Re: poetry for poets
Posted by:
phillipAellis (IP Logged)
Date: 1 May, 2013 04:57PM
A Selected Poems would be likely to sell, however the Collected Poems that we already have is just as likely to sell, despite the perception that its price tag is intimidating. I say this because it's a truism that those two species of titles are usually the best sellers for any poets, even when their print run is restricted to the single digit.
I can see some potential arguments against a Selected Poems coming out: it would have to be given the nod by the literary estate, who may well view it as direct competition to the current Collected Poems; the textual work would need to be done from scratch, rather than just relying on the texts in the Collected Poems, as the editorial work of having established them would mean that the editors would need to consent to a product that would take customers away from their hard work, and into the arms of a competitor product; and most of the poems are copyright, and the organisation of the books, the order of the poems in the currently protected books, are also copyright.
So I am less than sanguine about the chances of a Selected Poems.
That said: there is room for a series of authorised reprints of the original poetry publications, with critical apparatus and (for example) selections of contemporary reviews. These, if produced with economy of scale, as quality perfectbound items, may provide some buzz among afficionados of verse.