For today's post, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kevin Walzer, whose WordTech Communications poetry press has six imprints: Cherry Grove Collections, CW Books, David Robert Books, Textos Books, Turning Point, Word Poetry and WordTech Editions. They have published my two poetry books, and it's instructive to hear about the inner workings of an independent press that puts out more books per year than most other houses, despite the challenges facing the publishing industry. Here's Kevin:
What
inspired you to start WordTech Communications?
My
wife Lori Jareo and I started the company in the late 1990s intending it to be
a business name for freelance editorial work, as we both worked in writing and
publishing fields. We added poetry publishing in 2000, intending to do
one poetry book per year; I had earned a Ph.D. in creative writing/poetry but
was working in the business world because of the poor job market in academe,
and I wanted to keep my hand in poetry. One book per year led to a few books
per year and then several, and by 2003 we had grown to the point where we went
full-time with poetry publishing, and we will be celebrating a decade of
full-time publishing this year.
What
distinguishes you from other presses?
We
publish more than 40 books per year, all poetry, which makes us one of the
largest poetry publishers in the U.S. in terms of number of titles. We are one
of the few independent poetry presses in operation, meaning that we are
unaffiliated with a university, arts organization, or some other institution,
and we are a for-profit press, accepting no outside grants or subsidies and
surviving on our book sales. We were also one of the first poetry presses to
fully embrace using print-on-demand technology instead of traditional offset
press runs for our books, which has allowed us to better manage our publishing
expenses.
How
has the structure of the press changed over the years?
While
we have always been a for-profit press, at our start we were similar to most
other small literary presses, using book contests as a way of raising capital
and focusing less on book sales. A few of our titles sold quite well because
they had motivated, enthusiastic authors promoting them; the author would
successfully sell many copies at readings and book signings. This initially
took us by surprise, but as we published more books, we saw it happening again
and again. It seemed that poetry could still connect with a large audience,
especially if the author was especially active in organizing literary events to
help bring his or her work to that audience. Sales eventually became our
primary source of revenue, and so we took the significant step of dropping
contests in 2004. Since then we have conducted an annual reading period that
charges no reading fees.
What
of the press’s accomplishments are you most proud of?
Publishing
approximately 400 books of poetry since our inception, and remaining in
business for more than a decade despite, over the past few years, encountering
the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. We are also proud of
the diverse range of poets and aesthetic styles that we've published; our books
range from traditional rhyme, meter and narrative to mainstream free-verse
lyrics to highly experimental work. We're able to find excellence across a
broad spectrum of aesthetics.
What
are the biggest challenges publishers of poetry face in current market
conditions?
There
seems to be more competition for the audience's attention today than there was
ten or fifteen years ago, from the explosion of shows on cable TV to the rise of
mobile technology like smart phones and e-books. This has been accompanied by
consolidation in the book industry, the demise of large bookstore chains like
Borders, and so on. Our approach has been to find alternative ways to get the
word out about our books, such as having our authors' work featured on such
venues as Writer's Almanac, poetry web sites like Verse Daily, and more. We
have also entered the mobile technology sphere with an iPhone application that
features a different poem by a WordTech author every day. We are also quite
explicit in asking our authors to be active partners in helping to promote
their books by doing readings and literary events, and have become more so in
recent years; if an author is not comfortable with such activity, then we
encourage them to submit their work to different presses.
What’s
your vision for the press in the future?
We
want to continue to publish a diverse range of excellent poetry, and continue
to promote that poetry to an interested audience. We want to explore new ways
to reach our audience via such venues as mobile devices as well.
What
advice do you have for poets trying to get their books published?
Find a
press that you can develop a long-term relationship with. Those presses are
harder to find than they should be; many presses that sponsor contests do not
make any subsequent investment in new titles by the authors they publish
because that is not compatible with the contest model, which may be the only
way they can afford to publish at all. Every press has a different vision, and
if you can find one that is harmonious with your own, then that has the
potential to be a very fruitful long-term partnership.
What
recent books from other presses do you admire?
We're
very focused on our own books, but I've always respected the design and
editorial work of presses such as Copper Canyon and Graywolf. One of my
favorite poets is Dana Gioia, and Graywolf has done a beautiful job with his
latest book, as always.
How
has the growth of the internet affected WordTech Communications?
The
Internet is our native ground: we focus heavily on selling books through
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online book sites, and we have a very
extensive presence on the Web. We have never placed as much emphasis on older
poetry sales channels such as independent bookstores, utilizing the services of
distributors like Small Press Distribution, and so on; we came into being after
the Internet was fully established and Amazon was thriving. Many of our
authors, of course, have relationships with bookstores and other venues in
their communities, so we recognize the importance of that sales channel as
well. One area that we have not yet fully embraced is e-books. The e-book
market is growing rapidly and is having an effect on the larger publishing
industry, but we are not yet persuaded the e-book niche is mature enough for
us. For one thing, the market is still highly fragmented among several
different e-book formats (Kindle, Nook, epub, Apple's iBook format), which
presents significant challenges with production time and costs. Another
challenge is that poetry is much harder to get right in a small e-book format
than prose publications, such as novels; poetry often has a highly visual
aspect that does not reproduce well in such a small format. However, we
continue to follow the market with interest, and will move in that direction if
it makes sense to do so.