The Bit in the Middle #1

If you follow me on Instagram (@InternetofWords) you will have seen on Sunday that I've begun advertising a particularly niche bit of physical content. I've wanted to make my own chapbooks since it became apparent that getting other people to print my stuff is, on most days, a mug's game. As a result, over the coming months there will be a number of 'test runs' of various production techniques.

Effectively I'm going into a prototyping process in anticipation of July's Art Trail, using my own poetry as the working material. I'm only starting with ten copies because, let's be honest, pushing myself full steam into a massive run of anything without testing the market first is neither sound not sensible. It's all planned out and there is minimal risk to myself financially as a result.

If they all sell, then I will begin to expand my horizons.

The other thing I've wanted to do is a limited run of the 31 poems I published on Substack back in January 2025. With no interest in my work on the horizon in the land of trad publishing, it is time to get creative. When we say 'limited' I VERY much mean Limited, with the initial run being only five copies. If it works out well, we will consider doing more.

The typesetting will be finalised this week, and then the cover design (which is virtually done as I've been playing with it over the last few days). After that, as these will be digitally printed, I'm in the lap of the Local Print Gods. I'd rather be doing this now than having to sweat about it later in the year, and this will give an idea of my requirements for quality and typesetting skills going forward.

We will report back on general feasibility in due course.

I'm still working my way through the thought processes that have arisen from Sunday's early preview of Project Hail Mary, which is as near as I have been to a perfect science fiction film since Arrival. There's a warmup poem that was inspired by this as well on Monday for the #PromptCombo feature on BlueSky (which you'll need to be signed into the app to read). For everyone else:

This will make it into the chapbook, probably as the opening poem, because it feels so much like a natural line on which to begin. There'll be some stuff from Substack, Ko-Fi and going back to Patreon in this mix. I have so much work that's been produced in the last seven years literally gathering dust on hard drives that it seems stupid NOT to be making more of what has been created.

There will be only 10 physical copies of this for sale. A number of extras will go to friends for feedback & content purposes (and to make sure I can improve the process going forward), and a digital version will be collated from the print masters for my overseas brethren in due course, but will not include any of the customisation. If you are interested in securing one? Here's the link:

https://ko-fi.com/s/9fdaac98f3

There will be a LOT of experimental stuff going forward in 2026. WATCH THIS SPACE.