Bill breaks the record
February 1, 2014
Attracting 120 subscribers, the promotion of Bill Griffiths' Collected Poems & Sequences (1981-91), just out, has smashed the record for the Reality Street Supporter scheme, which has numbered 70-85 subscribers annually on average over the past few years.
The Bill Griffiths volume is the only new title to be published by Reality Street this year. This is because I am taking a little breather, and trying to focus a bit more on my own writing during 2014. The success of some of the press's titles - especially Philip Terry's tapestry, Paul Griffiths' let me tell you, The Reality Street Book of Sonnets and the perennial Out of Everywhere and Denise Riley's Selected Poems - has been very welcome, but, having retired from my day job three years ago, I now feel like I have plunged into a new one, albeit one that pays very little for the amount of effort. Not quite Reginald Perrin (older British readers will recognise that), but still.
So the 2014 Supporter scheme has now been closed to new subscribers, but you can still buy both the Bill Griffiths volumes through this website at very favourable terms. And watch this site, or the Facebook page if that is your wont, for advance news of the 2015 scheme and publications programme.
Footnote: the Philip Terry and Paul Griffiths books have been and continue to be commercial successes for the press (in relative terms - we are still talking sales of hundreds rather than thousands) because they have reached out beyond the usual supporter base of poets. In Philip's case, the crucial factors have been a prominent review in The Guardian and shortlisting for the Goldsmith's Prize. In Paul's, his reputation as a music critic, several high-profile reviews on first publication in 2008, and a recent second surge of sales following Paul's adaptation of some of the words of his novel as a libretto for German composer Hans Abrahamsen (see previous post). The last three titles mentioned above have all benefited from being taught in various higher educational establishments, Out of Everywhere being, amazingly, in its eighteenth year of publication.
The Bill Griffiths volume is the only new title to be published by Reality Street this year. This is because I am taking a little breather, and trying to focus a bit more on my own writing during 2014. The success of some of the press's titles - especially Philip Terry's tapestry, Paul Griffiths' let me tell you, The Reality Street Book of Sonnets and the perennial Out of Everywhere and Denise Riley's Selected Poems - has been very welcome, but, having retired from my day job three years ago, I now feel like I have plunged into a new one, albeit one that pays very little for the amount of effort. Not quite Reginald Perrin (older British readers will recognise that), but still.
So the 2014 Supporter scheme has now been closed to new subscribers, but you can still buy both the Bill Griffiths volumes through this website at very favourable terms. And watch this site, or the Facebook page if that is your wont, for advance news of the 2015 scheme and publications programme.
Footnote: the Philip Terry and Paul Griffiths books have been and continue to be commercial successes for the press (in relative terms - we are still talking sales of hundreds rather than thousands) because they have reached out beyond the usual supporter base of poets. In Philip's case, the crucial factors have been a prominent review in The Guardian and shortlisting for the Goldsmith's Prize. In Paul's, his reputation as a music critic, several high-profile reviews on first publication in 2008, and a recent second surge of sales following Paul's adaptation of some of the words of his novel as a libretto for German composer Hans Abrahamsen (see previous post). The last three titles mentioned above have all benefited from being taught in various higher educational establishments, Out of Everywhere being, amazingly, in its eighteenth year of publication.
Posted by Ken Edwards. Posted In : Reality Street
This blog is written by Ken Edwards, co-founder and editor/publisher of Reality Street, and it's mainly about the press. Ken's personal blog can now be found at http://www.kenedwardsonline.co.uk
