Odds and Ends Essays, Blogs, Internet Discussions, Interviews and Miscellany

Ami Kaye: How many submissions do you get?
Jeffrey Side: Around seven a day.
Ami Kaye: How do you select from among the submissions?
Jeffrey Side: I just go by my personal taste. I suppose that’s why the catalogue is quite diverse.
Ami Kaye: Do the books have the ability to be published in print format down the line?
Jeffrey Side: Yes, there’s that possibility. Though for me, publishing ebooks has certain attractions over publishing
printed books in that I can publish an ebook in 15 minutes, at no cost, and with no retail price. To do the same with a
printed book would be difficult, especially as far as making it free is concerned. It’s important to me that they’re free,
as I think that since poetry book sales make little money anyway, there’s no point in limiting public access to poetry
for the sake of minuscule returns. Poetry’s not as widely read as it used to be in, say, the 1850s, so potential readers
of it need incentives to bother checking it out; and making it free is part of that, for me anyway.
Ami Kaye: How do you choose covers for your book?
Jeffrey Side: Some of the poets I publish do their own cover designs, and for those that can’t either Rich Curtis or
Rachel Lisi, two visual artists, do designs for them. Rich and Rachel write poetry too, which enables them to find
visual motifs for designs in the poetry collections I send them.
Ami Kaye: How long does it take for you to read a manuscript, put the book together and have it ready to download?
Jeffrey Side: I can publish an ebook in about 15 minutes, but it takes about a week to prepare the manuscript. I don’t
read one manuscript in one sitting as I’ve usually got two or three others that also need my attention, so I rotate
between them. Once that’s done, it takes a few days for each cover to be designed, either by the particular poet or by
Rich or Rachel. When I have the covers, I format the manuscripts to conform to the standard design I use, and then
put them online. Given the varying rates of progress for each stage, I can publish three ebooks a week.
Ami Kaye: Do you know of other presses that operate in this way?
Jeffrey Side: No, but I expect there are some.
Ami Kaye: What kinds of titles do you publish?
Jeffrey Side: All styles of poetry and experimental fiction.
Ami Kaye: What is the advantage of a book like this for readers?
Jeffrey Side: Well, an important advantage is that an ebook is universally available, and as opposed to a printed book,
you can download and start reading one within minutes without leaving your home. This is especially important for
people who live in remote villages, or who are unable to walk or are physically challenged in some way. Ebooks also
don’t need any physical storage space. You can store literally hundreds of them in a portable reading device or on a
USB flash drive. So in this respect, they’ve got far greater portability than printed books. They’re also more easily
searchable than printed books, and their text can be resized for people with visual problems. Once portable reading
devices become as commonplace as mobile phones, I think ebooks will be the norm, and print books will exist mainly
for collectors and archivists, or bought as special gifts for weddings and christenings etc.
Ami Kaye: Are you enjoying your foray into book publishing?
Jeffrey Side: Yes, especially at the low-key level I’m involved in.
Interview with Anny Ballardini of Fieralingue
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