Jim Goar, author of WHOLE MILK
discusses his diy experience with effing press:
Tell us about how you found effing press and why you decided to send them your manuscript.
Amazing that someone could get through an MFA program and still have no idea what was going on in contemporary poetry, but I did. I think we finished up just when the online thing was coming into its own. I didnt hear a single student talk about it.
After I graduated I spent a year in Thailand sending out work to places like ploughshares and poetry and had zero success. Then, when I moved to Seoul, I was just flipping around the internet and began to see some interesting work and the more I looked around the more I kept finding similar names and those names kept landing at similar magazines and those magazines linked to each other. All of a sudden I found an online community. I looked at TYPO and Octopus and No Tell Motel. Then I started reading everyones blog. And a name that kept coming up was Scott Pierce and his press, EFFING.
Whole Milk was still going the contest rout, so I didnt pay it much attention (hadnt learned my lesson yet). One night I just sent him my stuff. Then I realized that I had misread his submission policy and apologized and he said no problem and within 24 hours he said he wanted Whole Milk.
Did the work feel naturally collaborative between you and Scott? Whats that relationship like?
My relationship with Scott is really good. The guy just does his own thing and does it well. He didnt do any edits on the book or reshaping (Pirooz and I had done that before). What he did was make a beautiful layout. He lined up an artist to do the cover and inside illustrations. He sent the book out to loyal Effing buyers. He sent it out to people that talk. He sent the book out to the 16 people that I asked him to. He sent me 33 copies. In the end, it is all about coming as close to breaking even as you can while doing the more important thing, putting out great books and making interesting noise; but youd have to talk with him about that
(when I was in Austin he was organizing a poetry reading on a lake. Going to provide a keg and laminated poems, inner tubes, and sun block. Then put the poet on a dock with a sound system and a movie projector. Sounds like fun.)
I just trust him. Really, spend a bit of time with him, online or in person, and you just know that that guy is on the level.
What do you like most about being a part of the diy community?
I tire of competitions and being judged by people whose work you dont like much anyway. I think I am through with competitions and DIY is the only other option (the term DIY covers plenty of ground). DIY is the history of poetry. It is where most all the good ones began and stayed. The great presses are all DIY. Im in the process of starting one right now. Keep your ears open.
How would you describe the small press poetry community today?
I think it is a great time to be a poet. The Internet levels the field. I know immediately when a new book comes out and I love reading the first reactions and later the genuine reviews. You dont need to go to your grandfathers magazines anymore to know which way the earth turns.
Where do you think DIY publishing is going? How has blogging influenced this?
Blogging is at the heart of DIY. Even if you dont blog yrself ,they are a great place to listen to people talk. I like that I get to know a side of a person through their blog. Scott had read my blog before I sent him WM, I dont think hed ever read any of my poems. Some folks get down on blogs. Not sure why. I enjoy reading a friends poetry. Besides, bc of blogs, now I can sleep on a couch in most every city in the country.
Thats right. You recently flew in and visited Scott for the first time. What was that like, meeting him in person?
You see that he lives it. He lives in an apartment building, really an old house remodeled, and each of the rooms houses an artist. Jared Faulkner, the guy who did the cover for Farid Matuks new book, Is It The King, lives next door. Skanky Possum lives down the street. Poetry is alive in Austin.
Is this the downfall of corporate publishing? If so, what hat will you be wearing?
Stacy, I dont really know. I watch Fox News every day, and I have not heard a single thing about the downfall of corporate publishing. If Penguin wanted to publish my next book and give me a few dollars, I wouldnt say no, but I am not going to hold my breath, or believe that they are any kind of barometer; really, how can you get more than effing gives, than what DIY gives? Im just going to keep doing my work and meeting good people along the way.
to buy Jim's book click here!
to learn more about Jim, check out his blog!
