from the Mindmade Books website:
Founded in 1997,
Mindmade Books (formerly Seeing Eye Books) is a small press publishing
chapbooks of modern and contemporary poetry. Among the more than sixty titles
that have appeared to date are works by internationally renowned poets, several
“first collections,” and occasional reprints of little-known or
long-out-of-print texts.
While there is no
single editorial vision, many Mindmade Books have explored the virtuality of
the short lyric; the asemantic sign as a medium for poetry; and/or
self-reflexivity, seriality, and constraint as compositional strategies. They
have also tended to reflect an interest in coherent, chapbook-length works as
opposed to groups of otherwise unrelated poems.
Brief bio:
Guy Bennett is the
author of several collections of poetry, various works of non-poetry, and
numerous translations. Recent publications include Self-Evident Poems
and a translation of Mohammed Dib’s Tlemcen or Places of Writing. His
writing has been featured in magazines and anthologies in the U.S. and abroad,
and presented in poetry and arts festivals internationally. Publisher of
Mindmade Books and co-editor of Seismicity Editions, he lives in Los Angeles
and teaches at Otis College of Art and Design.
Questions:
1 – When did
Mindmade Books first start? How have your original goals as a publisher shifted
since you started, if at all? And what have you learned through the process?
Mindmade Books
started in 1997 under the name Seeing Eye Books, which I had to change in 2008
when The Seeing Eye, Inc. – the folks that train dogs for the blind –
threatened to sue me if I continued to publish under that imprint. I bring out
four titles a year and am at this writing preparing my 66th chapbook (Guy Pettit’s My Life’s Work).
My original goals
were pretty straightforward: promote writers whose work I found interesting
and, if possible, bring it to the attention of readers who might not otherwise
be aware of it. Ideally this would be a mix of well-known, lesser-known, and
for all intents and purposes unknown poets, include at least one translation a
year, and regularly feature L.A.-based writers. Those goals haven’t changed
much since I started out.
As for what I’ve
learned in the process – I honestly don’t know. Maybe the fact that I’m still
doing it shows that I haven’t learned a thing…
2 – What first
brought you to publishing?
Chance, and a
translation I’d done of an early “freeword” poem (“Dune”) by Marinetti, which I
proposed to Douglas Messerli of Sun & Moon Press when we met at a
conference on Italian Futurism at UCLA in 1993. He wound up offering me work
designing and typesetting his books, which I did for eight or nine years; later
he also published my first collection of poetry and several of my translations.
During that time I worked for a number of other small literary presses and
magazines (Agincourt Press, Aufgabe, Green Integer, Littoral Books,
Marsilio Editions, O Books, Potes & Poets Press, Rhizome, and a few
others), mostly designing and typesetting their publications, but also
occasionally doing editorial work and translations. I have been working in
small press publishing in one capacity or another ever since.
3 – What do you
consider the role and responsibilities, if any, of small publishing?
The very same I would
ascribe to publishing endeavors of any size. As for its role: bring out works
you find compelling by writers you would like to promote and that you sense
people would/should like to read/know. As for responsibilities: try to do so
ethically and in a timely fashion, respecting the work, author, and reader (and
probably in that order).
4 – What do you see
your press doing that no one else is?
I’m not sure it is
doing anything that no one else is, aside from publishing the particular works
I do, the chapbooks having the particular look and feel they do, etc., but
these things are no less true of any other press.
5 – What do you see
as the most effective way to get new chapbooks out into the world?
I don’t know what
the most effective way would be; if I did I’d be doing it. What I do do
with Mindmade Books is send out publication announcements via email, one at the
beginning of each year indicating forthcoming authors/titles, and one as each
new title is published. These messages go out to between 500–600 people, some
of whom share them on list serves and blogs. There is also a website
(www.mindmadebooks.com) containing this information and which also includes a
descriptive catalog of all Mindmade titles, reviews of selected works,
information on ordering, etc., and that’s it. I’m not on Facebook, I don’t
tweet or social mediate in any way. I’d like to believe (and do secretly hope)
that readers interested in the writers and/or types of work I’m publishing will
find their way to me.
6 – How involved an
editor are you? Do you dig deep into line edits, or do you prefer more of a
light touch?
I tend to request
texts from writers and translators whose work I know and admire, or which I
have stumbled across and am curious about. Without exception have published
whatever they’ve sent me. On occasion I have made editorial suggestions ranging
from corrections and alternate renderings in the case of translations, to minor
grammatical tinkering in the case of original English-language texts. I have
also occasionally suggested that a line or passage or poem or two be dropped.
In all cases I consider these mere suggestions and have always deferred to the
author/translator. I suppose that would make me more of a “light touch” editor,
as you put it.
7 – How do your
chapbooks get distributed? What are your usual print runs?
