LANDSCAPE PRESS SPECIAL: interview with JUSTIN MARKS

Justin Marks is an award-winning poet and founder of Kitchen Press Chapbooks. We wanted to hear what he had to say about self-production ethics, chapbook aesthetics, and his experiences running a micro-press in a macro-climate like Manhattan.

In his own words:

“I’m a poet, publisher and editor. I grew up in Marion, NY, a small town about 50 miles east of Rochester, NY. I moved to Chapel Hill, NC in 1995 to complete my undergraduate studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. In 1998 I started work on my MA in English at North Carolina State University, where I also taught for three years. In 2002 I relocated to New York City to pursue an MFA in Poetry at the New School. I currently live in New York City. If I can help it I won’t ever leave New York. I may wind up moving to Queens or Brooklyn or something, but I hope to always live somewhere in one of the 5 boroughs ... I love it here. It’s the only place I’ve ever felt at home. ”

Kitchen Press was founded in 2005.

Landscape's Questions for a Book Artist or Self-Produced Writer:

1) What is the social role of a micro-press in today’s literary marketplace, environment, and economy?

I like the idea of micro and diy presses as being part of a gift economy. So, in that sense, I see them as a (small) corrective to supercapitalism.

Micro-presses, all independent publishing, really, are an absolutely necessary alternative to the impenetrable and narrowly focused world of “legitimate,” mainstream publishing. For me, independent publishing represents Jack Spicer’s idea that whatever impediments stand between a writer and her audience must be removed.

Micro-presses also provide a great community for writers. The micro-press world is (no pun intended) so small. You wind up meeting a ton of really great and talented people.

There also an interesting little piece I read in the Guardian recently about the history and persistence of chapbooks. You can check it out here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2008/sep/02/theneedforchapbooks

2) How is the reader affected by choices of font, paper quality, color, white space and other elements of design on the page?

I think these things can either attract a reader a reader to a book, or repel them from it; enhance the reading experience, or more difficult. While I love and admire books that essentially are art objects, I rarely read them more than once, or at least I’m hesitant to. I don’t want to ruin this beautiful work of art. Some books are constructed so intricately or poorly that they are literally difficult to read.

So that all affects the reader’s experience. I personally strive for a balance, to make Kitchen Press chapbooks nice enough looking that they catch people’s attention, as well as make the poet happy, but not so nice that people treat them like an art object. Of course, I’m not by any means a very talented book artist. I don’t think I could make an art object book if I wanted to.

3) Is book design primarily a vehicle for content, or does the design claim equal part of the concept and content?

I don’t know if the design can claim equal part. I suppose it could. I mean, I’ve definitely bought books simply because I thought they looked cool. I think that book design should compliment the content of a book, maybe help turn up the volume a little bit on a certain aspect of the content. But that may just be me.

4) Since design dramatically affects the reader’s experience of the text, it naturally follows to ask, then, why aren’t ALL writers more concerned with the production of their own work?

I think all writers are concerned with these issues. At least, I hope they are. But with mainstream publishing you often don’t have a choice. You generally can’t choose your trim size or cover art, font, paper stock or anything. You may be able to make some requests, but you won’t have much control or final say.

Once a manuscript is turned in, the whole process largely becomes a business transaction. The writer won’t have any input until the she receives galley proofs, and then all she can do is proofread, maybe haggle a little over the cover image, but not much. It’s a pretty impersonal exchange in that respect.

And with poetry, it’s even worse. You likely won’t even have an editor. You have to rely on your peers to help you get your manuscript into truly publishable shape. The publisher is basically just a middle-man of sorts.

5) Is writing, designing, making, printing and distributing your own books an act of anarchy; is it subversive or dangerous for any reason?

No, not really. I think it’s often an act of necessity, more than anything, but also choice. I’m starting to notice that certain poets who won fairly prestigious first book contests are self publishing their second books. Ariana Reines is one. She started her own press—mal-o-mar—and put out her second book, the incredible Coeur de Lion. I can’t pretend to know her reasons, but I think it’s something we’re going to see more and more often.

6) How can we make the book less precious than an art object but more valuable than a cheaply printed extra-thick pamphlet hocked and sold at an inflated price?

First thing to do is not publish cheaply printed, overpriced pamphlets. Desktop publishing technology is pretty user-friendly these days, and fairly affordable. It’s really not that difficult to make a handsome book, something that’s not an art object but at the same time nice looking, something you can be proud of in terms of packaging and content.

