The Temple of Dagon

I have a major announcement to make. This is perhaps my most important announcement I have ever put forth, so please bear with me, and read it!

I have been working on my poetry anthology, well, since I was 8 years old. Over the years, I have attempted to release a previous incarnation of this item, but it was ultimately a piece of shit, utter contemptable garbage that, although containing some nice pieces in it, the production and the final product were SHIT.

I am happy to announce that my life's work, my masterpiece, has been published, at long last.

"20 Years", the book's title, contains approximately 280 of my poems, written from childhood, to last week, spanning all styles of poetry, all subject matter, and all byways in between. It is a labor of love that honestly I was beginning to wonder if it would ever see the light of fucking day.

The book is hard-cover, and is made of high-end, bookstore quality materials. The book itself is being published by ME, through Lulu.com, so the book is only physically printed when ordered, thus it never goes out of print. Ah, the marvels of our time...

The book is available in my online store for the price of $60.00 for the hardback version, and $1.50 for the downloadable print-ready version (this version is an Adobe PDF file, but is the same one that the printer would use, but is not a physical copy, so it is markedly cheaper).

The plan for this book is to let it sit, available to anyone interested, but I am not actively going to market this item online. I plan to get this book into actual retail stores, and sell it at a more reasonable rate, when the economy fixes itself. Right now though, the economy is butt-fucked into oblivion, and the cost of printing a book is far more exorbitant than normal. Thus, I am forced to raise the price of my book, if I am to gain anything from a sale of a copy, lol.

Anyhoo, if you would like to take a gander at the book, you can view the front/back cover, and inside the book here:

http://www.lulu.com/content/4465329

If you want a free copy of the book because you are simply too cheap to spend $1.50 through paypal to help me eat mac n cheese, then send me an email to moonbeampoet@gmail.com with the subject line of "give me a free book asshole" and I will send you a PDF copy of the book. The copy I send is locked, you cannot print it, or select text, or alter it in any way, but it IS readable, and FREE, so no gripes!

- mids

congratulations on the book. i'll check out your lulu page. just wanted to say that if you plan to go for more traditional publishing later on, prior self-publication will likely work against you. of course it's your work to do with as you like, but if you're serious about the retail market it might be prudent to hold your publishing horses in preparation for that race.

Congrats friend. Who did your cover art?

JJ Burke wrote:congratulations on the book. i'll check out your lulu page. just wanted to say that if you plan to go for more traditional publishing later on, prior self-publication will likely work against you. of course it's your work to do with as you like, but if you're serious about the retail market it might be prudent to hold your publishing horses in preparation for that race.

I only push my prose in the traditional publishing houses, but I appreciate your wisdom on this. I have published a smaller version of this book through a traditional house in the past, but I was unhappy with the final output, and they released themselves from the rights after much...wrangling on my part.

I think that traditional publishing, as far as poetry goes, is in serious decline. Unless one is a Professor of Lit somewhere, making a living from poetry is all but a dead thing now a days. Some pulp rags here and there have taken my stuff over the years, but they pay in copies.

I make my living off my music. Writing is merely a hard wired passion for me.

Thanks again JJ.