Moving On to Ink Dries and beyond

When I decided to take the plunge and bring out my first collection
of English poetry I wasn't one of the "poets" belonging to a clique
or a group, or someone with an established "voice" / reputation,
academic credentials / blog, etc.

Nor was I -- for that matter -- someone established in prose or
any other genre, a name out in the market and known to readers.

In other words, I was out and out obscure and unknown. In other
words, expecting any mainline publisher to show interest in my book
would have been a bit like wishing for a lottery.

As such, I decided to go it alone and self-publish my poetry. And I
put up Coucal Books to do the same. With the objective of bringing
out other poetry books; of poets as obscure as me.

But then, this and that has resulted in the last two years being a
bit choppy on the personal and professional front; which meant I
couldn't really do much about scouting out for other poets looking
at getting their books out.

Besides, in these two years there hasn't been an earth-shattering
awakening of interest for poetry in the minds of readers. And
though it is a bit easier to find out the "niches" of poetry lovers
thanks to the burgeoning numbers of online groups, poetry books
are still risky propositions, slow starters, etc.

So, the sum total of books brought out by Coucal in the last 2 years
is one. Mine.

And the next book that Coucal's bringing out is also mine.

In the eyes of a lot of discerning or opinionated or plain cynical
people out there this would look like vanity publishing.

I wouldn't know; I am as vain about my poetry as any poet out there
but I certainly don't write to get famous or to show you my best side
or to see my name in print.

Nor do I write poetry (or bring out poetry books) to become rich,
for that matter.

So I would like to see what I do as self-publishing, that too in the
great tradition of senior Indian poets like Nissim Ezekiel, Jayanta
Mahapatra, Arun Kolatkar, etc.

For those who can't make out the difference between vanity publishing
and self-publishing, I have nothing much to say.

For those who are interested in poetry; specifically those interested
in bringing out their poetry -- hey, Coucal is here, drop me a mail,
(or message me on FB) and we will take it ahead!

Speaking of "Moving On", I still think it was one of the best things
to have happened to me, one of the most important things I have done
in life. Since then, I have learned a lot about poetry, poets and
publishing, but I am happy to say that my passion for poetry still
stays un-quenched and I will keep at it. And as far as poetry books
go, Moving On has garnered a fair amount of readership and been pretty
well received with many readers writing in to me appreciating this poem
or liking that poem.

Since I haven't done this elsewhere ever, a big thank you to all my
readers.

Yes, I promise to keep at it and write and publish more poetry,
even as the ink dries.