7) Do you think it is it time to finally diminish the social stigma on “self-publishing?” Do you think this is an outdated notion that can retire? Why/why not?

Yes, absolutely. Bands have been starting their own labels and putting out their own music, as well as that of others, for years. Fugazi is a prime example. I don’t see why it should be any different for writers.

The most important thing for an artist, in my mind, is to get the work out and find an audience. If you have to self-publish to do that, so be it. Even if you don’t have to self-publish, you might find it to be a healthy alternative to the less appealing aspects of mainstream publishing.

8) Do you think a mass of self-produced work destabilizes the value system by which we judge literary quality? Why/why not?

No, or if it does, it’s probably a necessary destabilization. But really I think it’s more about change. It used to be that people who self-published were generally seen as hacks. Now that’s not so much the case.

At the same time, it’s not like self-published books are winning major prizes like the Pulitzer or National Book Award. So their impact is probably still safely “below radar.”

In the Kitchen, Making Chapbooks

~ What are some other book arts traditions in which you work?

I mainly draw from other publishers like myself and their presses: Fewer & Further, Ugly Duckling, Lame House, Effing Press, Octopus, Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, Cannibal Books, horse less press, Rose Metal…the list could go on for a long time.

~Can you describe your production process – how you actually make the books?

It’s basically just me, my laptop and printer. I print the pages, fold them, press them, cut them, score the spine and saddle staple.

I like watching TV while I make books. Project Runway and Law & Order are great for that.

~Why hand-make books instead of sending them to a print-on-demand to be perfect bound?

To a large extent, money. It costs more to do a perfect bound book, even if it is POD. But I also think hand-bound books make for a different reading experience, more intimate perhaps; definitely more well rounded. In my experience, I’m much more aware of books as objects when they are hand-bound, and how that frames the presentation of the content.

Plus, I just like making the books. It’s fun, satisfies that drives that wants to work with my hands.

There’s also the relationship that happens between me and the book I’m working on. You’ll never know a book so uniquely as the book you literally make yourself. (emphasis added)

~ How would you describe your dominating aesthetic or blend of aesthetics?

I guess sort of New York School, so-called “post-avant” poetries, as well as more traditional aesthetics. It’s difficult to be specific. I think the original punk, new wave and hardcore movements in music have had an influence on me, if not in aesthetics than definitely in ethos—the whole diy thing.

Select list of important titles:

Hit Wave, by Jon Leon (September 2008)
Tentative List (A), by Thomas David Lisk (June 2008)
Out of Light, by Joe Massey (February 2008)
Why I am White, by Mathias Svalina (August 2007)
Run Down the Emphasis, by Erin Elizabeth Burke (June 2007)
Otherhow, by Morgan Lucas Schuldt (April 2007)
Thanks for Sending the Engine, by Elisa Gabbert (February 2007)
WIDE TREE, by Chris Tonelli (March 2006)
Morning News, by Ana Božičević (March 2006)
Fingergun, by Matt Rasmussen (December 2005)

~Who does your design?

Design for me is kind of catch-as catch can. I’ve done layout for the covers that only consist of text (Otherhow and Hit Wave).

Josh Elliott (mjoshelliott.com) designed the covers for You Being You by Proxy, Fingergun, Morning News, WIDE TREE and Thanks for Sending the Engine. He’s a friend of mine from college and a designer at Dark Horse Comics in Portland, OR.

Brian Morris (http://www.beemo.net/) designed the cover for Run Down the Emphasis. He’s a friend and graphic designer I know from an ad agency I worked at.

Efrem Oshinsky (http://efremoshinskyfineart.wordpress.com/) did the cover art for Why I am White and designed the cover for Tentative List (A). Efrem is a copywriter and printmaker I know from the same ad agency I worked at with Brian.

Poets tend to have artists/designers as friends, so lately I’ve just had them ask for the art they think will fit their book form their graphic artist friends. Joe Massey had Scott Pierce from Effing Press (http://www.effingpress.com/) design his cover. Lily Brown and Sandra Simonds are having friends do the art for their covers.

I go for a balance between basically whatever the poet wants and the (rather limited) means at my disposal.

~How big are your runs? How do you distribute?

Everything’s basically POD. If someone orders I book, I make one. Generally speaking, though, I sell anywhere from 50-100 copies of each book.

I send review copies to various review sites, and sell on consignment in independent book stores, like Ada Books in Rhode Island, Powell’s in Oregon and Woodland Pattern in Wisconsin.

The majority of sales, though, are online (http://www.kitchen-press-book-store.blogspot.com/).