vs. digital, via Eugene Lim’s wonder… [...]

]]> By: eugene http://www.eugenelim.com/2009/03/30/norman-lock-interview-and-new-website/comment-page-1/#comment-3143 eugene Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:51:32 +0000 http://www.eugenelim.com/?p=91#comment-3143 what can one do. stumbled just now, while thinking about what you write, Michael, on this report via Mobylives about "a legendary publishing house that has been a major contributor to Indian literary history. Many great Indian writers got there start there — Vikram Seth, Agha Shahid Ali, Meena Alexander and many others. And the beauty part is, the house is still going strong. 'Over 3,500 titles have appeared so far under this imprint — in elegantly produced, handloom sari-bound volumes — with the title embossed in exquisite calligraph,” ... “It began in 1958 as a small movement spearheaded by a handful of aspiring writers in Kolkata (then Calcutta), and now, when the initial group has scattered to distant locations and diverse vocations, the founder member Purushottama Lal has kept it going almost single-handed, unaffected by praise, undeterred by criticism.'"</a> ...they do a 100 titles a year, which lal edits, proofreads, and lays outs himself. http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/?p=4814 what can one do. stumbled just now, while thinking about what you write, Michael, on this report via Mobylives about “a legendary publishing house that has been a major contributor to Indian literary history. Many great Indian writers got there start there — Vikram Seth, Agha Shahid Ali, Meena Alexander and many others. And the beauty part is, the house is still going strong. ‘Over 3,500 titles have appeared so far under this imprint — in elegantly produced, handloom sari-bound volumes — with the title embossed in exquisite calligraph,” … “It began in 1958 as a small movement spearheaded by a handful of aspiring writers in Kolkata (then Calcutta), and now, when the initial group has scattered to distant locations and diverse vocations, the founder member Purushottama Lal has kept it going almost single-handed, unaffected by praise, undeterred by criticism.’” …they do a 100 titles a year, which lal edits, proofreads, and lays outs himself.
http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/?p=4814

]]> By: Michael Hemmingson http://www.eugenelim.com/2009/03/30/norman-lock-interview-and-new-website/comment-page-1/#comment-3135 Michael Hemmingson Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:39:53 +0000 http://www.eugenelim.com/?p=91#comment-3135 Only 50 readers is an unfortunate testament to the scarcity of people who read small press lit. But it's called the small press for a reason. The hard truth is that most small press titles, as well as academic titles, will only be purchased by a couple hundred people, some of them libraries, and those may sit on shelves forever and never read. Unless you're writing for a paycheck, as I often do, you are writing for a personal reason and publication and sales should not matter -- as is the case with some things I write: they are for me, no one else, but if they find print and others enjoy them, so be it. This is pretty much the case of my two recent autoethnographic books, ZONA NORTE and AUTO/ETHNOGRAPHIES: I'll be lucky if they sell 100 copies by the end of the year, but that is not the reason why I wrote those books. Another cold hard fact is that commercially published books can flop as bad as well. There are many books that have had five fugure advances, printings of 30,000, publicity, and then got bad reviews (or none) and sold less than 500 copies. This is the case with some of Lish's books, as Gerald Howard stated in his essay on editing Lish for Slate, and that My Romance was a market failure. Only 50 readers is an unfortunate testament to the scarcity of people who read small press lit. But it’s called the small press for a reason.

The hard truth is that most small press titles, as well as academic titles, will only be purchased by a couple hundred people, some of them libraries, and those may sit on shelves forever and never read.

Unless you’re writing for a paycheck, as I often do, you are writing for a personal reason and publication and sales should not matter — as is the case with some things I write: they are for me, no one else, but if they find print and others enjoy them, so be it. This is pretty much the case of my two recent autoethnographic books, ZONA NORTE and AUTO/ETHNOGRAPHIES: I’ll be lucky if they sell 100 copies by the end of the year, but that is not the reason why I wrote those books.

Another cold hard fact is that commercially published books can flop as bad as well. There are many books that have had five fugure advances, printings of 30,000, publicity, and then got bad reviews (or none) and sold less than 500 copies. This is the case with some of Lish’s books, as Gerald Howard stated in his essay on editing Lish for Slate, and that My Romance was a market failure.

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