Don't worry Wolf...you're not crushing my dreams.
In the music industry, if you really want to make yourself known, you have to spend a bit of dinero: $500-2000 to record some tracks at a local studio. Of course, you could always be "found" by someone who is willing to "invest" in you...Sycamore had such an opportunity in late '93. A local producer in St. Louis wanted to record us, and was going to pay for the studio time. We turned it down...why? Lack of control...we would have had no control over the production of our music. Fuck that...I don't mind input, b/c I don't know everything, but I'll be damned if I'm going to completely give up one of the most important parts of the creative process. And I don't feel bad about that decision one damned bit. Hell, if Sycamore were to be put back together now, we could do every piece of the process on our own. An 8-track recorder isn't that expensive anymore, we could produce it ourselves, then put the shit out on the net and burn our own CDs. And me being the self-promotion nut that I am, I'd hit every damned radio station that would be open to our musical style.
The print publishing industry sorta works the same way. If I really wanted to make a statement in the literary world, I would have to immerse myself in the "scene," both here in Philadelphia and in New York City. Hiring an agent would
help, and it probably wouldn't hurt to put a book together. But that cost dinero...a couple of thousand easily, which el sicómoro doesn't quite have at the moment.
I'm in a good spot though: I have a website that has featured my poetry for 4 years now and a national site that has several of my works. Not to mention, an audience of perhaps thousands here on the Cellar. (Though judging from the views of my most recent work I posted
here, nobody cared.
) I'm also fortunate that I live in a city with some of the nation's finest colleges, and live near one of the biggest publishing centers (if not the biggest) in the world--New York City. Not to mention, technology today allows people to do the DIY method with print publishing as well.
Now, regarding this vanity press house, I didn't take a lot of stock in it to begin with...you'll notice that that e-mail was sent to me almost 2 weeks ago. I dealt with a similar situation called the
International Library of Poetry in suburban Baltimore a couple of years ago. They kept saying they would publish me, and I kept looking for the book, but surprise, surprise, I've never seen it on Amazon or B&N. And they wanted my money too--not only to buy a book, but to publish a short biography of myself. (They both wanted $25 extra for that shit.) I'm from the Show-Me State, you gotta show me.
So, I'll keep writing, and maybe I can finally make some things happen, especially now that I'm out of work again. I happen to think I'm a pretty good writer, and perhaps some day, someone important will think so too.
Hubris (hopefully he'll read this)...how about the next time I'm in Baltimore, we head over to this joint in Owings Mills to see if they're truly legit...would you mind bringing your Desert Eagle along?