Through the Flaming Sword

Dear readers:

I have published three books of poetry and a fourth is about to come out. You can learn more about them on my personal website, stevendavison.com.

The book. The first book is actually a hybrid book of poems, photographs, personal letters, short essays, and other elements. The poems in The Road to Continental Heart: Befriending, and Defending, the Spirit of North America were written for a friend who walked across the country with a group of environmental activists, one poem a week for nine months, most of the poems incorporating research I had done into the landscapes and places through which he would walk in the coming week.

A review. A review of Continental Heart has just come out on The Book Review Directory website, which, I’m glad to say, is quite positive.

More about the book. Continental Heart is a coffee table style book, hardcover, 8 ½ x 11, 320 pages, using fine paper stock to do right by the dozens of photographs that my friend and a friend of his took along the way. Whatever one thinks of the poems, everyone agrees that the book is beautifully designed. Kudos to my publisher, Boyle & Dalton.

The economics. Unfortunately, the book is quite expensive, at $49.99. I think it’s honestly priced, even underpriced, for its size and quality, but it’s still a lot of money. A window into the corrupt economics of the book publishing industry: at this price and given the standard book store discount of 40%, neither I nor my publisher make any money on bookstore sales. The reason is that my publisher and I agreed that charging enough to make any real money, say, $59.99, would make it too unattractive for a book of poetry; $49.99 is stretching it already. But Amazon gets a discount from the printer as well as from the publisher, so from Amazon we make a little money.

The other books. My second book, Dancing Mockingbird, is a collection of nature poems, with sections for mountains, animals, bodies of water, etc. The next book, Dancing with the Moon, is a full-length collection of love poems. I just signed off on the final proof and expect its release perhaps in August. This book has what I consider my best work. I will shamelessly promote it when it comes out.

On poetry. I suspect that more people write poetry and even publish poetry than read poetry. I only know of three people in my circle of friends besides myself who actively read poetry. Meanwhile, there are zillions of poetry journals, book publishers, and contests. These organizations stay alive, I believe, through the fees they charge for submitting your work, not through book and magazine sales. Fees range from $3 to $15 for submitting (usually) three to five poems, and $15 to $30 for submitting books and entering contests. It costs real money to get published today as a poet. I’m sure it’s the same for fiction writers. But still we do it. We are driven—or, as a Friend, I would say led, though, to be honest, it really does feel like a drive. It is immensely satisfying to get published, though, I have to say.

Thanks for indulging me in this post, off Quaker topic as it is.