Even with so much else happening in the world, it’s been hard for me to think about anything other than fire. I’m reading Manjula Martin’s book The Last Fire Season, compulsively giving to GoFundMes (if you can, please help Ross & Katie, the Newmans and Gina and Mark-Anthony, underfunded GoFundMes, incarcerated firefighters) and generally trying to keep my attention on beautiful mutual aid efforts.
And in the meantime, while I wait for the book reports to be ready to ship, I thought I’d share a little more about my thinking for actually releasing them into the world. In this current iteration of the project, I am the Publisher/Editor/Writer/Publicist and Warehouse Manager. So I have lots of conversations (with myself :)) about what to do with the books and how to get them into your hands. Here’s my current plan:
Sell a small edition of the books through Metalabel, a new platform for releasing creative work, inspired by the DIY-ethos of early indie record labels. I love their emphasis on small editions and community.
Sell to Indie Bookstores: The project has been available in a few local bookstores, and that has been lovely. It makes the project feel REAL, and I like the intimacy/one-on-one/in-real-lifeness of dropping books off to a store. But because I’m doing this myself - rather than through a distributor - the transaction costs (for everyone) are high. I have to find the time to drive to the bookstore, chase people down for payment - like the paperboy in Better Off Dead.
Go on Tour! I’m interested in something more interactive, more collaborative, more fun than just talking at people about me and my project. I’ve loved the events that I’ve done so far (at a gallery! a bookstore - with Jenny!, the public library!) and would like to do more of them.
The first exhibition at Neon Raspberry Art House in Occidental, CA
The events were also a lot of work. My current thinking for the tour is that everything will go better if I can partner with an individual or organization that is interested in exploring one of the themes of the project.
So, for example, in New York, I’m collaborating with the School of Radical Attention, and we’ll be helping people make their own archives of attention. In San Francisco, I’m working on a speaker series focused on midlife. In Philly and DC, I’m exploring commemoration and memorialization in the context of the upcoming 5-year anniversary of the pandemic. Here’s where I’m currently thinking:
New York - April 24 - School of Radical Attention
Philly
Washington, DC
Durham
Chicago
Portland
Honolulu
Los Angeles ???
Do you live in any of these places? Do you want to do something together? The tour - like the entire project - allows me to see people and talk about things with them - a portal for connecting in a different way.
I have all sorts of other ideas and questions about what else I should do be doing right now to get the project out into the world. Should I make up a Pub Day? Send review copies to writers? Go on someone’s podcast? It’s been tricky to find answers to some of these questions - I’ve asked around, but I think people feel icky talking about marketing, sales, distribution. But I’m kind of enjoying the process of trying to understand publishing, and I really like reframing entirely the idea of promotion.
That said, my project is pretty nontraditional and also so far removed from its original form (something I made for myself in my shed) that most of the traditional wisdom is probably irrelevant. And all these little questions lead to other, bigger questions: What’s my goal? Who is my audience? What’s the point of a book anyway? Mostly, instead of answering these questions, I have to do mundane operational things like buy one of those shipping label printers and figure out how to use it. I’m learning that this is how it is with trying to keep up a creative practice. Big questions and little questions, big questions and little questions. I’ll keep you posted on what I figure out.
I love this project so much and am so excited to see where you're taking it!