I’ve been so busy working with Word Fountain, the fantastic little literary magazine that my employers enable me to edit (along with three super-cool coworkers who are editors and artists for the mag.) that I forgot to post about the excellent lit mag Barely South Review where my poem “Advent” was recently published in their spring issue!
Check them out. Check out the rest of the issue, and do all that stuff like “liking” and following on social media. All that sort of support is helpful, especially now as we fight the forces who would defund the arts.
I’ll also have a poem upcoming in 2 Bridges review‘s spring issue. And since they are only about two hours to my east, I’m heading to NYC to read with them at the KGB Bar in Manhattan on March 7th for the launch. If you are in the city, I’d love to see you there!
Also, earlier that week, on the 5th, I’ll have the honor of again being the featured poet at the Priestley Chapel‘s First Sunday secular service of music and the spoken word. My friend Steve Olofson will be providing the music. For those of you living among the Amish badlands of Central Pennsylvania, the event gets underway at 9:30 am and last only about 45 minutes. Oh, and we’re always hoping to find friends who will join us for brunch afterward.
Speaking of Word Fountain, as I did at the top of this page, I want to encourage you to send us your good words. We are open for submissions (poetry, very short fiction, flash fiction, prose poetry, and the like) until March 31st for our spring-summer, 2017 issue. Details and guidelines here.
And finally, you may remember my mentioning that I had three chapbooks in the works. I’m still editing and re-working the other two (more coming soon about how you might be able to help me find a publisher for them) while Finishing Line Press has accepted the third for publication, which will happen sometime later this year. Look for more information upcoming on my little collection of 18 poems, entitled Moons, Roads, and Rivers, coming soon to a pre-order sale near you.
For those with short attention spans, breaking it down:
- “Advent” published in Barely South Review
- “Wednesday, Want, and Worship” upcoming in 2 Bridges Review
- Readings upcoming in Northumberland, PA and NYC on March 5th and 7th
- New American Press Reading series continues in April in Wilkes-Barre (just figured I’d slip that one in now–more details forthcoming soon)
- Call for submissions for Word Fountain’s spring-summer issue
- Chapbook forthcoming from FLP later this year!
So, there ya go. And to further dispel any misconceptions that I’ve been a lazy luke lately, I’m off to finish my laundry. Have a great weekend!
David J. Bauman 
Congratulations on all this wonderful news, David! I sure do like “Advent.”
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Thank you so much, Jennifer!
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David, Advent is nicely done. A bit of whimsy, and a lot of heart. I could actually feel the heat of the dryer vent on my gloved hands.
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Thank you, Steve!
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When you create a chapbook, how much of it do you develop? I assume you decide which poems go in, and in what order. Do you also find the art work you want? Do you design print-ready pages? I have no idea what publishers expect.
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Yikes! Thanks for the question! I’ll tell you what I know so far but my whole response (and it was long) I somehow just backspaced over. Sigh. I’ll try again tomorrow. I’m beat tonight.
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OK. Just looking for a brief idea.
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Sure, just got back after being on the road first thing this morning. Glad I re-read this as I would have answered you with more info than you were asking anyway (I was sleepy).
So, yes, they seem to be, and have been for the few years I’ve been working on this, looking for small collections that hold together on some sort of theme, or that work together as a whole in some way. I think I may do a whole post on that at some point. So, yes, you chose the poems and the order, though I imagine an editor could argue or make suggestions for changes and revisions. I’m not that far in the process yet.
Some publishers I have looked at seem to like to do their own cover art or to hook you up with one of their artists to design something that fits both your chapbook and their visual aesthetic. I think Redbird Chapbooks does that. Finishing Line Press has given me the go ahead to chose my own cover art, and want to be sure to give the artist or photographer credit. Aside from that, the decisions about cover art are my own.
They also are pairing me up with an editor who, by the sounds of it, may make suggestions on things like order or line edits.
As for the print-ready question, I don’t think any publisher would expect that of their writers. That’s one thing I won’t have to do, like I do with Word Fountain. They will handle all the design, margins, settings, etc. I understand by their terms that I get some say (yes or no) to things like title fonts and such. But they do all the work, which is dang nice.
I think the main thing the publisher wants from you is a set of good poems that hold together somehow. And they take things from there to help you make it as good as it can be.
As I know more I’ll be sure to give you some more insight.
I hope that is helpful.
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Thanks for taking the trouble to share this information.
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You bet. It’s still early on for me. Acceptance and early discussion of terms so far. I’ll tell you more as I learn more.
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David, this is very helpful information. As you know, I have a tendency to publish most of what I write almost immediately at The Accidental Poet. The downside is that many (including Osterhout’s Word Fountain) will not accept work that has previously been published, which typically includes blog postings. I am interested in pursuing self-publishing of my first chapbook. I welcome the chance to talk with you more about that.
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Yes, I wouldn’t mind publishing something in print that was posted in a personal blog. (Even Rattle Magazine used to not care about that.) But I was outvoted and outranked on that. I guess I can understand fear of copyright issues. There are reasons I have chosen not to go the self-published route but there are people I know and respect who have. I think you could find some good pros and cons from various people. One of my goals for this year is to finally start the Dad Poet Podcast and this may be a topic to discuss. I have two guests in mind already, one a fiction and history writer and the other a poet.
I think a lot of it has to do with what you want to do and what is the best way for you to accomplish what will make you happy. Personally, I’m glad to let someone else do the design work for a change. 🙂
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I love the idea of the Dad Poet Podcast. Yes, a guest who is schooled in self-publishing would be fantastic. Please consider me for one of your episodes, well, er,um, watcha callums, Podcast thingys. Or is it thingies? I can think of two topics I would love to discuss. One is how to use writing (poetry, prose, essays, fiction, non-fiction) to work out a substance abuse problem. Another would be the difficulty we often face as writers to be truthful, real, open, vulnerable. Many are convinced they will betray family secrets, or, worse, that they have a hyper-critical inner editor who is actually the internalization of all the “you’re no good” barbs thrown at us growing up. This is important not just for the memoirist. I remember reading a comment I believe was in “The Forest For The Trees,” which is a guide for writers written by an editor. She says most writers don’t have a writing problem; they have a “telling” problem.
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I really like those ideas, Steve. Let’s talk about that.
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Tyeah. You SO lazy.
Dood. Get some rest, K?
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haha, I will try. Thanks, Johnny
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