Chapbooks Create Publishing Opportunities: Five
Strategies to Success
By Marilyn Zembo Day
If you’re calling yourself a writer (even if still in a
whisper), then you’re concerned with getting your words out there.
Certainly, the next step after finding your voice is sharing
it. But how do you go about it, given the cumbersome, time-consuming
submissions process in today’s publishing world? Creating your
own chapbook could be your best alternative.
Chances are, either you’ve never heard of a chapbook (mention
one to many people and hear, “Chat-book? What’s that?”),
or you
assumed they’re purely for poets. While the latter was once
true (before desktop publishing software), it is no longer the
case. And as for the former — chat-book — well, not a bad name
for it, given its power to enable you to share your words; but its
not the correct term for this small booklet composed of a few
pages of printed material, generally including a cardstock cover.
Chapbooks date back to 16th century France (then called
colporteurs) and later found their way to England. The term comes
from itinerant agents, called chapmen, who sold the cheap, stitched-together
publications. Providing inexpensive reading material for the
common people, subject matter included everything from adaptations
of fairy tales to religious treatises to travel adventures — and
plenty of topics in between (they seemed also to have served as
the tabloids of their times).
These little books, originally created to educate and entertain
common folk, provide today’s writers with the perfect opportunity:
to publish their own words.
Here are The Top Five Reasons to Create and Publish Your
Own Chapbook:
- You aren’t having any luck getting accepted by traditional
publishing houses. Or the entire process of seeking an agent
or publisher seems too frustrating to even consider: thousands
of writers submitting work to the same overburdened editors, for
the same limited publishing space.
- Publishing your own chapbook is economical and quick. While
you might consider creating a larger volume of your work and contracting
with a vanity or print-on-demand press, chapbooks are easier to
compile and can be printed at local copy centers at fairly reasonable
rates.
- Creating your chapbook forces you to organize your work, look
at what you’ve got, evaluate it. In turn, this not only
makes you trace your creative journey (where you’ve been and where
you’re headed), but it makes you think like a publisher. Every
step of the way — evaluating, selecting, designing, printing, marketing — is
a mini-version of how publishers work.
- You’ll have control of your own work. Once a publisher accepts
your work, it’s not just your opinion that counts. The editor,
the designer, the marketing department and a host of others all
get their say. Self-publish and it’s all yours!
- Producing a well-put-together, professional-looking publication
boosts your self-confidence and self-esteem. Your words are finally
out there! You have something to show people — or sell to them
(another benefit: you can gain back some the cost to produce the
booklet, and enough to create the next one). And when you tell
someone you’re a writer, you now have something in hand that confirms
it. •
© 2005 Marilyn Zembo Day
About the Author
Marilyn Zembo Day is a published creative writer, workshop
leader and artist living in Albany, NY. She has facilitated writing
groups, workshops and retreats for over nine years, both for her
own collective of writers (www.womanwords.com) and at other venues
such as retreat centers, libraries, colleges, government agencies
and conferences (including two summer conferences of the International
Women’s Writing Guild at Skidmore College in Saratoga).
Marilyn has published several chapbooks, both for herself
and for others. To purchase a copy of her most popular chapbook,
Getting Your Words OUT THERE! — How to Create and Publish Your
Own Chapbook, contact her at wmnwords@nycap.rr.com. 10/11/05
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