Fire Pearls Passes 300 Mark

[M. Kei]

Dear Poets and Friends of Fire Pearls : Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart,

I am very pleased to report that in January Fire Pearls surpassed 300 copies sold. While this is not much by mainstream standards, for tanka it's a noteworthy achievement. Most tanka books are published in print runs of 100 or less, and only a handful makes sales of 300+. 

In addition, Fire Pearls has experienced a recent spurt of sales at Amazon.com. I don't know why; although I have googled and searched, I can't find an explanation -- no new review, no new listing, or other event that might explain sudden attention to the book. If anyone knows why (are you using it as a textbook in a poetry class?), please do enlighten me!

Fire Pearls is a very special book. It proved that a themed and sequenced anthology was a viable alternative to the usual methods of anthologizing, and ushered in what Michael McClintock has called "the little age of anthologies." Fire Pearls raised the bar in size, physical production values, and awareness of the importance of sequencing in the construction of book-length works. When I do my period google searches for Fire Pearls to update us on significant developments, I am always pleased to see the number of poems that are reprinted from it, and the number of times it is cited in author's biographies and bibliographies.

Thank you all, poets and readers alike, for your support.

Cordially,

~K~

M. Kei

Editor, Fire Pearls

--

Editor, Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka <AtlasPoetica.com>

Poet, Heron Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay <Lulu.com/firepearls>

Editor, Fire Pearls : Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart <Lulu.com/firepearls>

Moderator for Kyoka Mad Poems & Tanka Sequences

"Mere air, these words, but delicious to hear."-- Sappho

--