Mindmade Books are
distributed uniquely by me. (Well, nearly uniquely: Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop
has titles up through 2011 and sells them at the Brooklyn Flea, from what I
understand, and I have seen a few for sale via abebooks.com…) Early on I had
discussed with Small Press Distribution the possibility of their distributing
my chapbooks, which they were kind enough to consider doing, but it wouldn’t
have been cost effective for me so I’ve gone it alone.
My print runs are
generally double the number of subscribers I have at the moment in question
(and by “subscribers” I mean folks who purchase the year’s run of four
chapbooks in advance), with additional copies being produced as ordered.
Printing the chapbooks “on demand” has saved me money and space, since I wasn’t
having to pay to produce and store runs of chapbooks that might not sell, and that
has helped make the project sustainable.
8 – How many other
people are involved with editing or production? Do you work with other editors,
and if so, how effective do you find it? What are the benefits, drawbacks?
For better or
worse, Mindmade Books is a one-man operation: I request the work, do any
necessary editing, layout the pages and covers, print, trim, and fold them,
assemble the chapbooks, address and stuff the envelopes, then carry the lot off
to the post office. I’ve been able to maintain a rhythm of 4 chapbooks per year
for the past 17 years while working full-time, having a family, and pursuing my
own writing, translating, and other activities, so obviously it works for me.
I have worked and
am currently working in other publishing projects involving co-editors and
production assistants. I enjoy working in that way as well, it’s just an
entirely different thing. With Mindmade Books, I’m in charge of all aspects of
every step of the selection, editorial, and production processes, which take
place on my schedule in my rhythm. As soon as you’ve got an editorial or
production team, you’re adding that many other schedules and rhythms to the
mix, and as we’re talking about small press publishing here, and thus everyone
most likely has another “day job,” as it were, it can be challenging, not to
mention time consuming, to coordinate tasks with everyone’s respective
schedules and the time they can devote to the process, and see to it that
things get done properly and in a timely fashion, that they don’t fall though
the cracks, etc.
So I suppose that
the benefit of working alone is that you get to do it all yourself and avoid
the complications that arise when working in a team, and the drawback is that
you have to do it all yourself and get none of the benefits that come with
working in a team.
9 – How has being
an editor/publisher changed the way you think about your own writing?
I think it has made
me more humble about it, and (I’d like to believe) a bit more discriminating.
10 – How do you
approach the idea of publishing your own writing? Some, such as Gary Geddes
when he still ran Cormorant, refused such, yet various Coach House Press’
editors had titles during their tenures as editors for the press, including
Victor Coleman and bpNichol. What do you think of the arguments for or against,
or do you see the whole question as irrelevant?
I don’t have a
strong feeling about it one way or the other. Over the years I’ve been involved
with projects that as a matter of principle did not publish their editors’ work
(Paul Vangelisti’s New Review of Literature, for example), and with
others whose contributors were the de facto editors (namely Lowghost,
a monthly, work-in-progress journal, also edited by Paul, and which knew two
separate, year-long runs). Of the 60+ Mindmade Books published thus far, only
one is a work of my own poetry, though I have published several of my own
translations.
I suppose it’s
worth recalling that Blake, Whitman, Lorca, and undoubtedly many other “greats”
published their own work, as did many not-so-greats. Whoever brings it out, in
the end it floats or sinks on its own merits or lack thereof, so the issue is
perhaps not quite as important as it may seem.
11 – How do you see
Mindmade Books evolving?
Very little, in
fact, and maybe I should be concerned or embarrassed about that. The basic
vision I outlined above has remained the same, as have the method of production,
the format, papers I use, the approach to layout and design…even the price of
the chapbooks hasn’t changed since I started the press in ’97. At this point I
don’t see any reason to do anything any differently.
12 – What, as a
publisher, are you most proud of accomplishing? What do you think people have
overlooked about your publications? What is your biggest frustration?
1) Having had the
good fortune to publish the writers and texts I have; sustaining the press as
long as I have; publishing every work I ever committed to; bringing every title
out on schedule.
2) That they exist;
how wonderful they are.
3) I don’t know
that I really have any frustrations, strictly speaking. That said, I am
surprised that more of them have not been reviewed.
13 – Who were your
early publishing models when starting out?
The immediate model
was a chapbook collection Douglas Messerli was publishing in the early ‘90s:
“20 pages,” it was called. As the name implied, the works were twenty pages
long. I can recall titles by Aaron Shurin, Ray DiPalma, Charles Bernstein, and
Adriano Spatola. I remember thinking, “I’d like to do something like that,”
when I first saw them. Douglas was having these printed off-set, and thus they
cost quite a bit to produce – more than $1,000 for a few hundred copies. When I
learned the cost I thought I could never afford to do it. Later I realized
that, since some Sun & Moon Press titles were actually being printed from
my laser-printed pages and the quality was fine, I could forego the idea of
off-set printing and produce the chapbooks myself using my laser printer, and
that’s what I’ve done. I knew that I would probably never get distribution and
so decided to sell the chapbooks myself in yearly series by subscription, which
I still do to this day (though I now also sell current titles – and of course
all previously published titles – individually).
