Big Pond Rumours was founded as a nonprofit, self-funded, international literary E-Zine in 2006 by myself, Canadian author Sharon Berg. At that time I had a good-paying job, and skills as an editor and author of poetry, story, and nonfiction. I wanted to provide support to other literary authors of poetry, story, book reviews, and literary essays. I funded contests in every issue (Winter and Summer) from 2006 to 2008, the prizes being webpages on Big Pond Rumours.

However, my father died in December 2008, causing me to take a hiatus from publishing the E-Zine between 2009 and 2014. Little did I realize how critical that pause would be. In 2015, I realised how much I missed the E-Zine and started it up again with cash prizes and guest judges like Gary Barwin, Heather Cadsby, L.M. Falcone, Robert Priest, and Brian Purdy. However, after the economic crunch in 2008, fewer people were inclined to support the arts. In fact, most people in the field discovered they had little cash themselves. The people who best understand the impact of this shrinking support for the literary arts are often in the field of literature themselves, struggling to make their own ends meet as creative beings.

In my opinion, this makes my role as a publisher even more vital. In addition to publishing the twice annual E-Zine, I began to put greater focus into publishing quality chapbooks for Canadian authors of poetry and prose. In 2016, John Oughton dared to risk releasing his chapbook Vertex/Vertigo with BPR and I published Paper Reunion: An Anthology of Phoenix Poets' Workshop (1976 to 1986). The anthology includes prominent names from the Canadian literary scene, such as: Rosemary Aubert, Heather Cadsby, Richard Harrison, Maria Jacobs, Stuart Ross, Libby Scheier and others, In 2017, I started the first annual Chapbook Contest, which collected a number of other great authors, including: Nelson Ball, Sharon Berg, Philip Elliott, Harold Feddersen, Tom Gannon Hamilton, Debbie Okun Hill, Norma Kerby, Brian Purdy, and Bob Wakulich.

People continue to marvel at my chapbooks for their design and quality. Few guess, before I tell them that I print and assemble my chapbooks on a high quality printer at home using special, acid-free papers and cardstock. A good part of that has to do with the fact that I have always had expensive, heavy-duty machines. However, every printer has eventually worn out because of use. I print 100 copies of each chapbook. Currently, I am going into debt simply due to the cost of buying a variety of good papers and ink cartridges. One cartridge of each colour costs a total of $450. Reams of acid free paper and card stock for the covers cost between $14 and $35 each for 500 sheets. It usually takes two reams of paper to print 100 copies of each chapbook, plus the cover stock and the ink cartridges only last for two books. Publication costs.

In the summer of 2017, I was forced to run an appeal for assistance in order to purchase a new printer as my old one broke down half way through printing Nelson Ball's chapbook and I still had to print two for Debbie Okun Hill and Harold Feddersen. I obtained sufficient funds to get a new printer, finishing the production of the 2017 line-up, but I didn't raise enough money to purchase a supply of acid free papers. This current appeal for your help comes because I simply cannot produce all of the three winning 2018 chapbooks without help to buy more ink and paper. My pension since I retired is so small, I can barely meet the cost of my bills and I have gone into debt for the ink and paper. I've already been forced to end the modest, self-funded contests that used to attract authors to the E-Zine. Now I am forced to consider closing my publishing program altogether.

Please make a donation to support BPR's fundraiser and you will receive a FREE copy (or copies) of the chapbook of your choice for every $25 you donate.. Just be sure that we receive your mailing address.

Free chapbook for $25

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