Fish Book

What's a chapbook?

It's a bit like a chickbook, but for chaps.

but fish isn't a chap maybe it's like chapstick

the link is useless, but google knows all. "In general, chapbooks were inexpensive publications designed for the poorer literate classes" http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/britlit/cbooks/cbook1.html so now I know

Would quite like to buy a copy but the publishers - on their website at least - don't really seem to bending over backwards to sell them. Are copies available through Amazon?

I have been having the same problem, I don't really want to send a cheque and that seems the only way to get it, will mail the good lady herself and ask.

hello thank you for the plug tony i think the publisher only accepts cheques ... i will mail him and ask it is available through amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0955307503/qid=1151673929/sr=1-... but there is a sourcing fee of £1.99 which seems weird and a wait of 4 - 6 weeks (presumably while amazon send the publisher a cheque?) cheques ... hmmm ... i don't ever use cheques ... strange ... well i suppose you can just take my word for it ... it is a very sweet little book cheers fish xxx

yes it is

I have seen it too, it most certainly is a lovely book and that is why I made a special trip to see my father-in-law today (if you knew him then you would understand what a chore this was) to get him to write me a cheque for £3.50, which I promptly sent off to get my own copy.

Congratulations Fish, it looks great.

thanks tara have asked the publisher, doug and he says he may be looking into using paypal some time soon ... but really the profit margin is so tiny on the books paypal would erode it more ... it's worth supporting presses like Koo Press i think ... not just because of my book ... there are a few abctales people published by Koo if you have a look ... the books are good quality and the publisher is doing it for love really ... oh anyway ... i asked ... and cheers camus for the in law trip ... very touched ... xxx

You could foot the paypal charge to the customer, as long as you make them aware of it. It's only 20p plus 5% of the product cost, or summat like that. Worth it to grab impulse buyers.

Good idea, Jack.

I just bought a copy via credit card paypal...you can do so here http://www.scottish-pamphlet-poetry.com/index.cgi?publisher=51th Very excited. Fish was one of the first poets on abc tales to really 'wow' me with her work. You don't see stuff of this quality around much these days! £3.50 is a bargain!

congrats to you sweetie ordered one too

I've bought one through the Scottish Pamphlet site too. That site actually looks like a good idea. It would be quite a good idea for ABCtales to have a sister site selling books by members (and other books my small indie presses) in the way that Get Ethical sells ethical stuff. Publisher might want to rethink his stance on Paypal. As Jack says, even if you passed the 20p - 30p paypal commission on to the customer, it would still be cheaper for the customer than paying the Amazon sourcing fee.

just had a sweet email from doug at koo press saying the scottish pamphlet site have sold out of april's fish and it's been their fastest seller ... so that must be down to you lot so thank you! he is sending them some more it's nice being a poet hahahha xxx

are you Scottish and have been keeping it a secret?

i couldn't possibly say ...

oh i should have said i am doing a reading this evening - a strange reading - bumbling along the canal at south wigston and stopping every now and then to read a poem ... strange concept ... we asked at the library if they had sold any tickets - apparently they had had one enquiry from a man who wanted to know if the walk was suitable for a motability scooter ... so there you are ... if you happen to find yourself in south wigston at 7 pm this evening come along ... and bring a brolly - it's been hooooooosing down all day ...

I thought perhaps you were jesting cos this sounds like the kind of thing Adrian Mole would do! but no... http://www.leics.gov.uk/index/whatson.htm?section=2&submit=Search&page=3 I think it is kind of cool, well as cool as Canal's can be.Sadly I'm unable to make it to South Wigston tonight but good luck.

cor jude you are like a ferret up the trouser of the internet ... anyway apparently the towpath is too puddlesome and the event will now be indoors ... hurrah!

Shame...I wanted to see a photo of you in big pink wellies, standing on a dog-turd, condom, syringe, beer-can strewn towpath in the sobbing rain, hair straggling, brolly bent in the wind, trying to give a passionate rendition of some of your finer pieces of poetic art. He he he jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net

did the man on his motability scooter turn up?

My IvoryFishBook arrived on Friday and I have spent the weekend pulling the poems out of the tin and ingesting their delicious goodness one by one. Delighted to see my favourite Fish poem 'Moth' as the first inclusion. Lovely quality. I'd rather see a nicely published chapbook than a scraggy, mingy, poor quality full-length-book. My only crit was it wasn't long enough, I finished it all too soon.

I got my fishy book over the weekend also and spent a lovely Saturday afternoon curled up on the sofa with it. Worth every penny of it's £3.50 and more!

The excellence of the cover is only surpassed by the contents, in my humble opinion. Let's hope it's the first of many books by Murky's finest!

ah yes ... the cover most gorgeously designed by multi faceted eddie gibbons it would be NOTHING without the cover thanks jude and camus - so glad you like it - the publisher has asked me to do a reading at the edinburgh fringe on august 9th - so let me know if anyone is due to be up there around that time - so we can get together and no jude - the motability man didn't turn up after all - and we managed to walk along the towpath between downpours and it was actually a very nice event bravo for the leicestershire literature development officer

Congratulations Alison! I'm wrestling with logging into paypal. Thanks for the link Jude, the Koo site exploded when I tried to follow a link to it couple weeks ago. I fear this was the same sort of explosion which happens on using cheques in the modern world. Is Eduardo's cheapbook on football available through similar means? I'm certainly due him the price of admittance for one of his books!

hello rick! - no eddie's book isn't a pamphlet it's a proper big 64 pager and has some cracking poems in - and that's from someone who doesn't like football http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1902831985/026-4697090-6305204?v=glan... xxx

ah "moth" the original "trouser tightener" I'm looking forward to carrying that one around with me

Finally, my copy turned up today. I was beginning to wonder. Read a little on the tube (making sure the cover was clearly visible to others, of course) and will read the rest tonight. Those chapbooks - what a great idea. Ben

Dearest Fish and some of her tiddlers have just been to stay with me in Amsterdam - and what fun we had! She gave me a signed copy of April's Fish and I was well chuffed. Most of my fave Fish poems were in it too. Hope you all had a good flight home, Fish, and thanks for coming all this way to see me. Mandy

Awww, well isn't that just won-der-ful! So special. Amsterdam. Hm!

Well thank you for your kind hospitality MLB we all had a great time and look forward to our next trip to amsters. Flight home fine too. Glad you liked the book. Can't wait now for my next trip to edinburgh to read for Koo Press at thirsty lunch - a do that will also boast eddie gibbons launching his footie book i reckon. Fab. xxx