I also remember
being impressed with Lyn Hejinian’s Tuumba Books. She printed them letterpress
on relatively thick paper, something I knew I was not going to be able to do,
but I did like their format and their clear layout and typesetting. I had been
in touch with Lyn before starting the press, and she was kind enough to send me
a selection of Tuumba chapbooks to look at and learn from. In fact the first
title I published was a work of hers: one part of her Books from a Border Comedy, which she was then working on.
Finally, I’m
attracted to printed ephemera of all types, particularly brochures and other
book-like forms and have undoubtedly been inspired by the inherent smallness
and unpretentiousness of such things. I have saved a number of booklets over
the years and occasionally look them over. I dream of using them as models for
future publications.
14 – How does
Mindmade Books work to engage with your immediate literary community, and
community at large? What journals or presses do you see Mindmade Books in
dialogue with? How important do you see those dialogues, those conversations?
I don’t really seek
to engage the literary community in any way other than by publishing these
chapbooks. I realize that that may sound sacrilegious in this age of
hypernetworking, but that’s how it is. Nor do I feel that I am dialoging with
other presses or journals (though I may well be, unconsciously and
unintentionally, perhaps it’s unavoidable). What I am working to do is create
the possibility of a dialog, broadly understood, or at the very least an
encounter between a reader and a writer, via these publications. Honestly, and
perhaps to my discredit, I don’t hope for much beyond that.
15 – Do you hold
regular or occasional readings or launches? How important do you see public
readings and other events?
Though I enjoy
readings – both giving and attending them – I do not organize Mindmade Book
launches or public readings because I simply couldn’t afford to regularly bring
writers to Los Angeles or travel to wherever they might be in order to
publicly present their work and/or promote the press. To this day there has
never been a Mindmade Book event (at least, none that I’m aware of).
16 – How do you
utilize the internet, if at all, to further your goals?
See question 5
above.
17 – Do you take
submissions? If so, what aren’t you looking for?
Officially, I don’t
take submissions. Being the one-man operation I described, I feared I might not
have the time to give them the attention they deserved. Unofficially, I have
accepted a submission or two following an unsolicited query, but have declined
a great many more.
18 – Tell me about
three of your most recent titles, and why they’re special.
Peter Schmidt, The
Thoughts Behind the Thoughts
Schmidt was an
artist who long fascinated me, especially his water colors, which often depict
plain views of mundane things. I first encountered his work on the back cover
of Brian Eno’s Before and After Science LP, and later learned that he
had also designed the sleeves of Eno’s Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy)
and Eno and Fripp’s Evening Star. More importantly perhaps, he and Eno
collaborated on the Oblique Strategies, which have subsequently become
quite well-known. Well, the precursor to the “Strategies” was Schmidt’s The
Thoughts Behind the Thoughts, a mixed-media work whose heart is a series of
aphoristic statements most of which comment on the thinking that precedes the
creative process. This chapbook contains those aphorisms, which collectively
constitute a kind of ante-ars poetica.
Terry Dernbach, Filmic
Scenes
Terry is an old
friend – we played together in a couple of bands in the 1980s and ’90s – who
always impressed me with his imagination and creativity. Over the years we
worked together he was active in music, painting, photography, and writing. He
was also interested in film, and in the mid-80s showed me some “ideas for
films” – brief, enigmatic texts that he was writing at the time. In the mid-90s
sent me a typescript of some 17 of these pieces, collectively titled “Filmic
Scenes,” which I fell in love with. I read and reread often over the
intervening years, and last year I asked him if I could publish them – I don’t
know why I waited that long to do so! Describing Filmic Scenes, I wrote
that they “suggest films that might have been made by Max Jacob or Taruho
Inagaki, had either of them worked in this medium.” And they do!
Giovanna Sandri, Hourglass:
The Rhythm of Traces
Well, to be honest
this is not a recent title (it came out in 1998), but I hope you’ll forgive me
for highlighting it all the same. Sandri is a poet whose work truly deserves to
be better known than it is. She began as a visual poet – her first book, Capitolo zero [“Chapter Zero”] from 1969, contains not a single verbal text – but
over time created a personal, hybrid poetic language that fuses the verbal and
visual. The poems that make up Hourglass exemplify her mature style:
minimal verse texts paired with equally minimal abstract graphic compositions
derived from basic written forms and suggestive of some unknown writing system.
Writing is in fact the subject matter – whether implicit or explicit – of her
work, and not writing as activity, but as trace: the material graphic sign
representing language and thought. Though we never met, I was fortunate enough
to correspond with Sandri in the years preceding her death, and to discuss with
her the translation of this work, whose Italian original won the Lorenzo
Montano prize in 1992. Later this year Seismicity Editions will publish an
edition of her selected poems.
