different kind of question...

DopeBeastie
DopeBeastie Posts: 2,513
edited February 2006 in Poetry, Prose, Music & Art
I'm doing a gig this weekend, and i'm thinking about printing out some of my poems, and offering them... for sale <wince>... at my show. I read them to this crowd a lot and get a more positive response for the poetry than I do for the tunes.

I need to start making a little cash to pay for babysitters and gas... and I think I need to start saving for equipment... mixers... mics... speakers... argh...


so, my question is... what's a fair price? how many poems should it contain?


if i decide to do it, i'll let you all know how it goes.


There was one poet/musician-type dude who put out like, 20 poems (some, rather sophomorish, imo) and sold the books for $15.00. He (I think) capitalized on his cuteness, his social standing within our small community, and his growing talent. I personally, was happy to shell out the cash to support him. I don't know if he's sold them all... but anyway.... thoughts?
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Ms. Haiku
    Ms. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,390
    50 poems for $15.00 like in a bookstore.
    30 for $10.00
    5 for $5.00

    Just a guess.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
  • DopeBeastie
    DopeBeastie Posts: 2,513
    hmm... yeah...

    i'm thinking it'll be 5.... 5 poems that i recite between songs... then offer up, printed for $5 bucks or $3 or something...


    don't wish to appear CONTROLLED or even motivated by the god-suck dollar... but the gear costs, and we ain't getting paid yet.
  • Being Enlightened
    Being Enlightened Posts: 5,746
    "you're a slave to the money, then you die" :p


    I think a buck a poem is a very fair deal. :) I also think people will be more willing to part with a fiver then say, a ten spot or a twenty so, going that route is smart, IMO.

    Good luck! I hope those gigs start paying off soon!!!!! :)
    Forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. - Leonard Cohen
  • DopeBeastie
    DopeBeastie Posts: 2,513
    thank you m'dear

    we're getting good. the new songs are good. it's very very exciting.
  • EvilToasterElf
    EvilToasterElf Posts: 1,119
    Buy 5 Pastanazi, get one Toasterelf free.

    Go for it, I think if you guys decide to record it'd be a cool little book to print the lyrics with some poetry attached, make it a bargain combined with the cd.

    Good luck to ya, gal
  • DopeBeastie
    DopeBeastie Posts: 2,513
    :D:D



    i can get me some free toasterefl???


    hell yes :D



    thanks, love

    'ppreciate it :D
  • EvilToasterElf
    EvilToasterElf Posts: 1,119
    Seriously though, if there's any piece you particularly like, or think goes in the vain of the stuff you want to sell, by all means consider it donated. Just tell me which ones.
  • DopeBeastie
    DopeBeastie Posts: 2,513
    my favorite has always been the one with the oil-slick rainbows in the mist coming off the back of cars... i looked for it the other day, and couldn't find it...

    do you know which one i mean?
  • olderman
    olderman Posts: 1,765
    go with the 20 for $15.00. good luck and do you have a tune(s) we can access online?
    Down the street you can hear her scream youre a disgrace
    As she slams the door in his drunken face
    And now he stands outside
    And all the neighbours start to gossip and drool
    He cries oh, girl you must be mad,
    What happened to the sweet love you and me had?
    Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
    And his tears fall and burn the garden green
  • EvilToasterElf
    EvilToasterElf Posts: 1,119
    Panic on Route 17

    My passenger seat fills
    with a crying girl in a makeshift sling
    There was no time for an ambulance
    out near exit ninety,
    the tree was too high
    and the branches too thin.
    On the road

    A red Ford Explorer
    drives through a shallow puddle,
    65 miles an hour.
    The sun steadies its aim
    and shifting rainbows
    grasp the black bumper
    like a colored leviathan
    stalking a fishing trawler.
    It veers onto an exit,
    and the prism sinks
    back into the oil
    of the highway.

    Hazard lights
    squint at cloud cover
    over an F-150 pickup
    marooned in the dirt.
    Guard rails rise,
    steel fins follow a man
    carrying a red gas can.

    But sideline sharks
    fade into the asphalt
    where turns were cleaved
    through cliff walls, covered
    in ice that slides like
    chicken meat
    boiled off the bone.

    The girl tries to move her
    arm and screams. The
    bleeding stops for now
    but the seatbelt digs
    into her broken arm.
    I told her at a hundred
    and ten she needed to keep
    her belt on, we had already
    reached

    The crooked mouth
    of Delaware county,
    blasted by mountain men
    who ate through the rocks
    with dynamite teeth.
    Those state funded
    root canals
    allow four lanes of traffic
    to shimmy like wet crumbs
    into its gullet

    We speed through that esophagus
    until the needle of my speedometer
    hides itself in the dashboard
    as we reach the life sustaining
    machinery of Lourde’s Hospital

    I lower her into a wheelchair and
    move through a series of glass
    doors that open in unison.
    The reception desk waits in
    the corner like a prison sentry
    tower. And with pitiless efficiency
    we are told to wait. The whole
    drive, the risk, the speed seems
    wasted, but not forgotten.
  • justam
    justam Posts: 21,415
    This sounds like a good idea.
    Fifteen dollars for 20 of your poems seems fair to me, especially if you bind them nicely and put in a picture or two. :)
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&
  • DopeBeastie
    DopeBeastie Posts: 2,513
    Hey toasty... that's changed quite a bit! It's not the poem I remember. I think you've added a whole lot to it, actually... cuz I don't remember the girl at all.

    I think I'm going to have to put off the production of the booklet. lol... doesn't feel like something I can handle in all of three days. But I will do it.



    Jess? I'm working on my myspace music page right now. I'll email you a link once I get some tunes on there, cool? :D

    Oh, and Justam? I never got your music. :( I think I gave you the wrong upload site... it's http://www.yousendit.com, not "usendit"... sorry 'bout that

    d'oh! :)
  • justam
    justam Posts: 21,415
    PastaNazi wrote:

    Oh, and Justam? I never got your music. :( I think I gave you the wrong upload site... it's http://www.yousendit.com, not "usendit"... sorry 'bout that

    d'oh! :)

    I didn't even go there yet, I've been busy with stuff... :D

    Will files from itunes work? (They are called m4a when I drag them to my desktop. )
    &&&&&&&&&&&&&&
  • olderman
    olderman Posts: 1,765
    coooooool !
    Down the street you can hear her scream youre a disgrace
    As she slams the door in his drunken face
    And now he stands outside
    And all the neighbours start to gossip and drool
    He cries oh, girl you must be mad,
    What happened to the sweet love you and me had?
    Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
    And his tears fall and burn the garden green
  • DopeBeastie
    DopeBeastie Posts: 2,513
    holy crap, this shit's a pain in the ass, lol...
    20 minutes to d/l a song, ending in an error message...

    TWICE


    bagh.


    :D ciao ciao
  • EvilToasterElf
    EvilToasterElf Posts: 1,119
    PastaNazi wrote:
    Hey toasty... that's changed quite a bit! It's not the poem I remember. I think you've added a whole lot to it, actually... cuz I don't remember the girl at all.

    I think I'm going to have to put off the production of the booklet. lol... doesn't feel like something I can handle in all of three days. But I will do it.



    Jess? I'm working on my myspace music page right now. I'll email you a link once I get some tunes on there, cool? :D

    Oh, and Justam? I never got your music. :( I think I gave you the wrong upload site... it's http://www.yousendit.com, not "usendit"... sorry 'bout that

    d'oh! :)

    Well I guess that was version 1.0, we fixed some bugs and added some new features, version. 1.11659 is going strong. I'd love to see your band sometime though.

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