whether anybody wants to enter a chapbook or book contest is her or his business. i've never wanted to, but it's naive and unfair to call cranky jerks.
i still have no clue why cranky is being singled out. please tell me more about people making money off of publishing poetry books. also about book stores making money off of selling poetry books. because i'd like to learn more about this scheme.
mainly bc i was on their mailing list and they hit me in my inbox.
What scheme are you talking about? did I say something about scheme?
This is what I posted on my blog
Instead of just saying, “you suck!”, I probably should clarify why I think cranky sucks. Cranky has put out a few issues now. They have seen work from a lot of writers. Now they want to make a book. That is great. More books need to be made. So, you know quite a few writers, you want to make a book, why not just ask one of the writers you think is super sexy to make a book with you? It seems pretty easy. Why charge this $15 reading fee (bad enough that they charge a reading fee, but to make it so high, what a joke.)?
from the cranky site: "We’ll read all entries blindly (like the three mice), which means anything that shouts out your name will disqualify you; please do not include in your manuscript any poems previously published by Cranky."
This just seems absurd. I like writers whose style shouts out their name. Everything else is vanilla. It bleeds together. And as a publisher of a magazine, don't you want to publish unique and interesting writers? Don't you want those same writers submitting to your book contest? What is going on here?
Why state that you want to make a book without having that book in mind? Shouldn't you first see some work that needs to be seen by other people, then make the book (and now, in this contest, you want them to hide the work that you love? Again, give me a break.)? And so maybe they do have work in mind. I am not saying they won't give a good read, only that they probably already have some favorites. So why not just ask those favorites? In the end, your money will finance the work of someone else. If you think of this reading fee as a donation, as I sometimes do, then fine, donate. I like giving money to good causes. All they had to do was ask.
re reading blindly, i just took their perky copy to mean, "honestly, this will be a fair contest."
look, i don't have a particular or general defense of cranky, or anybody. but reading fees are reading fees; they are the capital to finance producing books, i guess; $15 is cheap, if we accept conventions.
probably they didn't have the money to publish one of their already-favorites. they barely got it together to finally publish their last issue.
Cranky is jerky, and I don't trust that they need the $15 from every entrant to bankroll the printing costs of the final chap. For that matter, I don't trust anyone who would send this rude of a letter to be published in a newspaper (you have to scroll down to see their letter).
i didn't think the last one was you, jim. it didn't read like you.
i'm so thirsty and i'm so tired. my thirst and hunger don't have anything to do with these comments. i am so thirsty and so tired, i'm saying so here inappropriately. anyway.
15 RIDERS:
why would you pay 15 bucks to get your work published by them? what a scam. Jerks
whether anybody wants to enter a chapbook or book contest is her or his business. i've never wanted to, but it's naive and unfair to call cranky jerks.
publish the book. make money off of making good books. Cranky is now part of the problem. they should be laughed off the page.
i still have no clue why cranky is being singled out. please tell me more about people making money off of publishing poetry books. also about book stores making money off of selling poetry books. because i'd like to learn more about this scheme.
mainly bc i was on their mailing list and they hit me in my inbox.
What scheme are you talking about? did I say something about scheme?
This is what I posted on my blog
Instead of just saying, “you suck!”, I probably should clarify why I think cranky sucks. Cranky has put out a few issues now. They have seen work from a lot of writers. Now they want to make a book. That is great. More books need to be made. So, you know quite a few writers, you want to make a book, why not just ask one of the writers you think is super sexy to make a book with you? It seems pretty easy. Why charge this $15 reading fee (bad enough that they charge a reading fee, but to make it so high, what a joke.)?
from the cranky site:
"We’ll read all entries blindly (like the three mice), which means anything that shouts out your name will disqualify you; please do not include in your manuscript any poems previously published by Cranky."
This just seems absurd. I like writers whose style shouts out their name. Everything else is vanilla. It bleeds together. And as a publisher of a magazine, don't you want to publish unique and interesting writers? Don't you want those same writers submitting to your book contest? What is going on here?
Why state that you want to make a book without having that book in mind? Shouldn't you first see some work that needs to be seen by other people, then make the book (and now, in this contest, you want them to hide the work that you love? Again, give me a break.)? And so maybe they do have work in mind. I am not saying they won't give a good read, only that they probably already have some favorites. So why not just ask those favorites? In the end, your money will finance the work of someone else. If you think of this reading fee as a donation, as I sometimes do, then fine, donate. I like giving money to good causes. All they had to do was ask.
re reading blindly, i just took their perky copy to mean, "honestly, this will be a fair contest."
look, i don't have a particular or general defense of cranky, or anybody. but reading fees are reading fees; they are the capital to finance producing books, i guess; $15 is cheap, if we accept conventions.
probably they didn't have the money to publish one of their already-favorites. they barely got it together to finally publish their last issue.
there is much wrong with the world!
I know. This bothered me more than it should have. now i am going to sleep.
how much money do they think it costs to publish a chapbook? It doesn't cost that much I can assure anyone.
this is the publishing version of the hedge fund.
but the return is bad.
me, i like it when my broker takes some of the risk. shows me he's serious.
cuz it's just so damn easy to spend other peoples' money.
I did not publish these as anony. think the beta blog took my name away.
damn beta blogger!
Cranky is jerky, and I don't trust that they need the $15 from every entrant to bankroll the printing costs of the final chap. For that matter, I don't trust anyone who would send this rude of a letter to be published in a newspaper (you have to scroll down to see their letter).
all right already: i get it.
that last anony was not me. my profile works now
i didn't think the last one was you, jim. it didn't read like you.
i'm so thirsty and i'm so tired. my thirst and hunger don't have anything to do with these comments. i am so thirsty and so tired, i'm saying so here inappropriately. anyway.
that's a pretty awesome letter
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