My piece is not a poem. Rather, it’s a memoiric short featuring myself and two other officers in my battalion and our nightly cherry-poppin’ convos during the Iraq War. Many of you know that I spent all of 2005 there.

When I first discovered The Smoking Poet I thought that “Cigar” was the perfect poem for it. Unfortunately, or fortunately for me I guess, it had already been published. So I wrote “Desert Smoke” instead and wrote it with The Smoking Poet in mind. I’m glad they liked it enough to publish it.

At any rate, I share it with you now. To read “Desert Smoke” you’ll have to scroll down the page a little, but I promise you it will be worth it. Visit The Smoking Poet’s Cigar Lounge now.

Greg Sterling, an online marketer whose blog I read often, heralds the day for magazine publishers as well. Sterling believes that e-book readers may actually save the magazine industry.

I of course believe that online publishing has seen its advent – for more than just newspapers and magazines. In the past 3 or 5 years, we’ve seen more and more literary journals appear online. But we haven’t really seen a subsequent decline in print journals. Will we?

The Economics Of Print Vs. Online Publishing
Let’s face it, the cost of printing isn’t getting any cheaper. In fact, like most things, it’s going up. And that means a higher price for the end consumer. Many print journals succeed as a result of grants and donations. But in a recessive economy it is more difficult to get donors to give.

However, there is not much cost in producing an online journal. Certain delivery systems are free. But even if a foundation or publishing organization chooses to spend money for publishing online, they will often get by with fewer expenses in the long run than a print journal. It costs just $10 a year to own a domain name. Other than that, there are no necessary expenses. While content management systems can be an expense, many of the best ones are free – WordPress, Joomla, Drupal. et. al.

Given the cost difference between online publishing and print publishing, even if a journal lost half its donors and half its grant moneys, it would still do better financially by publishing online.

So Why Aren’t More Traditional Journals Publishing Online?
If the cost is so cheap for publishing online, why aren’t more publishers doing it? I think, honestly, there is still some trepidation where online publishing is concerned.

Many traditional publishers do not want to be the first to make the move. Understandably, if something goes wrong in the transfer then it will be a huge blight on their reputation. Still, many traditional print publishers in the literary world are slowly making the move online. The Kenyon Review has a blog and an online version of its journal – even if it is a small capitulation. And KR is one of the few online poetry publishers with its own domain name, proving that the journal editors are more adventuresome than many of their peers.

Rattle publishes a part of every journal as an e-journal. Again, this isn’t a full commitment to online publishing, but it’s a start. I could give countless other examples, but you get the point.

Still, when it comes to online publishing, most traditional print journals and their editors have a blog, but that’s about it. They are still publishing in print. Most online journals are new presences in the literary field with no print counterpart. Of the traditional print publishers who have blogs, most of them are using Blogspot, the Internet’s largest free blog host, proving that they have not fully committed themselves to online publishing.

I think all of this proves that there is still a literary readership stuck on the delivery systems of the past and not yet ready to migrate to the new platforms. That’s to be expected. Most revolutions do not happen overnight, but gradually drag themselves to the forefront one devotee at a time. While we are getting there, we aren’t there yet. But there is time.

Where Is The Breaking Point?
The newspaper industry still has not met its breaking point. But it’s getting awfully close. The Chicago Tribune filed a Chapter 11 late in 2008, unable to profit from the advertising it sells. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer became the first major daily newspaper to move to an exclusively online edition earlier this year. I think that’s good news for the newspaper industry, but it will be a couple of years before you start seeing a mass exodus of newspapers from print.

Will this also happen to literary journals? I think so, but the timeline will likely be different. Newspapers are a much more mainstream form of publishing. Literary journals, while they have their place, are not on the average person’s reading list. Until the universities and foundations that fund them get to the point where they are losing readership and funds due to increasing print costs and competition from their online counterparts, I believe we’ll continue to see print journals arriving in our mailboxes.

Another thing that will likely influence the decision of journal editors and publishers to move completely to an online publishing platform is expanded opportunities in the delivery systems. While The Kindle has certainly opened doors in some ways, it has its limitations. The Sony E-book Reader may offer it some competition. But journal readers may have different tastes than your average electronic reading fan. It remains to be seen what literary readers will demand in the way of electronic formatting.

When the breaking point does finally come, you’ll see print journals with a long history and tradition suddenly moving their print offerings to a completely online platform. They’ll include a blog, of course, and some may even offer multimedia presentations in addition to their more traditional “print” offerings. Another development could be – and I hope so – a way for readers to print and bind their own journals POD. The technology is presently available. We need only tap into it.

