my name is NightWrath, and I like writing novels, short stories, poetry, and comics. I'm also a member of poets.org. I'v recently heard about the Small Press Exchange. Can any body give me a feedback about the SPE. What the goals are, and what you do on a raguler basies?

Can any body give me a feedback about the SPE. What the goals are, and what you do on a raguler basies?

Hi welcome aboard! You heard about is on poets.org? That's cool -- I'll have to check that site out, I've never used it before.

In short, we hope this site grows into a means by which readers, publishers, writers, and booksellers can meet and interact in a social way. We are like a friendster or myspace for the small press world.

As a writer, for example, you'll have a chance to interact with publishers, sharing knowledge, asking and answering questions, etc. Coming from poets.org, I imagine you share my love for poetry!

I'll quote a little bit from this 'stickied' post:

The impetus behind the project was to create an augmented social network, one intended to be a tool to help extend creativity among individuals and enhance collaboration among those who share a common interest--writing, poetry, the small press, et al.

The three main _object_ives of the project:

1) To create a system that enables more efficient and effective knowledge sharing between people across institutional, geographic, and social boundaries;

2) To establish a form of persistent online identity that supports public commonalities and the values of the independent literary community; and,

3) To enhance the ability of poets and writers to form relationships and self-organize around shared interests in order to better engage in the creative process.

As for the community itself, I felt that it should be built on open standards, an initiative that would coordinate the efforts of many for the benefit of all.

Thus, we are interested in the 'small press' in its various forms. Publishers Weekly estimates that 7,000-plus new publishers come into being every year. A conservative estimate of the small independent across the country: 50,000.

To provide information and draw public awareness to the offerings of these presses, the Small Press Exchange launched in February 2006.

Hopefully we can support the energy, imagination, and commitment of small publishers, and acts as an exchange of ideas and techniques to make their job easier.

Moreover -- and most importantly -- we would like to act as a means for small presses to reach new audiences, get news out, etc.

So what can this site provide you?

Well, we've put together a directory to serve the community -- so please check it out and add any resources that you think other user might like.

Feel free to use our 'blog' feature to share ideas and gain support for your project, writing etc.

Become active on these discussion boards by sharing magazines that you like, potential places to publish, small presses you admire, recent books that you have read, etc.

Submit reviews, interviews, etc. focused on the small and independent press.

In closing, as this site is 'yours' as much as it is 'ours' -- why don't you share with us what you would like to see? Which resources would you like to see expanded upon?

cool, although I'm not the kind of person who likes being friends, or hanging out with others. Talking to publishers or writers is such a cool idea. I think talking to people on disscution fourms is safer than e-mails.

Safer? I don't know about that...

The idea about bringing publishers, booksellers, readers, and writers together is to foster communication.

These online forums are often a good idea to leave record of what was discussed so others can learn from and/or build on what was discussed.

Well, glad you joined up!

Would I be allowed to post poems or short stories on the fourm?

Would I be allowed to post poems or short stories on the fourm?

Thanks for your interest.

Our Audience
We have a strong following among both students and faculty, publishers and booskellers. Moreover, many of our users pursue creative writing as an avocation, often pairing their literary lives with other careers.

Our editorial content is divided looselt into the following sections:

Brief articles (500-1,200 words) that keep our readers abreast of pertinent information in the writing and publishing industries.

Writing on the more contemplative aspects of writing, ranging from creative process to the art of reading.

Advice and how-to articles that offer nuts and bolts information about the business of writing and publishing.

Reviews and interviews

Its not that we aren't interested in your original fiction and poetry, it just doesn't fit our mandate. Moreover, if you're looking for critique, discussion, etc -- you'd be better off trying many of the other forums that are better established and have among their members lots of people who are interested in critiquing etc.

What we'd be interested in -- if you are interested in contributing to the resources here -- would be a list of the places that you frequent, resources that are special (you mentioned poets.org), etc.

Feel free to post any resources (we_b_link__s, etc) in our directory. Anyway -- I hope you are interested in our site, despite a mandate that doesn't include orginal fiction and poetry -- its just that I feel there are larger, better venues for original submissions.