I’m Here Right? - Josh Rank (Deckfight)

Josh Rank moved to Atlanta from Wisconsin after college. He didn’t have a job, he didn’t know much about the South. What he found is included in this chapbook of first-person essays: I'm Here Right? Stuff on selling meat from the back of a truck, witnessing a takedown at the jail, getting hit by a car and more. All in Josh’s deadpan, but forthright style.

The chapbook is available in various free pdf and e-book formats.

Josh Rank blogs at These Things I Know and occasionally writes music reviews for the indie music webpage Deckfight. An interview with him is up at LCB: Interview with writer Josh Rank.

Deckfight Press
Deckfight Press is part of Deckfight and is into chapbooks of the pdf and epub kind. Recent chapbooks include: "A Patchwork of Rooms Furnished by Mistakes" by J. Bradley, "Firehouse Neckbrace" by Josh Spiler and others - here's a Deckfight book list.

Josh Rank: I’m Here Right?
chapbook, 37 pages

A quick guide to Book Publishing Services (Lulu, Smashwords, Createspace, Issuu...)

This isn't news: the digital revolution changed the way books are produced, and also the way they are read.

Print on Demand (POD) makes it possible to create single copies of books, which allows to publish books for smaller and special audiences. Parallel, e-readers make it possible to read e-books in a new, leisure way.

Together, this leads to a growing range of publishing formats, and publishing services, which are especially interesting for small presses and for authors.

Below is a list of service providers, with examples of printed books and e-books that are featured in the blueprint book blog.



Lulu
Lulu is a company offering publishing, printing in various sizes, and distribution (including e-books).
Since their founding in 2002, Lulu has published over 1.1 million titles by creators in over 200 countries and territories and adds 20,000 new titles to their catalogue a month.
links: Lulu webpage, wiki-page
examples: "lulu"-books in this blog (print books + e-books)
cover: if you want to publish a book at CreateSpace, here some advice for creating the book cover

CreateSpace
A publishing/printing/distribution service that provides free tools to help self-publish and distribute books, DVDs, CDs etc. on-demand at CreateSpace and via Amazon.com. (CreateSpace belongs to Amazon, thus the listing, which only works for Amazon.com, no other countries)
link: CreateSpace
examples: CreateSpace-books in this blog
cover: if you want to publish a book at CreateSpace, here some advice for creating the book cover

Smashwords
An ebook publishing and distribution platform for ebook authors, publishers, agents and readers that offers multi-format ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device.
link: Smashwords
examples: Smashword-books in this blog
how-to-guide: Smashword Style Guide + Marketing Guide

Issuu
Issuu is a digital publishing platform that delivers full-color reading experiences of magazines, catalogs, and newspapers.
link: Issuu
examples: Issuu-books in this blog

Related links: Red Lemonade, exPress tutorial, Wiki-Pages 

• Advice+Example: How to prepare a book cover for print-on-demand services like CreateSpace
• Red Lemonade: new experimental service: full texts online + print books (example)
• exPress: print to e-book workflow tutorial advice from Folded Word
• General information: Wiki: Print on demand  / Wiki: E-book

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Other blueprint How-to posts:

- How to create an own google map

- How to create an automatic paper.li newspaper

Never Never Stories - Jason Sanford (Spotlight)

Ranging from science fiction to fantasy, the 10 stories contained in Never Never Stories by Jason Sanford could also be named: "Best Of" - they have won the Interzone Readers’ Poll, been nominated for the BSFA Award, longlisted for the British Fantasy Award, and printed in numerous magazines and book anthologies including Year's Best SF.

The collection also contains an original essay on archeology and fantasy and a cover by award-winning artist Vincent Chong.

"Sanford expertly blends world building and storytelling. In fact, he makes it look easy."
- SF Signal

There also is an ebook edition of Never Never Stories - it contains all of the content from the print edition along with four additional stories (one of which has never been published) plus a different introduction. One of the storíes is online as excerpt: The Ships Like Clouds.

Jason Sanford's stories have received a number of awards and honors, including being a finalist for the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novella, winning both the 2008 and 2009 Interzone Readers' Polls, receiving a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, being nominated for the BSFA Award, and being longlisted for the British Fantasy Award. He also co-founded the literary journal storySouth, through which he runs the annual Million Writers Award.

About Spotlight Publishing
Spotlight Publishing is an independent press based in North Carolina, a press that is focused on producing collections of short stories (single-author collections and anthologies), as well as books by established authors that are either out of print with the original publisher, or different from the type of book the author is best known for.

