4.4.07

Poetry: "The New Rock and Roll"

Expatriate Canadian poet, Todd Swift, recently put up an intriguing post on his blogzine, EYEWEAR, about the need for big poetry publishers to move towards the online market. I tend to agree.

From EYEWEAR:

The big media story of the last few days has not been about an author or a movie - it has been about
Steve Jobs, EMI, and the opening access that is being afforded to those who wish to download and acquire music ("tunes") from the Internet.

I have long been interested in three things - poetry, books and new digital media, and their intersection. I feel that the UK giants in poetry and book publishing - such as Faber & Faber - have so far missed the boat, in terms of what they could do to move more strongly and dynamically into the online market. If poetry is the new rock and roll, those who publish and market it need to note the succesful models of those who use the Internet wisely to distribute rock and roll (indeed poetry). I stand ready to receive an email from them to advise on what they might want to do next...

More here.

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