There’s a “Small Press Book Fair” coming up in Toronto on Nov. 9th, and because I’m just about to release Buy My Chapbook …one more time, the new chapbook by Timothy Carter, I sent an e-mail to the organizers asking about getting space.
I wrote:
Hi, I just found out about the fair, and I wanted to check to see if there was still space available (half table) before I send in my registration form.
If there is, please let me know and I’ll send in the form and fee. I’ll also send the information by e-mail just in case the form doesn’t get to you by the Oct. 24th deadline for the directory.
This is the reply I received today:
Hello – and thanks for writing. A magazine of the occult doesn’t really fit into our focus on literary small press, though. As you’ll know if you’ve seen our cover letter, we have limited space; and as i believe you’ll understand, that limitation makes it even more important that we keep to our focus. Thanks for your interest in the fair, though.
At first, I was just annoyed. But then I realized that nowhere in my correspondence to them did I mention why I was interested in getting space! NOWHERE! Not even in a .sig file!
I don’t know about you, but I would think THREE chapbooks of short stories and poetry— Buy My Chapbook …one more time, and Blue Devils and Death Night Blood from the Toronto Dark Writers Group— fits into their “focus on literary small press”. Wouldn’t it?
They just took it upon themselves to ASSume that all I might have to offer was copies of The Zero Card…
Given their attitude, I don’t think I want to participate in this or any future “Small Press Book Fair” put on by these people!