Jason Sanford: Never Never Stories
story collection
240 pages

New Collected Poems - Tomas Tranströmer (Bloodaxe)

Tomas Tranströmer is Sweden’s most important poet, and was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Academy honoured him "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality". (Nobel Prize page)

Tranströmer's publisher in Britain, Bloodaxe, has a features with notes on a new edition of his work "New Collected Poems", 3 poems in translation with the original included, and a biography online at: Tomas Tranströmer at 80.

New Collected Poems includes all the poems Tranströmer has written during the past forty years, including those from the Bloodaxe Collected Poems of 1987, as well as three later collections, For Living and Dead (1989), The Sad Gondola (1996) and The Great Enigma (2004), and a prose memoir.

For more of Tranströmer's poetry, visit Prelude at Words without Borders, and After a Death + Outskirts at Poetry.org (there's also an essay on his work up at Poetry: Too Much of the Air).

Tomas Tranströmer was born in Stockholm in 1931, graduated as a psychologist in 1956 with additional studies history, religion, and literature, and worked as a psychologist for juvenile offenders for many years. He suffered a stroke in 1990 that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak; however, he would continue to write and publish poetry though the early 2000s. He is regularly shortlisted for the Nobel Prize, and has received several public recognitions and prizes for his poetry. (wiki-page)

About Bloodaxe
Bloodaxe Books is an independent literary publishing house, founded in Newcastle in 1978 by Neil Astley joined in 1982 by chairman Simon Thirsk. In time, it turned into Britain's premier poetry publisher, with an international reputation for quality in literature and excellence in design.

Tomas Tranströmer: New Collected Poems (Bloodaxe)
poetry collection
256 pages

House of Worship - Marcus Speh

In "House of Worship", Marcus Speh gathers 15 of his flash fiction stories in an experimental approach: the stories are a first selection of a planned larger collection. House of Worship is available at Red Lemonade, a platform that takes a different approach to publishing, and offers the full texts of its print books as online reads.

Marcus explains: "I'd like to publish my 100+ best flash fiction pieces (with a handful of short stories) written 2009—2011. Unburdened by offers from publishers, I decided to try something else: with little effort, I've put up 15 of these stories, all previously published, at Red Lemonade, a new literary community plus publishing press, based on the Cursor platform of Richard Eoin Nash, award-winning former publisher of Berkeley-based Soft Skull Press.

Nash has created Cursor for "folks who run indie presses, or want to start one, or run a web community but would like that community to be able to publish books." [R Nash] Red Lemonade, a community of DRM-free original writing, is still in "beta" mode, but welcomes new members and has just opened its bookshop. Meanwhile, my collection titled "House of Worship", is still looking for a publisher who worships "Absurd, Germanic and Existentialist" flash fiction."

Marcus Speh is a writer, ex-particle physicist, professor, executive coach, project lead, web head, father, fictionaut, former fencer and paratrooper, current maitre d' of kaffe in katmandu, curator of the 1000 shipwrecked penguins project and participant of 100 Days 2011, who lives in Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg.

Marcus Speh: House of Worship
a flash collection

IthacaLit Issue One: Autumn

IthacaLit is a new online journal that features poetry and art. Their inaugral issue is now online: IthacaLit Issue One: Autumn. In addition to the Poets page, there is a gallery page + an interview with artist Lin Price, and an essay on Audre Lorde's poetry: "Crafting Her Life".

About IthacaLit
Michele Lesko founded IthacaLit, thinking her new hometown would be well represented by both the actual & mythical journey to Ithaca. Ithaca is a dynamic town with both the Ivy League Cornell University and Ithaca College, historically well known for its music & arts programs. Ithaca is Gorges is more than a clever slogan; Ithaca has the kind of stunning natural beauty that many travel far to see. Set at the edge of Cayuga Lake, with a thriving, artsy downtown commons, Ithaca is a very supportive place for artists & writers to explore.

From the equally stunning state of Montana, Sherry O'Keefe joined Michele in the pursuit of the best voices in contemporary poetry. Montana is a vast, wide-open, sparsely populated state best experienced by traveling through and taking time to stop as many times as possible. Here you will find the middle of nowhere and after a bit of time you'll come to realize the middle of nowhere becomes the center of everything. It's a great place to locate your inner poetry.

"We look for writing that honors the beggar & the hero. We hope the work published in IthacLit will take you home: your home, our home, the real & the imagined, quite simply the home that connects your spirit with the world surrounding you as well as the mythical home we journey toward throughout our lives."

Contributors to IthacaLit's first issue are: Madeleine Beckman, Kelly N. Cockerham, Risa Denenberg, Alex Grant, Mike Harrell, Rose Hunter, Susan Johnson, Kathleen Kirk, Diane Lockward, Katharyn Howd Machan, Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé, Uche Ogbuji and painter Lin Price.

