home     paraverse press     dirtpoor  redblack                                                                                                                                                                       04-08-05

PARAVERSE ON BORROWED TIME UNLESS I CAN FIND SPONSORS

Become a BOP, POP, TOP, FOP, MOP, DOP (see below)!
Short Appeal:   Publishing itself costs almost nothing when you use a POD printer-distributor, but a poor boy (see link, above) must still pay the rent and the web-server.  With dozens of books well along, and a gradually rising income from the books already published, it would be a shame if I had to waste time (i.e. destroy books otherwise published) working for peanuts, but that may happen unless I get some help soon.
Long Appeal:  There is only one important thing that we can lose and that is time.  If I had spent a bit more time trying to publicize Rise, Ye Sea Slugs! (and had the money to send out more pr copies), chances are Paraverse would already be paying my rent, for the reviews (in tiny publications by top people as you can see on the Review Page) could not be better and all it would take is a single review in a major paper or magazine or on NPR to become self-supporting.  Alas! I do not have any contacts and I do not have the money to send out books without knowing they will be looked at.  So, I do what I can do, which is write 18 hours a day every day.   Unfortunately, family circumstances put me on Key Biscayne, a paradise to be sure, but my rent is $800/month.  As noted in Red & Black, I have borrowed $6000. from my $10,000 credit card and owe the IRS about $2000 that will come due at the end of the year.  It looks like I will have to stop writing and work for paltry wages by August unless I get some help  for even if that big review in a major venue appears, payment from my printer-distributor lags sales by 6 months and, now, I am  selling only a dozen or so books per month. (New:  I did get help!  From my 106 year old grandmother, who died over a year ago. The $7000. will pay my rent until Winter.)

Because I have come close to completing dozens of books over the past decade, I can say (as absurd as it sounds!) that not continuing at this point will cost me – and you, if you would like to read them – a book every two months.  It is really, ridiculous, for the sales on Rise, Ye Sea Slugs! are slowly rising (it just crept past the one million ranking at Amazon, finally!) and with three more books of better sales potential soon to be published,  my long, long poverty should be over by Spring of 2005.  By Fall of 2006, when sales of New Year and Cherry Blossom haiku books kick in, we will definitely be on our way, even in the unlikely worst case scenario = none of the books selling more than a few hundred dollars/month. If I only had a house, a car, anything to borrow against I would gladly do so myself, but stupid me, all my limited earnings were invested in research and the writing of books.  None of it is lost, but none of it is liquid either. Unfortunately, banks will not lend money against potential, that is to say they do not invest in business.  So here I sit in a big canoe upon a pile of millions of dollars worth of books-to-be without the paddle needed to get me to the market.   So, I beg for your help.
THINK OF IT AS AN INVESTMENT!
Because none of my books are returnable and I do not pay for any offset printings and thus have no stock,  Paraverse Press cannot lose money even if it tries.  As none of the books are timely, best-sellers are unlikely, but long-sellers are certain. (There is no reason that Rise, Ye Sea Slugs! and my other haiku-related books won’t sell for a century). That is to say, this is far safer than those stocks you may have invested in corporations that pay absurd salaries to portfolio and people-shuffling executive cardsharps.  I promise you will also get your money back (if you want it), in one way or another, and gain something besides the satisfaction of helping launch a literary adventure into the ocean of ideas.  Because I do not know whether Paraverse will end up non-profit or for-profit, I cannot say for sure what your compensation will be.  At present, Paraverse Press is a dba registered in Florida.  If book sales dictate, and it/I become incorporated,  support of $1000 and up can be paid back with stock (I would love to profit people who believe in me!) if you wish.  Or, I can, in time, pay you back with a check and books for ample interest.  Support of a $100 will be paid back in books with some interest.  Support of $10 and everyone else will get a signed picture.   A greenback,  a few stamps or whatever will be gratefully received but not acknowledged.   Here are the categories.

BOP    Bank of the Paraverse       $100,000  (a cosigned loan, perhaps?)
TOP     Titan of the Paraverse     $10,000   
POP     Patron of the Paraverse   $1000
FOP     Friend of the Paraverse    $100
MOP   Minnow of the Paraverse $10
DOP    Drop of the Paraverse       $1
Donors from FOP up may have their names hyper-linked to a page advertising themselves or anything they wish.
Anyone who puts me in touch with a reviewer of a major magazine or newspaper (who ends up reviewing a Paraverse Press book) will become an Honorary FOP.

Thank you and as they say in Japanese, Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu! (I beseach you)                     robin d. gill, author and publisher
Paraverse Press / pmb#399 / 260 Crandon blvd, suite 32 /  Key Biscayne, FL 33149-1540     info@paraverse.org