Naming Blog Posts Is Hard Enough Let Alone Books

I know what sort of title I don't want for my book. I don't want an abstraction, or anything too mysterious sounding. I don't want anything that sounds like the title of a Jodi Picoult book. I don't want the name of a person or a place. I don't want a pun, a cliche or a truism, especially not one that's understood to be ironic once you've read the book.

What kind of title I do want is more difficult to pinpoint, but there are two reasons I feel the need to get this sorted. Firstly, because I want to ask a friend of mine to draw me a cover, and I need to tell her what the book's actually called. Secondly, I've a vague idea that I can edit the book in line with the title, and it'll make me excited about going over it again.

Is what I want the opposite of the things I've listed above? ie. a specific, possibly longwinded, irreverent or purposefully obtuse title? I'm obviously wary of having a title whose tone contrasts too strongly with the poems inside the book. None of what I've written is remotely humorous, if I'm honest, and that's unlikely to change now. But could I pick out an image from one of my poems that's specific enough to seem strange, yet still inkeeping with the style my poems are written in?

It might look as though I'm shying away from telling the reader what is significant about the book, which I suppose I am. I suppose I'd like the reader to decide what they found significant, after reading it, but then, wouldn't everyone? I think I'm suffering from an unbearable combination of embarrass-ability and self-regard, which can only be cured by changing the title of every poem to 'Poem' and calling the book 'Poems'.

Some time today, I'm going to set up a poll which will appear on the side of the page, allowing you all to vote for my least embarrassing idea. One of the options will be 'Poems'.

EDIT: I have created the poll, but I'm having some technical issues getting the text to not be the same colour as the background. Should hopefully solve this soon, in the meantime, select the text to see it.

Ampersand: How Poetry Will Be Published Digitally?

Poetry publishers have never been keen on .epub and .mobi, the formats used by most eReaders. In order to provide the most seamless experience of reading a novel or biography, for instance, they endlessly re-flow text to fit the page. If your eyesight is poor and you'd like to increase the font size, it's a godsend. Unfortunately, this useful feature has a tendency to mangle carefully formatted poems. It is possible to preserve the shape of most poems with a lot of time consuming formatting - FutureCycle and Linebreak have shown that it can be done. However, no one has quite solved the problem of longer lines and floating, indented lines. Poetry publishers, reluctant to lose the work they put into setting out the printed page, have been waiting for a better format to get on board.

And it looks as though they've been won over by Ampersand - a smartphone app, of all things. Coffee House and Graywolf both had positive things to say about this new development from Bookmobile. There are three key selling points for publishers: they can send Ampersand the same file they send to the printers, it will look exactly the same on a smartphone or tablet as it does in print, and Ampersand acts as a storefront that encourages people to buy more books from publishers they trust. Have a look at the flashy iPad demo.

I have to admit that my initial reaction to this news was a selfish one; "God help me - I'm going to have to buy another device". But for many people, the opposite would be true. 35% of adults in the UK already own a smartphone, and might prefer reading books on their phone to buying a dedicated eReader. There are already numerous apps competing for this market; a friend of mine has already downloaded six different reading apps.

Since I'm the happy owner of a £20 basic Nokia, (the price included £10 credit...), I conducted a bit of research among my friends to find out what the consensus is on reading books on your phone. I was pretty skeptical, so the number of positive opinions I read really surprised me. Convenience was an obviously benefit, with several people stating that they enjoyed having eReader functions, such as searching for keywords and buying on-the-go, on a device that they already carried around with them. Eye-strain and staring at a tiny screen were still issues, possibly depending on the specific phone, although not everyone viewed this as a problem. Whilst many people would only read on their phone for short periods;'I would switch back to a 'real book' as soon as I got home', one respondent claimed to prefer reading on his phone in bed - so much for the commonly held view that you can't curl up with an eBook.

If phone reading does privilege short forms that you can enjoy before giving in to eyestrain, poetry publishers ought to benefit from this. One of my friends said that she had, 'downloaded short stories and poetry in the past, which I'd never usually buy in book format'. Combined with a store front that encourages customers to investigate unfamiliar writers, it's possible that Ampersand could even widen the audience for contemporary poetry.

Of course, as with all formats, not everyone likes reading on their phone, and not everyone will like Ampersand. Many people will still prefer the Kindle's larger, glare free screen. Journalists are prone to writing apocalyptic sounding opinion pieces, about how in five years time everyone's going to be reading books in x format, (looking back at the title I've chosen, I think I might be prone to it myself). But look at how, a decade after the launch of iTunes, people still buy music on every imaginable format, from tapes to FLAC. The future of ebooks will almost certainly be as complicated, and the problem of how to cater to everyone, whatever device they own, remains to be solved.

