Archive for the ‘FYI’ Category

Wednesday, October 13th

Cool Cause: Why Not Peace?

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Recent contributing illustrators Ana Mouyis and Zachary Zezima have been lending their talents to Why Not Peace?, an initiative combining the creative work of artists with the voices of those closest to the war. Check out these short films animating the words of soldiers in Iraq.

Also check out the afiliated Peace Soldier project:

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Tuesday, October 12th

This Weekend.

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Technical problems be damned. We’re having a party in Billy-burg this weekend. If I don’t see you there I am coming to your apartment and I am going to stand in front of the TV until you put on some jeans and come hang out with us. If you are intimidated by this flyer, here is one that Melissa made that is much more pleasing to the girly eye:

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Tuesday, October 12th

Subscription Crisis.

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So something mildly upsetting happened. After a routine hard drive format the subscribers list seems to be inaccessible. The problem is in the midst of being resolved but there’s a likely possibility that it won’t be by the time Issue Seven ships.

If you have subscribed in the past year and have received Issue Six only, please forward your physical mailing address here: chris [at] annalemma [dot] net.

Friday, October 8th

Issue Seven Preview.

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Advance copies of the Annalemma Issue Seven: Endurance arrived and it looks so good it’s tear worthy. Here’s some Glamour Shots. Really proud of this one. I know I say this every time but it really is the best issue yet.

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Thursday, October 7th

Bergquist.

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Issue Six: Sacrifice contributor Charles Bergquist got some big ups at YTFT recently and it reminded me how much I like Charles’s s work.

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Chuck’s style has come into its own in the last few years. Delicious saturated colors doubled exposed over thick ink clouds making for opiate-hazed dreamlike images.

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And then there’s these:

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After a long day at work when everything is settled and you have a moment of quiet to yourself, check out his video work. It will decompress your brain.

Well done, Charles.

Wednesday, October 6th

Issue Seven Update.

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Got an email from the printer representative this morning, a lovely gentleman by the name Marteinn Jónasson, saying that 50 copies of Annalemma Issue Seven: Endurance have been express shipped from the plant and should be here tomorrow. A few of these copies will go to staff members and press outlets but the majority of them will be available Oct. 17th at Bruar Falls when Lapetitezine.org and us throw our dual release party, Enduring Freaks. The bulk of the shipment should arrive by boat sometime at the end of the month. Yeah, by boat. Why? Because it’s coming from Iceland.

Why Iceland? Because that’s where Oddi Printing calls home. Reykjavík, to be precise. Love saying that word, Reykjavík. (It means Bay of Smoke. How cool is that?) Why Oddi? Because they are able to offer high quality printing at extremely competitive prices. Iceland felt the crush of the global financial crisis of 2008 greater than most countries, but things are looking promising.

Issue Seven ships November 1st to stores and the intelligent, attractive people who have pre-ordered online. Are you intelligent and attractive? Of course you are. Pre-order here.

Monday, October 4th

Divination in DC.

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PANK, Mud Luscious and Annalemma are combing powers dark and light this February at AWP. Come join us for Divination in DC, a gathering of writers reading work that will change your future.

Friday, October 1st

BANR.

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Congrats to Annalemma Issue #5 contributors Anne Elizabeth Moore and Dan Moreau for receiving notable mentions in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010.

Anne’s essay “Reimagining the National Border Patrol Museum” and Dan’s story “The King of the Jews” were both selected by the series editor as outstanding pieces. I love this series and I’m very proud to have been able to publish both of these fantastic works. Well done, Anne and Dan!

I just ordered my copy like a proud papa (sniff).

Friday, October 1st

Public School.

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This weeks image contributor Matthew Genitempo is part of Austin based creative collective Public School. Check out their store where you can find a generous helping of original screen printed posters they’ve made for bands you are probably a fan of. I don’t really have much more to say on this subject other than I really like Austin and I really like art and design and Public School merges these things in a way that makes me pump my fist something fierce. Well done, fellas.

Thursday, September 30th

On Small Press.

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Peter Cole of Keyhole Books has been showing his concern here and there over the last week about the state of small press publishing. Brief summary:The last two discussions I’m aware of concerned two things 1) the support structure of small press books, how it’s the same people buying the same things and how eventually this structure could collapse and the multitude of small press imprints out there will get washed away and 2) authors using small press imprints as stepping stones to bigger publishing houses instead of growing with the small press.

Pete, I feel you. The limitations of a small press are often frustrating and disappointing. But there’s a reason they call it small press. We don’t have marketing and publicity armies at our disposal that can go out and find an audience for a new title. Usually it’s just one dude working on it in his spare time, wearing all the hats.

Regarding the support structure, the problem is us small press publishers looking at the online writing scene and seeing it as a viable market, instead of looking for an audience outside of that scene. Regarding the stepping stone effect, Annalemma is in a somewhat different position. Traditionally, lit mags have functioned happily as a conduit for writers to travel beyond small press land. I’m hard pressed to find a problem with this. The reason small presses publish someone is because they love the writing, not because they think it will sell 10,000 units. If it sold a shit ton of books then they’d cease to be a small press. And if there’s a writer you publish that goes on to the bigger houses that wouldn’t be a boon for all parties involved?

Big time publishing works just like Hollywood. They spend a lot of money on a lot of titles (most of them garbage) in the hopes that one of them is a hit and can pay for the ones that flopped. By that point it’s just gambling, hedging bets, fully diluting that feeling that a small press gives you of presenting work to the world that is worth reading.

The point: There comes a time when you need to embrace where you’re at. Small press publishing will always be hard and never lucrative. To fight against that is a recipe for burnout. But there’s advantages to small press. We’re agile. We can shift course and pivot focus almost effortlessly. We’re able to experiment at relatively low risk. The prospect of something we put our hands on hitting the Bestseller list is laughable, but never impossible.

The greater point: you keep trying until it works or you run out of gas.

Thoughts?