Very Like A Whale

This is a single-publication poetry project undertaken jointly by Jill Alexander Essbaum (editor) and Nic Sebastian (poet). Our idea is to pioneer a new poetry publishing model that brings together, on a one-time basis, an independent editor’s judgment and gravitas and a poet’s manuscript, by-passing the poetry contest gamble and the dwindling opportunities offered both by big presses and by heroic but limited-capacity no-fee/no-contest small presses. We are working on Nic’s first poetry collection, Forever Will End On Thursday, which will eventually be DIY-published under both our names. Read on for the project’s history and latest developments.

July 4, 2008 (blog post): Thinking begins to crystallize – why should poetry manuscript publication options be limited to two only, i.e.: 1) find a publisher or 2) self-publish? How about a third way?

August 29, 2008 (blog post): I put out an appeal for an editor (amplified by the one and only Reb Livingston) and the generous response I get from fine blogosphere poets offering to serve as editor for the project overwhelms me with delight and gratitude. I feel so honored I want to spend the whole day bowing deeply before them.

August 30, 2008: As soon as I hear from Jill Alexander Essbaum I know she is The One. Even before we really get talking and discover we have wacky things in common like Judges 5:24 and butter in a lordly dish. Following a rapid-fire exchange of emails, we agree we feel we can work together. I plunge into a fever of doubt and anxiety about my manuscript, with which I have fiddled for so long and in so many ways I am hardly sure I see it any more.

 September 3, 2008 (blog post): We announce the establishment of the Essbaum-Sebastian Nanopress.

September 5, 2008: Alea jacta est. I send my manuscript to Jill.

September 14, 2008 (blog post):  Trying a new model of publication does not mean that others don’t work. Everyone has their own preferences and this is not a zero-sum game.

First week of January, 2009: Jill finishes work on the manuscript and sends it back with her notes. I am travelling at the time and my attempts to have it hand-carried out to me fail. Eventually, though, it falls into my feverish hands.

January 26, 2009: Email from Nic to Jill:

Got it! Finally! And wow, bless you for all the care and thought you put into it. Really really really. It’s going to take me a few days to absorb everything, but I will get back to you as soon as I have something coherent to say. More soon! Yours very gratefully, Nic

I am overwhelmed with gratitude at the time and thought Jill has put into the manuscript. She has done two careful cover-to-cover reads, allowing plenty of time in between readings. Notes from Read #1 are handwritten in red ink on the manuscript itself and from Read #2 in blue ink. As if that weren’t enough, Jill has also typed up several pages of additional notes, covering topics such as poem order; thoughts on the book as a whole (she likes it!); title of book; length of book; poem titles; line/stanza breaks, punctuation, capitalization; word choices; cutting lines and poems; rhyme and meter; and back matter vs front matter.

It’s beyond wonderful to receive this kind of careful, generous attention from a poet who knows what she is talking about. I consider building a shrine to Jill and making burnt offerings there. Then burning incense in her name in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

February 1, 2009: Email from Nic to Jill:

Jill – you really are the best! I’ve read through all your notes three times. I’m now going poem by poem, making changes according to your suggestions, and seeing how they sit with me over a few days. I can tell you that I’m absolutely fine with at least 75 percent of your suggestions so far — they make sense and definitely improve the pieces. Some I am a little more resistant to, so I will give them some breathing space and see if that resistance dissolves or evolves in any way over a few days. In only in one case did I feel a poem had failed to communicate my intent to you, which has made me look much more closely at that piece — in a good way, I think. Once I’ve gone through each piece and am happy with it, I’ll focus on poem order and take you up on your suggestion to record the whole thing as one piece and keep listening to it. I also have a few new pieces I feel might be good additions to the overall document. So, it’s going to take me a while to have something to send back to you.

February 2, 2009 (blog post): A timely reminder that no-fee/no-contest potential publishing opportunities for poets constitute a rather short list.

February 13, 2009 (blog post): Publishing as a team means just that. As editing of the manuscript proceeds, both sides of the partnership add value to the equation, both have to feel vested, and each comfortable with putting their name on the final product.

February 20, 2009 (blog post): Being edited well is an emotional process.