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.
When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se. What do I mean by smart?
Comments
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