The really promising piece of news is that publishers Copper Canyon have been given a $100,000 grant to find the best format for poetry eBooks, and have said that, 'Being a nonprofit, we have this opportunity to look beyond the bottom line and toward the larger social and cultural good'. Let's hope their definition of 'larger social and cultural good' includes, 'making things available on all the devices people already own so they don't have to buy something new and expensive.'

Thanks to Matt, Mark, JP, Tunde, Ros, Mirri and Theo for lending me your opinions, and helping me disguise my lack of smartphone knowledge. This blog post was inspired by an article on Publishers Weekly.

General Update

At the end of May, I wrote that I hoped to have all the material for the short eBook I'm working on finished my 'mid-July'. It's looking suspiciously like 'late July' now, so have I finished? Of course not, although I am closer than I secretly thought I'd be by now when I wrote that.

Although I've almost decided not to include the blackouts in the actual book, they were wonderful starting points for freewrites, which I had become sick of. Four of the new poems I've written are directly influenced by them. It was only after writing these new poems that I started wanting to put things in order and think about the book as one terrifying whole.

Having no idea of how other poets do this, I brought an enormous sheet of mounting card, printed and cut out all my poems, and moved them around until I thought they had some coherence and sense of progression. It was all a bit Blue Peter, but it worked - I don't think I could have made the connections I did by looking at a PC screen. I decided to interweave the three different sequences rather than placing them separately.

Was that a good idea? Going on my instincts, I like the effect, but in reality I have no idea. In all honesty, looking at my poems laid out has made me realise why most people feel they need a partnership with an editor to release even a chapbook length book. I stalled completely for about a week because I had no idea where to start editing. Eventually, I decided to pick out whichever poem offended me most with its obvious weaknesses, improve it, and then go for the next worst. I'm moving in the right direction. Estimated time of arrival: three more weeks.

I still think I'm right to try and self-publish these poems; this is an early project that I want to do something with because I think it has value, but I don't want to be thinking about it in however-many-years it would take to publish it "properly". I'm keen to try out drastically different styles of writing, and I want to have this out of the way so I'm free to move on and do that. I don't see it as being any different to new bands and producers selling their early work on Bandcamp, and I think having the option of self releasing early on could make more people excited about writing, and more determined to finish off projects they've started.

Next steps: Submitting poems to webzines I like, speaking to my friend about potential artwork.

What Can The Internet Tell Us About... Jennifer Chang

Jennifer Chang says that, 'the advice I give to everyone, is to be patient'; perhaps that's why her book isn't available to us terminally inpatient ebook consumers? (It's probably because her publishers don't do ebooks.) Nevertheless, there's enough of her poems available online for us to get a taste of what she does, so lets do that.

Pastoral

Grass-/ noise fighting weed-noise. Dirt/ and chant.

This was the first poem I came across; I read it closely because I realised Chang had successfully written a similar poem to the one I was failing to write. It's nature poetry, I suppose, but it's a noisier sort of nature, a field whose plants scratch and itch you as you pass through. I loved the urgency of the short sentences and non sequiturs.

The Skin's Broken Aria

I ask questions/ to evade personal statements.

Here, Chang inspires an involuntary shudder, as she breaks down barriers between the body and the world surrounding it. She seems to be avoiding saying something directly; the way she flits between ideas suggests this. It's not a problem; it's an original way of evoking vulnerability.

Estuary

The house sank,/ the soggy bank would not hold./ A spirit rocking like a boat/ took me to this between place.

Part of a set of three poems available on the Blackbird website, this is a more gentle poem that comes across almost as a newly written fairytale.

It's difficult for me to draw a neat conclusion here, aside from that I really like all the different styles she's written in, and I'm interested to see where she goes next. A poem called Conversation with Slugs and Sarah was published in January's Poetry magazine. I thought it dealt with nature in a similar way to Pastoral; unflinchingly describing it's overlooked details, but now anchored by a personal memory. Will she move further in this direction in the future? I'm excited to find out.

Collaborative Poetry on the Internet

I find collaborative poetry terrifying, with its free-and-easy approach to ownership, rampant spontaneity and necessary social interaction. Laughing at me, alone in the Wetherspoons with my pint of diet Pepsi. Sometimes I enjoy being very insular in my poetry writing; I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with that. But on those occasions when I do get stuck, I wonder if collaborative poetry might be what I need to drag me out of a rut.

I'm currently reading Saints of Hysteria: A Half-century of Collaborative American Poetry. There's no ebook edition, so I'm rediscovering the annoyance of having to carry around a bulky anthology. It's been worth it though; the contrast between my favourite and least favourite poems is stark, and the process notes have helped me to think about why that might be.

