On Chapbooks

In this age, we are not sure there is much point in the traditional printed chapbook, except for distribution to a small and local readership. There is little advantage, from a cost perspective, to printing a smaller book (usually poetry) via either a commercial print shop or a POD site.

When copiers or mimeographs were pretty much the only (or at least easiest) route for tiny, low-budget presses, the chapbook made sense. In fact, our very first book, Stephen Brooke’s poetry collection ‘Pieces of the Moon,’ had its original run as a small book produced with a laser printer. It was not quite a chapbook, strictly speaking, at forty-eight pages. Close enough for our discussion.

Within a couple years, we had moved to a POD model and have used that since. To be sure, most of the books from Arachis Press are also available in ebook form. Perhaps chapbook-length books are better suited to a digital format in this day and print should be reserved for longer works. This is not to say we absolutely would not offer a chapbook of poetry in print; however, we would not allot one of our somewhat expensive ISBN numbers to it for wider distribution. It would have to be offered directly from our store, only (or sold at readings, etc).

And with shipping costs, base price of a POD book, etc, it would still be perhaps too pricey. This is also the reason the idea of a print ‘literary’ magazine went on hold (permanently, maybe).

The poetry titles we currently offer (under the Eggshell Boats imprint now, and not including children’s books) run from that original forty-eight page book up to one twice that length. That seems a good range. ‘A Poet’s Day,’ due to be released April 21, 2020, has seventy-four pages and ninety-one pieces. We try to keep the cost of such books at under ten dollars (with discounts) direct from our store but some are a little higher when purchased from other retailers (Amazon et al).

Incidentally, all of Stephen Brooke’s collections are free as ebooks (at http://insolentlad.com/ebooks/) but otherwise we feel $1.99 is a good price for a digital book of this sort.