when is a publisher not a publisher???

when it's publishing Canadian poetry!



Thanks very much for your quick reply.

The one comment that I will make is to your comment about “professional” distribution channels and the notion that pod publishers do not qualify for your program. This is not the proper forum for a debate so there is no need for you to reply. My only hope is that my comment will eventually filter to the top and one day HBP will be recognized by the cc as a “real” publisher making a “real” contribution, with “real” authors and that even though we use pod for some / most of our printing that pod is the only way of the future. Unlike most small publishers that use a “professional” distribution channel, none of my hbp titles are out of print. All of my titles will always be in print – I eventually will sell more of a single title than a publisher that prints a minimum CC quota, sells a few books and then pays a shredding fee for the remainder. Your system will never recognize that I have made some major contributions to Canadian literature with my pod company Hidden Brook Press. I have published many noteworthy award-winning authors including an order of Canada, recipient. My north shore series, in and of its self, should qualify hbp as a noteworthy publisher that qualifies for cc assistance. To my knowledge no other Canadian publisher has published over 30 books in a literary series and introduced dozens of up and coming authors to the lit world.

I have been struggling for almost 20 years to bring Canadian authors to Canadian readers with no help or recognition from any granting institution. I am tired and will die before anyone other than readers and authors thank me for my contribution.

All this said I do thank you for your contributions with your new chapter grants but it is time to change some of your rules.

All the best


Richard

This message is being sent from
Hidden Brook Press, or the personal email of Richard M. Grove = Tai
109 Bayshore Road. Brighton, Ontario, Canada, K0K 1H0
writers@hiddenbrookpress.com


Tai’s Writer’s Blog - https://richardgrovewriter.wordpress.com/
Cuba Blog by Tai - http://cubablog.hiddenbrookpress.com/
www.CanadaCubaLiteraryAlliance.org




my response:

Hi Tai,
Yes - and AARRGGGGHHhhhhhh - publishing CanPo has mostly become such a bureaucratic business, that it's no small wonder that CanPo itself is in such a sad state. I agree 100% with everything you've said below. Just now I was pondering the status of CanPo, and trying to figure out why it is in such a neglected state. You and Hidden Brook Press are one of the few bright spots on the whole scene. The so-called professional lit publishers are 99% a scam, as you so clearly point out. Far more books of CanPo are shredded, scrapped or stored in musty garages or attics than are distributed. The 500 minimum print runs (or whatever number) are a charade, while HBP actually gets the books it publishes (POD or otherwise) into the hands of real readers!

Power to you, Tai! It's a battle worth fighting, altho one I basically gave up on many decades ago when I turned Unfinished Monument Press over to James and Gilda after doing the same thing - publishing many of the next generation of Canadian poets before they could find (or gave up on finding) a "respectable" CanPo publisher.

As I've been known to say, who wants a respectable poet anyway? True Poetry, and I fear poetry publishing, is the realm of the outsiders in society, the dreamers and visionaries who'll never be accepted in the middleclass grant playground of the academics and their ilk.

peace & 'true' poetry power!
Chris

p.s. I'd like to post our responses on my blog - OK with you?



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From: shane
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2016 9:17 PM
To: Richard M. Grove
Subject: Re: Grant Questions

Tai
Well said! Do you want me to add my 2 cents to the Canada Council rep? Happy to do so.
One thing that CC needs to understand is that POD is a publishing process and not a publishing model like the vanity press‎. POD is cost effective and is eco-friendly and very efficient. Besides our POD vendor, Lightning Source, prints and distributes books globally at a cheaper cost than can be done by traditional printers and distributors in Canada. Even established publishers are using POD but do not advertise that fact, as again, it's nobody's business as to what process they use to manufacture their books.
All the best!