The following poems were my highlights; a PDF of the entire book is available to read for free online - press Ctrl+f and search for the titles to find the poems.

Soldier by Alice George & Cecilia Pinto

In this poem, there is no apparent contrast or conflict between the writers; their ideas merge into one consistent voice and one narrative. The process notes explain that one of them wrote a ten line poem, and sent it to the other to write between the lines. Although it is impossible to tell who authored which lines, you get the sense that the second writer must have filled detail into the first writer's memory. In taking this small step into the realm of fiction, the story seems, paradoxically, to acquire more truth.

Soul #1 by Julianna Baggott & Norman Minnick

This poem is unusual in that it makes explicit the conversation between the two poets; most writers in the anthology preferred to merge their identities. I enjoyed seeing the point at which the first poet's metaphor was taken on by the second poet, and twisted into something wildly different, but still complimentary.

White Mink by Lita Hornick & Ron Padgett

I picked this poem out because of the enforced rhyme scheme, which seems to have pushed both poets to be more creative. With this sort of game, I do think you risk the poem becoming a succession of linguistically clever but ineffective lines. The important thing is to ensure that each poet's contribution advances the theme of the poem. Thankfully, the ideas that Hornick and Padgett come up with have a resonance beyond the ingenious rhymes - and there are a few simple lines mixed in to diffuse the intellectual jousting.

'Clothes are my weakness, poetry my strength
Because it covers my body's and my soul's length'

I'm going to finish off this post with a sort of literary personal ad... Would you like to collaborate on a poem with me? Anxious F, 25, likes Frank O'Hara and Flying Lotus, dislikes poems about poetry. Surrey. Contact poetry after ink @ hotmail . co . uk

Also, please could you add my new business twitter? @poetryafterink

The Season Of Poetry: an oddity in the Amazon Kindle store

You can't fault poet Lytton Smith's enthusiasm for preserving poetic curiosities. The introduction to his micro-anthology of translated poetry, The Season of Poetry, explains the roundabout way in which it came to exist.

Whilst browsing poetry blogs, Smith became interested in an international poetry festival that had been held in Vilnius, Lithuania. (This appears to be an annual event - could be an interesting holiday?) He had heard about a book produced to coincide with the event, but was only able to find parts of it in PDF format. However, he was so enthused by the eleven poems he was able to find, that he had them translated, assembled brief biographies and further reading suggestions, and turned it all into a 71p ebook.

Smith aims to gently draw readers into the world of international poetry, and encourage them to keep looking. In The Season of Poetry, you'll find an admission from a poet who claims to have murdered Puff Daddy, (did anyone tell her he now records as Diddy-Dirty Money? The last album was pretty enjoyable imo), and a poet who claims to hire insects as servants, although my favourite poem was much simpler. Sandra Borja Medina's 'The walls were yellow and half edible' is a subtly surreal image of childhood summers.

Whilst writing this, I've discovered the whole thing is available for free as a PDF! Enjoy.

New £2 Critique Service from Fleeting lit mag

A poem that's only ever been read by you is a dangerous thing; you can only guess how another human being might react to it, and it's hard to stop all those imagined reactions bouncing around your brain. It must need further editing, because everything always does, but you've exhausted your capacity for constructive self criticism.

So, you plan for your poem to take it's first tentative steps into the world. But it's the summer holidays, so your tutor can't help you. Your friends and family are fabulous spell-checkers/cheerleaders, but they don't really read poetry. Should you post your poem on an internet forum and let every monkey with access to a keyboard have a crack at improving it? It works for some people, but I've had comments ranging from the patronising to the unfeasibly angry, (yes, angry that I'd written a poem they didn't like). It kept me awake at night. It wasn't worth it.

Whilst absentmindedly clicking around, I came across Fleeting Magazine's Clinic. For just £2 a poem, or £4 for 1000 words of fiction, they'll send you a reasoned, thought-provoking assessment of your work. If you seriously need to be persuaded to part with the money, here are some reasons you should...

1. Since the person who'll critique your work runs a literary ezine, it's fair to say they probably read a lot of contemporary poetry. This means they're much more likely to be able to place your work in that context, and understand what you're aiming for.

2. The comments are detailed and specific; line breaks, vocabulary, punctuation. Even if you disagreed with the overall interpretation, you'd probably benefit from some of the minor alterations.

3. The comments I received had an academic tone to them, which somehow made it easier for me to take them on board. I normally have trouble not taking comments personally, but I felt remarkably calm after reading these ones.

4. Lets face it, we all have fragile egos. We need buttering up before we read the line-by-line dissection. The Clinic butter you before they batter you, and I appreciate that.

Once you've had a think about the comments, you could even submit your poem to this competition they're running...