What Is The Future Of The Literary Journal?
I think the future of publishing is vibrant, possibly more vibrant than ever before. New opportunities arise every day. Publishing will likely expand into “social publishing” as Web 2.0 opportunities increase and more people learn to use them. The Language School’s emphasis on reader cooperation and communal creation have much better prospects for online publishers than print as certain technologies, like wiki for instance, are built with that type of publishing in mind. Unfortunately, most creative producers of online literary publishing are, like most industries, outside of the mainstream power structure. The leaders in electronic publishing are not at the leading foundations and universities with firmly entrenched reputations in the literary field.

In summary, the future of literary publishing is now at our doorstep. Will be greet it with a smile?

I have been letting publications submit themselves to the list rather than go out and actively recruit them, but this is a list I’d like to grow faster. What do you think? Should I be more aggressive in growing this list or keep it the way it is and let publications submit themselves without any prompting?

The publisher is open to unsolicited queries for book length manuscripts of poetry, horror fiction, supernatural/weird fiction, and non-fiction until October 31st, 2009. Queries regarding books of other genres will be disregarded without reply.

Authors can send a brief query to messrs@blackmazebooks.com with biographical information and a brief note about their book as well as a sample chapter (no more than ten poems or twenty pages).

Let’s welcome Black Maze Books.

Why? Because print papers are dying. Meanwhile, online distribution is growing. What’s 2+2?

Well, literature is pretty much moving in the same direction, only slower.

I don’t think paper literature will ever die. There will still be newspapers in print. There are still radio programs that deliver the news, right? Old systems don’t just die off. They find their niche and hold on. So too do I think print editions of poetry will stick around even as the masses move to online delivery of a dying lit.

It’s already happening. How many poetry blogs are there? They’ve become sort of a cliche, a bit like family memoirs. The only people who care enough to read them are distant cousins. But the good ones really stand out. And it’s just a matter of time before a real literary “blockbuster” takes off in the digital world. There have been a few successes, but nothing yet really stands out as a true blockbuster in the NYT best seller sense. But I see it coming.

What do you see as the future of publishing for poetry and literature? Is there a new Gutenberg on the horizon?

Tin House Magazine debuted in 1999. Since then it has been a powerhouse of postmodern poetry while making inroads into a new era. Frankly, I think we’ve moved beyond the postmodern, but some postmodern icons are still represented in the pages of the magazine as evidenced by its recently published anthology.

The anthology is titled Satellite Convulsions: Poetry From Tin House. World Class Poetry has published its honest review and we’d like to share with you our thoughts about it.

Feel free to make up your own mind, but the review of Satellite Convulsions: Poetry From Tin House can be found right here.

From Ottoman Press and editor Caleb Rutkowski, the first issue is on the way. They like upbeat stuff in the vein of the Beats and New York School. Read more at WCP.

But when I’d heard that Dorianne Laux was to judge The Smoking Poet contest – the first annual – and the entrance fee was only $5, I decided to send them three of my poems. They weren’t necessarily the ones I’d consider “my best” poems, but they were poems that I thought were closest to the type of poetry that bears some semblance of affinity with the preferences of the judge, keeping in mind that there is no perfect way to measure another person’s preferences.

Nevertheless, I was elated to have received a rejection letter from The Smoking Poet editors and a thank you for participating. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I’ve never seen a rejection letter from a contest before. But keep in mind I’m using the term “rejection letter” loosely. Tell me if you think this reads like one:

Thank you, Allen, for being part of The Smoking Poet’s First Annual Poetry Contest. The final votes have come in from our panel of judges, and although your poetry did not make it into the top four selections, we wanted you to know that we enjoyed reading your work very much. From so many, many submissions, it was difficult to choose … but we hope you will submit to us again. Watch for our regular calls for submissions and more upcoming contests.

I don’t know if any of the other non-winners received the same rejection letter, or a similar one, but I thought it was nice of them to say that they enjoyed reading my work. Congratulations to the winners of the contest, and may your best poems be set in the future:

First Prize: “Northward” by Koh Xin Tian
Second Prize: “Sock Puppet” by Malcolm R. Campbell
Third Prize: “Reunion: 30 Years Too Late” by Lana Maht Wiggins
Honorable Mention: ”Selected Love Letters I’m Still Trying to Write” Kelli Russell Agondon

By the way, I love the name The Smoking Poet for a literary journal. It speaks rebellion.

The bio that appears at the bottom of the poem:

Allen Taylor spent 2005 stationed in Iraq, dreaming of being back home with his wife. Upon returning to the States he promptly told Uncle Sam to go fuck himself and started his own business. He manages World Class Poetry and writes the World Class Poetry blog. He never shaves.

