30 days of prompts: day 17
Happy Wednesday!
I have a bunch of things for you today:
The prompt
In review
To read
Also
In other news
It’s long, so please open this email in a new window if you want to get to the end!
Day 17: Prompt
Write an ars poetica.
An ars poetica is
A poem that explains the “art of poetry,” or a meditation on poetry using the form and techniques of a poem. (x)
Here are some examples:
& here are three of mine, from newest to oldest:
In review:
Prompts I’ve given this month (so far):
Write a poem that touches on the topic of mental (or physical!) illness.
Write an ars poetica. (Today’s!)
We’re more than halfway through now! Has anyone managed to write some poems?
To read:
Also:
Yesterday, I took to Twitter with a very simple question:
I reached out because my friend has a gorgeous chapbook that needs to get published—but she’s also feeling broke & wants to ensure that it provide just a little more economic stability.
From that thread, I learned that a lot of chapbook presses prioritize economic equitability & profit-sharing between press & author—which is so incredible.
Here are those presses & their royalty percentages (& I imagine there are more!):
Newfound: 50% royalties for digital copies & 25% for print copies
Red Bird Chapbooks: 50% royalties
Grieveland: 75% royalties (!)
Between the Highway Press: 50% royalties
Cooper Dillon: 50% royalties(?) (not confirmed)
Blanket Sea: 50% royalities
Flower Press: Choose your own royalty percentage (!)
The Poetry Question: 30% + $100
I also, uh, got myself into trouble
for suggesting that 10% royalties really isn’t good enough.
You can view the subconversations on the thread itself, though here are the highlights of the conflict, which basically hinges on my “yikes!” (oops. in retrospect that probably wasn’t very nice of me to say & I get that.):
&
If you look at Ashley’s profile, you’ll see that she has a chapbook forthcoming with the press whose profit-sharing model (10% to the author, 90% to the publisher) I criticized. She obviously feels defensive of her press, suggesting she’s had a positive experience (which is great! love that! money isn’t a huge priority for everyone seeking to publish a chapbook & that’s okay!).
It’s great to defend your press & it’s important to acknowledge that presses can be amazing even if they don’t pay their writers much. They can have other strengths: good publicity, support via press-organized public/Zoom readings, part of a community, etc.
I simply suggested that 10% royalties aren’t really a lot, for a small press—even if they’re The Standard—and I stand by that.
And, as for Ashley’s tweets:
An observation from my friend Camryn:
It’s giving “I don’t want student loan forgiveness because I worked off my student loans” energy.
That is: Just because you only got 10% royalties doesn’t mean future writers don’t deserve a higher percentage.
I also do hold small presses to a higher standard than large publishing companies—even if that’s not completely fair.
I simply expect more from presses that are made up of mainly writers themselves—because they know personally how hard it is to make money in this industry, especially if you’re a poet.
People don’t have to agree with me, though I wish their disagreement was nicer.
Anyways,
Gap Riot Press responded with their own thread to provide some clarity about their publishing model (click to view all four parts):
& I feel like this was clear already, but in case I wasn’t: I am not villainizing this small press nor others that offer 10% royalties. It’s just that, in a tweet asking about presses that pay 50% & learning that some presses pay 70% (x) or 75% (x), 10% seems rather bleak in comparison.
That doesn’t mean it’s not a supportive press & author-oriented in other (non-monetary) ways. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t put out important literature.
Now please stop yelling at me.
In other news:
My friends already know this, because I assault them with selfies most days, but for everyone else: for the past 7-8 months, I’ve been dealing with this eye issue. Specifically, they get really red & watery—so much so that I basically always look like I’m crying—and also hurt pretty much constantly.
I thought this might be due to staring at a computer screen, so I turned down the blue light & got anti-blue-light glasses. Didn’t help.
My PCP suggested that this was a symptom of allergies & prescribed me with prescription-strength eye drops & had me take an antihistamine daily. Didn’t help.
I went to another doctor and he suggested it might be iritis. That was a misdiagnosis. I do not have iritis.
So I’ve kind of just been ~living with this~: this constant pain & unattractive redness & unknown cause.
This morning, I handed my mom the bottle of antihistamines. You can have these back. They didn’t do anything.
Mom, referring to my eyes: I think maybe this is how your body’s showing your stress.
Me: The eye thing didn’t start until this year, though. I’ve felt stressed before.
Mom: Yeah, but you’ve never felt stuck until now.
In summary:
I am not only Suffering Mentally but also Suffering Physically. It’s a really tough time to be alive & I have been deeply unwell & feeling stuck for a long time now. And I know this is nothing in comparison to what’s going on with everyone else.
I don’t have anything optimistic to say about it. Sorry.
& here’s a treat, for everyone who made it this far.
Some great paying journals to submit to right now:
See you tomorrow—
-DB