Call for the IthacaLit Winter Issue
IthacaLit is now open to submissions for the Winter issue, guidelines.

IthacaLit 
Issue One: Autumn

Persist: In Praise of the Creative Spirit in a World Gone Mad with Commerce - Peter Clothier (Parami)

Persist: In Praise of the Creative Spirit in a World Gone Mad with Commerce is a collection of essays spanning thirty years of engagement with the culture of our times. Peter Clothier is a long-time student of the dharma and a meditation practitioner. In this context he examines the qualities of compassion, perseverance, and discernment in his reflections on the artist’s predicament in a world that judges success in terms of celebrity and material reward. Persist explores ways today's artists in any medium can find fulfillment, a sense of purpose, and joy in alternative and more lasting values.

Peter Clothier has served as an educator and an art school dean variously at the University of Southern California, Otis Art Institute and Loyola Marymount University. Clothier left academia many years ago to devote himself full time to his writing. He still describes himself as a “recovering academic.” A student of the dharma who follows a daily meditation practice, he is the author of the online weblog, The Buddha Diaries; his political passions find their outlet in his regular contributions to The Huffington Post.

About Parami Press
Parami Press is an independent book publisher situated in Vancouver, Canada, and focuses on books from a Buddhist point of view. Their book program includes:  "One Monk, Many Masters - The Wanderings of a a Simple Buddhist Traveler" by Paul Breiter; "The Ten Perfections - a Study Guide" by Thanissaro Bhikku and "Mapping the Dharma" by Paul Gerhards.

Peter Clothier: Persist
collected essays
132 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9779774-1-3

note: this book feature was inspired by Jean Morris' blog post "Persist"

Stone Highway Review #1

Stone Highway is a new literary journal of short prose and poetry, dedicated to language - to work that haunts, electrifies, tingles: "We like creativity. We believe the imagination contains as much truth as "truth."

The issue is available as print copy + free PDF dowload. The website also includes an extra page with colored versions of the included photography and artwork, and a blog.

Contributors included in the first issue are: Michelle Reale, Paul David Adkins, James W. Hritz, Ariana D. Den Bleyker, Kim King, Peter Schireson, Jenny Catlin, Maggie Koger, Caitlin Elizabeth Thomson, Christina Dubach, Len Kuntz, Christopher Woods, William Doreski, Devon Miller-Duggan, Dr. Ernest Williamson III, Tom Holmes, Christina Murphy, Alex Yuschik, Ruth Holzer and Jenny Ortiz.

About Stone Highway
The magazine is edited by Mary Stone Dockery who is interested in "new stuff, the writers who dare to breaks some rules, who write about what we “shouldn’t” write about, in surreal and magical ways…" and by  Amanda Hash, who loves "writing that really pays attention to language and the beauty of finding the right words". For some more notes on the magazine, try the Everyday Other Things feature.
Stone Highway will publish twice yearly, in both print and electronic format. Submissions are now open for the next issue. Guidelines

Stone Highway Review
literary journal

Festival of the Trees #63: Slugyard University

The Festival of the Trees is a monthly blog carnival for all things arboreal, hosted at a different blog each month.

The theme of edition 63 is: How animals and other wildlife interact with trees: "Keep your eyes and ears open, and take a look at what the wildlife are up to–up in the trees. Send the link to your blog post, video, podcast, slideshow, or other e-tree-creation."

The collected contributions are now online at Slugyard University

Edition Announcement"Go back to school with the Festival of the Trees! Edition #63 finds us at Slugyard University, where the learning never stops because, as everyone knows, beer is fatal to slugs. Many of the links this time fit the announced theme of trees and wildlife. The contributors (now promoted to professor status) found marbled murrelets, grey herons, tufted titmice, collared doves, varied carpet beetles, termites, fire ants… even, improbably, a pair of turtle shells in the trees. Classes at Slug U aren’t restricted to science, however, but include offerings in art, literature, religion, and conservation, too. Don’t be late to class!"

Upcoming Festival + Previous EditionsAn info page with current calls and an archive of previous editions can be found at Festival of the Trees. The next festival of the Trees will be hosted at European Trees, the theme is open - all tree topics are welcome. Deadline is Sept. 30.

