12 thoughts for aspiring do-it-yourself publishers.
Shook, David
In countries like Ethiopia without literary publishing houses, the
writer's opportunity to engage with a wider audience is often
dependent on her own production and distribution of books. After
conversing with a writer friend in Bujumbura about the importance of
do-it-yourself publishing, I compiled a few thoughts on the subject
based on my own experience, both from publishing chapbooks and from
running the not-for-profit publishing house Phoneme Media.
Chapbook: A handmade book of up to about forty pages, typically
saddle-stitched (stapled at its spine). Chapbooks date back to the
sixteenth century, as printed books first became affordable in
Europe.
1--All publishing is do-it-yourself publishing. Some publishers
just do it better than others.
2--Instructions for making a simple chapbook: print content on
paper, fold paper in half, bind papers together. Adjust variables as
desired. Repeat.
3--Resources for the DIY publisher often hide in unexpected
places. Search out copiers, printers, paper that can be repurposed. One
friend pays a church to use its copier. Another borrows her stapler from
a school library. InDesign is great, but some of my favorite chapbooks
were produced with refurbished typewriters.
4--Instructions for making a better chapbook: make every decision
with intentionality. Consider your headings, your margins. Rub the paper
over your cheek, practice turning pages. Experiment. Decide if a sans
serif font better showcases your content. DIY publishing should liberate
you to do more--to be in absolute control of book production--rather
than limit you to do less.
5--Simple elegance is better than half-achieved complexity.
Details make the difference. Bind your chapbooks with local string.
Recycle unusual paper to make endsheets. Invent a name for your
publishing house. The Internet is overflowing with resources for the DIY
publisher--use it for ideas, instructions, conversation, and
promotion.
6--Typographical errors are proof of human handiwork. Even the
Bible has them. You can do better.
7--The contemporary book is not confined by ink and paper. Still,
the book as object will endure for its value as a physical object. The
physical book remains an important legitimizer for the writer, their
private (invisible) work made public, and a practical necessity in areas
where access to technology is limited.
8--The value of the physical book comes from its physicality,
from the evocation of its time and origin. The chapbook should be a work
of art. Limit and number your edition. Sign them.
9--Ninety percent of books were more beautiful as trees. Make
beautiful books. Plant a tree.
10--Whitman sold his own books from his estate in New Jersey.
Joyce's friends at the Paris bookstore Shakespeare & Co.
published chapbooks of his poetry. The Russian Futurists published their
work on surplus wallpaper to save money.
11--There is no innovation without translations. The world's
library deserves Gertrude Stein in Amharic, George Orwell in Kirundi,
Adonis in Burmese, Ngugi wa Thiong'o in Isthmus Zapotec.
12--Publishing in the twenty-first century does not belong to New
York or London. It doesn't belong to the West. Publishing in the
twenty-first century belongs to those who will reinvent it.
Los Angeles
David Shook is a poet, filmmaker, and translator in Los Angeles.
His debut collection, Our Obsidian Tongues, long-listed for the 2013
Dylan Thomas Prize, is available from Eyewear Publishing. Find him
online at davidshook.net.