Other poems included in the collection have appeared in The New Verse News and a local newspaper, The Hanover Evening Sun.

And if you’d prefer the lighter side – try this one.

For a broadside of the poem “Cigar”, featured in The New Verse News in January 2008, get the World Class Poetry Toolbar.

First, if you aren’t familiar with Facebook, you should get familiar with it. It’s what is called a social networking tool and it allows you to network with other people who have similar interests no matter where they live. There is quite a community of poets already using Facebook and every day I bump into more. The tools available to poets for promoting their books, chapbooks, individual publishing successes, blogs, newsletters and e-zines, poetry journals, etc. are fabulous and expanding every day.

I’d like to highlight a few people who I believe have done very well at using Facebook to promote themselves and other poets. This is not an exhaustive list, but these are observations based on my own use of Facebook and the networking that I’ve been able to do. I’m only sorry that I haven’t done more through Facebook until now or I’d have more to share. You can bet that I’ll be using it more in the future.

Belinda Subraman on Facebook

Belinda Subraman is the host of a podcast that promotes poetry and independent music artists. Her show is called Belinda Subraman Presents / Gypsy Art Show. She frequently sends out calls for interview subjects and poetry MP3s, which she then plays on her show. I responded to one of those calls and Belinda interviewed me. After her weekly show, Belinda then sends out a Facebook notice to all of her fans and friends to let them know the latest podcast is ready for listening. It’s very effective and I’m sure that Belinda Subraman’s weekly poetry podcast is very popular. I know I like it.

You can connect with Belinda Subraman on Facebook here.

Robert Lee Brewer

Robert Lee Brewer is the editor of Writer’s Market. He also writes the daily blog Poetic Asides. Robert is one of the many poets on Facebook who use the feed feature of Facebook to promote their blogs. Robert’s feed is very effective because he writes to his blog every day and every time he updates his blog an automatic notice is sent to all of his friends and fans to let them know they can read the latest update on Poetic Asides. I like this feature of Facebook because it means that I don’t have to subscribe to every RSS feed in the world to read great writing. I can be notified through Facebook that a blog is updated and click a link to read the posts that I want to read.

Connect with Robert Lee Brewer on Facebook here.

Didi Menendez

The real test to how effective you are at networking is how much you can get other people to do your promoting for you. Didi Menendez needs no help in promoting herself, but she has it. As the publisher of Oranges & Sardines and MIPOesias Magazine, Didi is well known in the world of poetics. But that doesn’t stop Grace Cavalieri from promoting O & S through a Facebook page.

I believe Facebook pages are one of the best ways to promote yourself online, and Grace’s page promoting Didi’s journal is a great example of a Facebook page.

Connect with Didi Menendez on Facebook here.

Connect with Grace Cavalieri on Facebook here.

What You Can Do With Facebook Pages

As stated earlier, this is not an exhaustive list of poets on Facebook doing great things. But I like what these people are doing. Facebook pages are powerful promotional tools because they are so flexible and much more accessible than Facebook profiles. A Facebook user can hide their private information so that others can’t see it without permission – even if the profile comes up on a Google search. But the information provided in a Facebook page can be viewed by anyone without permission and the pages can be found through search just like a normal web page. That makes a Facebook page a very accessible marketing tool for any creative person from poet to movie star.

There are many other great things you can do with a Facebook page, however. You can upload photos and videos, aggregate blog RSS feeds, promote events, publications, and upcoming readings and book signings. Virtually anything you can promote through a website can be promoted through a Facebook page – and you don’t have to have a lot of technical skill to be able to use it effectively.

And Facebook pages have the same interactive features that Facebook profiles have – that is, people can become fans, leave comments on your wall, start and enter discussions, and even upload their own photos and videos. That’s one powerful interactive marketing tool.

The World Class Poetry Toolbar Facebook Page

I’m always looking for new ways to promote the things that I believe in. That’s why I decided to write a Facebook page for the World Class Poetry Toolbar. Just one day after adding that page and promoting it to my Facebook friends I had a few more downloads. Of course, I get a few downloads every month, but to receive the number of downloads that I received the day after writing the page is pretty good. I’ll definitely be writing more Facebook pages and improving this one as well.

If you haven’t downloaded the WCP Toolbar, I’d encourage you to do so. You’ll have access to more than 30 poetry blogs,  nearly as many online poetry journals, poetry podcasts and radio shows, including Belinda Subraman Presents / Gypsy Art Show. And that’s just the beginning.

If you are a Facebook user and you haven’t connected with me yet then I invite you to add me as your friend. I’m looking forward to doing more networking through Facebook.