Bobblehat publishing gets going

well done bobble

Would one need to front up any money?

If not, I reckon I'd be interested. Depends if you class me as "brilliant" (I do, obviously) and whether we can forgive my beastliness! If you want links to what I consider to be my best poems, mail me.

Oh yes, and well done from me too, whatever the outcome.

Well done's maybe premature. We'll see what's happened in a few months. Authors don't pay but obviously there won't be an advance.

I'm interested but I'm not sure anyone would see my poetry as brilliant!......

CHECK OUT MY WORK IF YOU LIKE IT EMAIL LETS MAKE A DEAL http://groups.msn.com/Ramonasworldofpoetry/homepage

Has it started yet? I'm interested. check out my poetry.

Go for it David and good luck. I've always wanted my own publishing company too. Maybe in a few years......

Here's some more details: Bobblehat Publications – A moderately interesting event in poetry publishing. Who the hell are you? Bobblehat Publications is a small publishing company based in north London. What do you publish? Initially we're going to be publishing small pamphlets of poems by talented new poets? Who decides what 'talented' means? Bobblehat boss, David Floyd takes all relevant decisions in a dictatorial fashion. All forms of bribery are positively encouraged. Nobody buys poetry, lots of it gets published, what's the point of publishing more? There's still a few poets out there who are very good but don't get published. The powers that be in the poetry world are obsessed with printing work by poets who use lots of long words to say nothing much. Bobblehat will print poets who use shorter words. Also, David Floyd is an arrogant sod and believes he can succeed where 95% of poetry publishers in the world have failed. Is it expensive? Bobblehat will use decidedly non-revolutionary laser-print technology and extended length staplers. The quality will be significantly superior to photocopying and very significantly cheaper than doing a full-scale print thing. 32 page pamphlets will cost an estimated 20 pence to produce. How many will you print? Initial print runs are likely to be around 200 but laser-printing means that extra copies can be produce in multiples of 1, which is nice. What do authors get? Unfortunately no one is going to get rich out of this. If that is your aim, stop writing poetry and start writing romantic fiction. Authors will receive 10 free copies of their book and will be able to purchase as many more as they want very cheaply. They will then sell these copies themselves and make a profit of some sort. How will they be sold? Even with miniscule production costs it isn't worth trying to sell pamphlets through bookshops. The margins are too small. Main methods of sales will be: - direct sales by authors and publishers - mail order - subscription – poetry lovers will be offered the chance to subscribe to the Bobblehat pamphlet series. Friends of Bobblehat will get to subscribe for more money, thereby helping to ensure the sustainability of the project. - Internet booksellers - Friendly websites such as ABCtales.com - Exciting live poetry events What happens if nobody buys them? The publisher will have lost about £20 and both publisher and author will have received significant dents to their egos. The rest of the world will carry on regardless. What will happen if an author becomes rich and famous? The publisher will bombard them with letters demanding invites to exclusive literary dinner parties and cheques for large sums of money. All letters will finish with the phrase: "you'd be nothing if it wasn't for me, you bastard/bitch (delete as appropriate)" That sounds ok, where do I send my poems? Interested poets should send a representative selection of their work, around six poems to: bobblehatpublications@postmaster.co.uk. Attachments of word documents are okay but anything more flash will probably cause problems. Pasting in is fine. What will happen if you think my poems are crap? If, as expected, not very many people send us stuff to begin with, we'll try to reply with detailed and constructive criticism. If and when we start getting loads of stuff, replies will be polite but considerably less elaborate. What will happen if you think my poems are good? We'll ask you to send some more, preferably enough to make a pamphlet of up to 32 pages. What will happen if you think they're good too? We'll start a long, drawn out publication process. Legal contracts will not be drawn up. These things cost money. We don't have any.

Sounds good to me David:-) I'll definitely send you my 'Hoddle' poem as I remember you liked that one. As you probably know I've got a whole stack of stuff, so I'll pick six likely ones out and send them asap. Congrats for the bravery, and I hope success of venture.

Hi Bobblehat.. good luck with your bold venture. I have a hefty Laser Printer in the Garage which you can have for free. I understand it is in perfect working condition... but you would have to pick it up or at least buy me a couple of pints in London....

Great stuff, David. Hope it goes well. Surely you could sweet talk a few bookshops in London to stock these things as well. Or the authors could. That's how I first read Andrew Oldham's stuff.. an odd pamphlet on an odd shelve in Waterstones Bolton branch. How much would the pamphlets sell for?

Pamphlets would probably cost around £2. I'd be happy for authors to get bookshops to stock the books if they want to. From my point of view it wouldn't be a productive use of time. Bookshops generally expect to take between 40% and 55% of the cover price and would only take obscure poetry pamphlets on a sale or return basis. It's probably worth authors trying to get them into shops in their local area, particularly the few remaining independent bookshops, but anything more is a lot of hassle for very litte reward.

I see. Yeah.. bit of a hassle. The more active authors could swing it though. Will send something when I have something. And copyright remains with the author, yeah?

Yeah. From authot PR point of view, the bookshop thing's worth doing. Copyright remains with author for what it's worth although, in the case of emerging poets, that isn't generally very much.

Big apologies to anyone who's sent me stuff and has been waiting a while for me to reply. I've been a bit caught up with other stuff but I should be sending out replies tomorrow. Have also signed up a talented young artist to do some illustrations.

Well done David, regardless of my fate :-)

It's gonna be a while till I can get stuff sent, David. Disk/laptop problems and I am not currently online from home. Probably mid-August-ish. Keep up the good work tho.

David, Congratulations on starting your own publishing company. It's quite a task to organize all the components necessary to form a smooth operating business. It looks like you're ready for the challenge. I have written several poems (some have already been published in poetry journals/anthologies/online). I also have a few posted on my website. When you get the opportunity, please check them out: http://www.geocities.com/10500bc/poetry.html Thank you, Patty

Hi David Have moved and am now 'netless in Sydenham' so may have missed any e-mails recently. Will e-mail from work today, to catch up on situ :-)

Hi How is your "small publishing business" going? Do you need any associates? Or clients? Would like to hear from you. Mapin