Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Looking for the names of some publishers

I know of a solid short story collection that needs a home, but I've become ignorant of the good homes. I'm looking for a solid mid-level publisher that is accepting work. By solid I'm thinking they should have their shit together enough to offer a contract for the manuscript, by mid-level I'm thinking they should have had some books out already, might have distribution, good production values. Last time I tried this, Spencer Dew's book got published with Vagabond Press.

Any thoughts?

23 comments:

mather said...

With all the small press resources out there you'd rather just ask your clones...yeah, sure, let "The Detector" or "Nathan" decide your next move in life...ha ha...do you really think any of these bozos knows any more about the small press than you do? Just buckle down and do your homework. You don't even mention the author of the book, which is to say: you guys don't need to know who wrote it, just trust me, Matt DiGangi does not make bad decisions...

Matt DiGangi said...

I enjoy listening to and learning from my contemporaries, it can be quite productive. Asking around, as described and tagged in the post, has yielded positive results before.

Nathan said...

DiGangi, your words would carry more weight if there were fewer crickets around here. Try Featherproof, they just sent me a slick looking flyer for some new releases that might fit what you're looking for.

If htmlgiant is still around, you should just cruise through a few weeks worth of posts over there. They recommend so much stuff that none of it is reliable, but there should be no shortage of publishers you could use as a starting point for your research.

mather said...

Must be Graziano...

crackers said...

what about word riot press? are they rivals? soft skull... snowbooks. you'd def know better than i and i'm sure you've heard of these... sort of begs the question why i'm here trying to 'help'.

mather said...

My point exactly, crackers...I don't know how it went down last time with Vagabond Press but I see how DiGangi takes all the credit for it...

mather said...

I have to say the Willie Smith stuff is pretty hoppin with the unusual imagery and a good rhythm, but where's the meaning? If it doesn't come from the heart it is not going to stick...you forget it too quickly, see? On the other side of the spectrum Nathan Graziano's poems are pretty dull...narrative style taken for granted...if you want advice about publishing books Graziano is the person to ask...I have seen very few people who can write such average verse and still get so many books published...

mather said...

It is easier to get something published if you pull on peoples' heart strings, cash in personal favors, use common morality to pull things toward you. But, to simply put your stuff out there blindly is much more difficult and actually takes balls. DiGangi has had a web site for five WHOLE years, so he is almost like an archetype, which means he doesn't need balls or talent...simply ask and it shall be delivered...

TheodorePuertoriquez said...

Mather is always mad and confusing just like Nickie Jurgens nee Forester.

If anyone can figure out what I'm referring to I will send five bucks to your paypal account. I swear. Not like anyone will figure out the reference.

All I can tell you is that in some vague, distant way my reference can be connected to an important stepping-stone in Matt Damon's career as an actor.

crackers said...

have you heard of these guys?

http://www.burningshorepress.com/

has anyone read tony o neil or noah cicero? tony o'neil apparently has mass market books not by harper perennial. long way since i saw him writing about sticking needles in his veins on laura hird's.

P. H. M. said...

Would like to point out to Mather that DiGangi found Vagabond through a recommendation from a certain peer I happen to know.

mather said...

That doesn't surprise me at all, Madore, in fact it only supports my premise: that most of the people publishing are only successful in terms of the you-publish-me-I'll-publish-you formula...you review me, I'll review you, you interview me, I'll interview you, and in this way we can all dance together down the pink candy highway...

TheodorePuertoriquez said...

That's how it works in any business Mather. It's called networking. I've seen it first hand in family court. My ex's lawyer was best friends with the law gaurdian and the judge and they went fishing together on weekends. So of course I lost horribly in the end. It had nothing to do with lawyering skills or laws in general.

mather said...

Yeah no shit, Detector, but must poetry and creative writing and all art be ruled by the same networking bullshit? In today's world, there is no difference, it is all just a business...but I dont' have to like it...I don't have to swallow it like it's good art rather than simply nifty networking...

Here is my opinion: if a friend or a friend of a friend publishes you, you can never know if your work is powerful or really interesting...why would anybody strive for that?

TheodorePuertoriquez said...

Yeah I don't know. Anyone on Thieves Jargon I consider a friend I met through writing not the other way around. And it's not like we all pat each other on the back.

Most of the time when I got stories on here people like Madore would just trash them.

P. H. M. said...

Leaving out the fact that Vagabond's editor is basically a recluse.

mather said...

It doesn't matter if the editor of Vagabond has a hundred friends or just one, it's still putting collegiality first. I think Spencer Dew is a bore. I would like to know if your friend at Vagabond would have published Dew if he had not had your recommendation.

Matt DiGangi said...

Madore, you're friends with the guy from Vagabond?

mather said...

Oh, sorry, he's a friend of a friend of Madore's...if I am dead wrong about anything personal in the Dew book deal, then why don't you just say so?

Matt DiGangi said...

As far as I know, you're dead wrong, but you're usually full of so much hot air that it would be nothing new. Madore told me about Vagabond, but I was never under the impression they were friends.

mather said...

I'm right more than I'm wrong, DiGangi, you can bet on that.

TheodorePuertoriquez said...

Am I right or am I right?

mather said...

You're left, Detector.