Dear friends and supporters of Eyewear - it might sadden or amuse you to learn that my book from 2007, Winter Tennis, sold 0 copies this year. Yes, that's right - 0. I just got the news today in the form of a statement. Sigh. Well, there is one copy still in stock at Amazon.com - so, I ask you, out there, eyewearers, to buy "just one book" of mine this week, and move me from zero to hero when next year's sales report comes in. Just think of the effect your purchase will instantly have on my morale. And, besides, it is a very good book, if I do say so myself. Also available direct from the publishers in Canada.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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This is an incredible statistic, and a true reflection of where Poetry is today - it speaks a whole volume in itself, TS, it really does.
What can I say to encourage you at this point (I already have the book, indeed we reviewed it very favourably on the mag as I remember)- news from Bewrite is that their e-book sales have really taken off as a result of a new distribution deal - I'm awaiting my quarterly royalties statement with a certain amount of self-interested zeal. I know for a fact that your blog is widely read by a number of people whose approval you might be happy to have, and not only in London. Websites/the Web are the undoubted future for Poetry, there is no other conclusion to be drawn,I think, much as I like books.
~ <3 Famous Poetry about life <3~
750 is very good, though obviously frustrating that it's fizzled out.
If it's any consolation (probably not), I've just received the sales report for my debut collect, and despite positive reviews and my own famed predilection for self-promotion, it has sold poorly.
Keep your chin up mate,
Tom
I have to confess that I smiled when I read that. (Not out of malice but from sympathy and fellow-feeling.) Probably best not to give up the day job just yet!
Best wishes from Simon