Welcome to this first post of Thirsty: A Biblioasis Miscellany.
In the August issue of Quill & Quire, editor Derek Weiler commented on the rise of Biblioasis, and said that Biblioasis is "already a press to watch." But something else he said has stuck with me these many months. "Here's hoping," Derek wrote, "that Biblioasis gets those authors noticed with imaginative, resourceful marketing." I hadn't given much thought to marketing at the time, or at least not beyond magazine ads and catalogues, launches and readings. And, to be honest, I don't have the budget to do much more. We're an 'emerging' publisher, in more ways than one: learning on the fly, running on a mixed octane of enthusiasm, ignorance and idealism. We've stretched every single dollar we can well past what we should expect of it. So what resources, really, do we have left to draw on?
It turns out, quite a lot. Biblioasis has drawn to its standard some of the most energetic, intelligent, talented and opinionated writers, artists, editors and readers anywhere, a community of eccentric bibliophiles of varied -- and sometimes slightly disturbed -- passions and interests, and we're giving the keys to all of them. Expect poems and stories and news and rants and reviews and essays and art and debate, and anything else they (or we) can throw at you. At time, I expect, it may be more bedlam than miscellany, but it should be interesting to watch how it develops.
A blog as resourceful marketing might not be what Derke Weiler had in mind. But as one small part of the proverbial puzzle, it may prove worth its weight. And if it succeeds only in connecting a small group of readers and writers, if it serves only as a locus for Biblioasis' own small family of writers, then it will be well worth it.
