Literary Chicago

Jason Pettus, the founder of the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, is throwing a huge party on August 10th at Beauty Bar to celebrate the release of the first four paper books published by the CCLaP. There’s hardly anything we love more than a big book party, and we have every intention of plying you to attend by whatever means necessary before the end of this article, but it is not the only reason Literary Chicago is taking a page or two to talk about CCLaP’s artistic mission and the man behind it; we happen to feel both are pretty damn special. How so, you ask? Well, CCLaP takes a wholistic and cooperative approach to publishing, is committed to utilizing all available publishing tools, and investigates all avenues of publicity, press, and marketing. Jason’s editorial approach spans extremes: he would like to publish your novel in every available e-format; he would also like to bind every copy of your book by hand. If editors like Jason Pettus are a rare breed, an organization like CCLaP is even more so.

Pettus recently shared his story on the Chicago Artists Resource website. Here are some highlights:

“From day one, I’ve seen the Center as more of a partner to hardworking artists, with both of us putting in an equal amount of effort towards getting projects distributed and promoted, and each keeping half of the profits in return…. I should point out, however, that ‘equal work’ here actually means ‘separate but equal,’ which is another policy that has guided CCLaP since its formation. The Center handles all the crappy little things that self-publishing artists hate the most—things that, if left undone, can keep these artists from being truly successful: responding to daily email; sending out review copies and press releases; setting up Paypal buttons for each project; creating specialty websites; licking stamps; and fundraising for production budgets. When we handle these tasks, we give artists the opportunity to do the most fun part of the ‘business’ side of things, the part that used to be the job of gatekeeper-style groups but now rests more in the direct relationship between artists and audience members: convincing these people to be fans in the first place. This is accomplished through such modern conveniences as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, plus such old-school activities as tours, exhibitions and festivals.

“In a world where money is becoming tighter by the day, where traditional nonprofit resources for cultural institutions are disappearing at an alarming rate, and where technology is rapidly eliminating the need for authority figures to tell us what to consume in the first place, it only makes sense that the entire industry of the arts will switch to a ‘federation’ model. In this model, an author here, a distributor there, and a venue owner over there will team up for an endless series of temporary alliances regarding each artistic project that gets released to the public. This is different from the old paradigm of an artist getting handed a ‘golden key’ by an all-powerful arts-based company.”

Jason is actively seeking new manuscripts and encourages any writer open to the idea of experimental writing and publishing to submit through the CCLaP website. And, as promised, here is some more information pertaining to The CCLaP Quadruple Book Release Party and Performance Extravaganza:

From CCLaP:

The Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, or CCLaP, is proud to announce their latest local live event, a large-scale party to celebrate the release of their first four paper books this summer. An electronic publisher since 2007, CCLaP has been quietly releasing new special-edition, handmade “Hypermodern” paper editions of its four titles throughout the summer; and on August 10th the group will be gathering at the popular Beauty Bar in the Bucktown neighborhood for drinks, free food, and a half-hour reading from all four featured authors, as well as a few surprise guests. Beauty Bar is located at 1444 West Chicago Avenue, and the free event will take place from 7 to 9 p.m., the reading itself from 8:00 to 8:30. All four books will be for sale individually for $20 apiece; or for one night only, attendees can purchase all four in a bundle for only $50.

Books and performers being featured that night include the novella Too Young to Fall Asleep by SALLY WEIGEL, about a Radiohead-listening “emo” high-school student who volunteers for the Iraq War (originally published in 2009); 99 Problems by BEN TANZER, essays about the mental intersection between running and writing (originally published in 2010); Life After Sleep by MARK R. BRAND, a day-after-tomorrow tale concerning a device that allows people to only need two hours of sleep a night (originally published this past winter); and Salt Creek Anthology by JASON FISK, a collection of linked “micro-stories” regarding four trashy couples in the far Chicago suburbs (published this summer).CCLaP’s “Hypermodern” series is an attempt to create special collector-worthy editions of all the center’s electronic books, reasonably priced yet expertly made; they feature handmade hardbound covers, including a color photo of the ebook’s original cover adhered to the front, external Coptic stitching, whimsical decorative endpapers, a special signature/provenance page for collectors, and a full Colophon in the back listing all materials used. CCLaP itself has been open online since 2007, and with a handful of local live events held in varying venues across the city each year; the center also produces a semi-weekly podcast, sells general giftstore-style merchandise, and publishes over 150 book reviews a year at its popular website. Among other accolades, it’s been featured twice at respected arts guide BoingBoing.net, and its blog is followed by almost ten thousand unique monthly visitors.

For questions or more information, please contact executive director Jason Pettus at cclapcenter@gmail.com, or visit [cclapcenter.com/events].

See you there, Chicago! And be sure to check back next week when Literary Chicago talks with Jason Fisk, author of the hyper-fiction collection, Salt Creek Anthology, just released by CCLaP.