Festival of Trees #63
a blog carnival

related links: nature, web projects

ECSTATIC/.of facts - Raymon Farr (Otoliths)

In ECSTATIC/.of facts, his latest book of poetry, Raymond Farr investigates the relationship between language, meaning and culture, and explores how language can shape new worlds out of the American suburban culture of generic mega stores, chain restaurants and popular music - "With an astute sense of phrasing and rhythm, Farr reveals that under the “Onslaught of language,” we find the “amber light of meaning stares back” from something as “fundamental as chaos.” - John C. Goodman

Some samples of the collection are online at Ditch: Paraboles of Paul Eluard & other poems

Raymond Farr lives in Ocala, FL. He has published widely in recent years. His work appears in Otoliths, Cricket On Line Review, BlazeVox2kX, Letterbox, Ditch, The Argotist On Line, Cannot Exist, EOAGH, Moria, Out of Nothing, Clutching at Straws, Kill Author, Text Base, Xstream, & Apocryphal Text. His chap book, Two Hats Appear When Applauded, is available free at Dusie. All four of his poetry books may be previewed and purchased at the Blue & Yellow Dog Book Shop. He is editor of Blue & Yellow Dog - which just has a new issue out that includes a special APG poetry feature, check it out here: B&YDog #6.

About Otoliths
Otoliths is a magazine of many e-things, published by Mark Young, Australia. The online issue of Otoliths appears quarterly, the current issue is: southern winter, 2011. The publishing arm of Otoliths began as print editions of the e-zine Otoliths, but has since expanded to include books & chapbooks by authors associated with the journal.

Raymon Farr: ECSTATIC/.of facts
poetry collection
112 pages, $13.45
ISBN 978-0-9808785-3-0

Fat Girl - Jessie Carty (Sibling Rivalry)

In Fat Girl, Jessie Carty asks us to strip and stand naked in front of a mirror. These poems are our own reflection. Bittersweet in nature, they are self-perception. They size us up and tell the truth: that man or woman, we all struggle to feel at home in our own skins.

Hunger, desire, overindulgence, shame, fitting in, transformation, and acceptance — these are the realities of human existence.  In these unblinkingly honest poems, Jessie Carty covers them all, examining, revealing, and redefining individual and iconic images of self, femininity, and humanity. - Scott Owen, author of Fracture World

For a vibe of Fat Girl, try this poetry video:  Class Reunion. There also is an author talk with Jessie Carty in this blog.

Jessie Carty’s poetry, fiction, and non-fiction have appeared in publications such as Iodine Poetry Journal, Main Street Rag and The Dead Mule. Previous to Fat Girl, she authored two chapbooks, At the A & P Meridiem and The Wait of Atom. Her first full length of poetry collection, Paper House, was published by Folded Word in 2010. When she’s not busy writing, Jessie teaches at RCCC in Concord, North Carolina, and edits the online journal Referential Magazine.

About Sibling Rivalry Press
Sibling Rivalry Press is a small publishing house based just outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. Their mission and vision: "to develop, promote, and market underground artistic talent – those who don’t quite fit into the mainstream. Our vision? To create literary and poetic rock stars."
Recent and forthcoming titles include: "Burnings" - a poetry collection by Ocean Vuong, "Voices Through Skin" by Theresa Senato Edwards and "Collective Brightness - Poets on faith, religion & spirituality".

Jessie Carty: Fat Girl
poetry
$12.00; 48 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-9832931-6-3
release: September 15th.
Now Available for Pre-Order at 20% Off!

The Conversation Papers 1.1

The Conversation Papers is the magazine of the Conversation International project, a not-for-profit publisher that aims to publish poetry from people and places often marginalised for reasons of capital or political culture.

The Conversation Papers 1.1, online at Issuu, feature a conversation with George Messo on translation, an article on the problems of publishing in Zimbabwe, and "Dialectisism": the first in a series of essays on dialectical approaches to poetry. Poetry by: Fabiano Alborghetti, Wirndzerem G. Barfee, Nancy Charley, William Doreski, Nigel Holt, Susanna Lang, Ruzvidzo Mupfudza, Gonca Özmen and Doug Pugh.
For more articles and bilingual poetry, visit The Conversation Papers 1.2

About the Conversation Paperpress
The Conversation Paperpress is the publishing arm of the Conversation International project: "We are a not-for-profit publisher co-operatively run by volunteers, working with the donated contributions of writers and editors. Through our international anthologies we aim to publish poetry from people and places often marginalised for reasons of capital or political culture, and we have gained critical attention for their promotion of emerging and unheard voices. Our developing pamphlet and paperback series promote original and exploratory poetry, including first collections and works-in-progress. As the mouthpiece of this movement and ambition, the publications of the Paperpress are part of an open dialogue; a conversation."

Upcoming anthologies: From This Bridge: Contemporary Turkish Women Poets and Next Stop, Omdurman: The Lost Poetry of 1980s Sudan

The Conversation Papers
international magazine
available online at Issuu