Publication of Vampire Cabbie A Victory For Alternative Press

 

Editor’s Note: what follows is self-serving, bordering on shameless self-promotion. However, there is a point that will be made that should become apparent.

After twenty-six years of dedicating myself to writing fiction, my novel Vampire Cabbie is about to be published. This is my first published novel, but is actually the third novel I’ve written. I finished it in 1995, and now, finally, twelve long years later, it’s being published by Literary Road, a small press based in Seattle.

This publication is important, and by important, I mean ALL-CAPS, IMPORTANT. I mean Important with a capital I.

Well, obviously, it’s important to me because it’s the coming of fruition of years, of decades, of hard work. It’s important to me because it means finally getting some validation after so much frustration, even after having given up on the novel getting published.

Even after almost giving up on writing fiction altogether.

But a small press publication has not suddenly transformed me into some megalomaniac totally lacking any sense of proportion or perspective. It’s a horror novel, nothing more, though I do think it has something to say about class issues in America. I certainly think people will find it an enjoyable read, but I’m not going to say that the book will end world hunger, reverse global warming and bring peace to the entire planet.

It’s not the publication of Vampire Cabbie that’s important. It’s the manner in which the book is being published. That’s what’s important.

Again, Literary Road is a small press, in fact a very small press. Literally, it is a Mom and Pop operation. Literary Road consists of a married couple, with children, who started the press as a way to “escape the rat race.”

Literary Road is publishing Vampire Cabbie as both an ebook and a print-on-demand paperback. To quickly define terms, an ebook simply is a PDF or PDF-type file that one can download for a quarter of the price of a traditional, physical book and can be read either from one’s computer screen or with a Palm Pilot-type viewer.

A print-on-demand book is one where the publisher works with a printer that is able to accept digital input, thus eliminating the exorbitant set-up costs involved with 20th Century printing. Smaller print runs become feasible, thus allowing smaller presses to be able to function because the financial commitment to a large print run is no longer necessary.

It is important not confuse publishers who work with print-on-demand printers with print-on-demand book packagers that essentially function like a vanity press for writers who choose to self publish. These are two totally different animals.

What I’m talking about here is 21st Century technology that is spawning a publishing revolution. And the lynchpin is nothing more than the invention of the PDF file, such a simple thing, yet something with far-reaching ramifications.

Twenty-First Century technology allows Literary Road to publish my novel, which had been ignored by the traditional book publishing industry.

Twenty-First Century technology allows any number of people to enter the publishing business, granting so many more venues for people with unique vision.
And thanks to 21st Century technology, countless writers will have their voices heard.

Surely, there are those out there who might dismiss this as phenomenon as just that much more crap joining all the rest of the crap that’s already out there. To those elitist snobs who would say such a thing, I say, get a clue.

On the left, there is a great deal of discussion about the importance of the alternative media in a society increasingly dominated by corporate media. This discourse is especially prevalent in Madison, which is one of the great alternative media strongholds in the country (and is the home turf of journalist and media scholar and critic John Nichols, whose work with Robert McChesney is known all over the country).

A well informed electorate is imperative for a healthy democracy. Consolidation of the corporate news media threatens our very way of life. The result, as we have seen, is that newsrooms are gutted across the country because of profits demanded by far-away boards of directors.

Corporate news media simply cannot be trusted to properly inform the electorate.
The same dynamic exists in the publishing industry where consolidation forces publishers and editors to answer to far-away boards of directors that demand tribute, not quality.

Thus, publishers and editors are unwilling to take a chance on a new author who might be a bit outside the mainstream, instead opting for what they see as a sure thing, which in reality is a book that is the same as everything else that has already been published.

If your fiction challenges the status quo, well, you can just forget about getting published. Publishers and editors don’t want to risk their careers on a book that isn’t going to be the next Harry Potter.

We need more independent media. We need more people like Amy Goodman and Greg Palast. And we need more small presses that have the courage to publish what the corporate publishing houses won’t touch.

Thanks to 21st Century technology, small presses can join the battle and form a new front in the alternative media movement. That is why the publication of Vampire Cabbie is important, because of what it represents.

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On a personal note, long-time Mobius Poetry Editor Tom Neale has stepped down. He is replaced by Jeannie Bergmann. I want to thank Tom for his years of excellent work, but I am excited about what Jeannie brings to the table. Based on her efforts in this issue, I’d say Mobius poets are in very good hands.