Well, hello again. At last I’ve done that thing I said I’d do. As from this weekend (26/27 November) there is a shop site where you can buy direct, and the link is right here: www.rennieparker.bigcartel.com. The navigation is easy, and I haven’t cluttered up the site with other pages or details – it’s just image, cost, add to cart. If you’d rather avoid the online retail giant beginning with A, you can get the same books for much the same price (with UK postage included) from me. I linked the site up to Stripe rather than Paypal, but don’t worry – all the commonly used credit and debit cards are accepted. I realise a few people might be reading this from the USA or Europe, and in those cases, I recommend using the publisher’s own sales outlet through www.centralbooks.com. They are excellent and run by people who are used to international sales and the European market post-Brexit.
For the above reason, I’m later than usual with this blog update. The dayjob is full on, which means not much poetry activity beyond writing a few lines towards poems, and rewriting other half finished works from a while ago. This isn’t very interesting for other people to read about, because it’s only what every other poet is trying to achieve with varying amounts of time available. I have missed a few events as a result of getting these things done, and meanwhile attending readings by Zoom doesn’t have the appeal it once had – not now that I’m spending every weekday with a large college database spread over two screens!
Twitter is still available, which is great – it’s been my social media of choice, and I’ve made a lot of connections there which really made a difference over the past couple of years. Many have bailed out and gone to Mastodon, but I don’t like the multiplicity of server names and the impression of it being – like its name – cave-age standard instead of what we get with the little blue bird. As Mastodon must be trying to upgrade itself while taking on board the thousands of new subscribers, it’s going from 0 – 60 in a shorter timescale than it was designed for, and I can’t help thinking that some of the less equipped servers will pack in sooner than the site which the people have escaped from. So, I’m staying on Twitter until the lights go out – but I really feel for the people who rely on it more than I do for growing their arts business and finding an audience. Some of the smaller presses run the whole of their marketing through it, and for a few poets, it’s become their publishing outlet. We are all losing out because of the ambitions of one man, who sounds more like a Bond character every time he invents a new strategy. Let’s hope he’s not building an underground lair in an extinct volcano.
As none of us know what the future holds in terms of rising utility bills and the rest, I brought forward my spending plans then I don’t have to replace lots of goods during the winter when it’ll be The Rising Cost Of Living to the power of ten – plus train strikes and postal delays as well. But I now have a splendid pair of pillar-box red ankle boots (hooray!) and you can be sure I’ll be wearing them at readings.
Rennie Parker's Bookstop 