Boxcar Poetry Review AWP Fundraiser
Donation protected
Short Version
Hi, I'm Neil Aitken, the founding editor of Boxcar Poetry Review , an online literary journal that I launched back in 2006, and I need your help in raising the funds to cover travel expenses for Boxcar for next year's AWP Conference Book Fair in Minneapolis, MN.
$500 will cover airfare, baggage fees, and shuttle costs.
If this goal is met, we have some stretch goals:
$750 would cover all transportation costs plus enable me to print new promotional materials and giveaway items (swag)
Additional goals and benefits to be described if we get there.
----------------------------------------
If you're really curious, you can read the long version of this fundraiser's description and history below:
Long Version
What's Boxcar?
Boxcar Poetry Review is a (usually) quarterly literary journal that publishes outstanding poetry and art, and features reviews of first books of poetry and interviews with first book poets. I created Boxcar in 2006 as I was finishing my MFA in Creative Writing at UC Riverside. I was thinking at the time that there needed to be an online journal which showcased not just really incredible poetry, but also featured reviews and interviews from first book poets. Poets publishing their first books typically find it quite difficult to get reviewed -- and their reviewers find it hard to get those reviews published. Which is a real shame, since often these first books are full of exciting and innovative work, writing that pushes poetry into new territory. I realized, given my own background in programming and web design, that if such a forum didn't exist, I needed to create it.
Here's what it looks like today:
Boxcar gets between 30,000-40,000 unique visitors a year and a returning base of readers that numbers around 5000. (For a journal that's entirely funded out of the pocket of a graduate student, relies on word of mouth for advertising, and is staffed by four people, that's actually pretty amazing.)
What's the problem?
Over the past 8 years, I've funded Boxcar almost entirely out of my own pocket -- finding a variety of ways to cover costs through doing website work for other people, redirecting any literary award monies back into Boxcar, and dipping into my own personal savings. When I still had money left over from my days as a programmer, I also bankrolled the Oboh Prize . I don't regret doing any of this -- I believe strongly in the value of poetry and rewarding good poetry, and have tried to provide a good home through Boxcar for some of the best poems being written today. I'm truly grateful and honored to have done that. But after 8 years (especially living as a PhD student), I have reached a point where I need to ask for help to keep going.
Why do you want to go this conference?
I'm launching this GoFundMe project to raise money to cover the costs of my upcoming trip to the AWP Conference in April 2015 in Minneapolis. AWP (The Association of Writing Programs and Publishers) is the largest conference of writing and publishing professionals and academics. I have had a table in the book fair every year for the past 7 years. It's a tremendous blessing to be there -- through the conference I am able to meet the poets I've published in person, form new connections with other journals and editors, create new collaborative projects, and help writers find new ways to reach their readers. I'm always learning, always growing. It's good for me as an editor and as a writer.
Where will the money go?
Going to AWP costs money. Here's where most of it goes.
Bookfair Table - $300 (It was about $600, but I'm splitting with another press)
Hotel - $440 (4 nights -- I've already booked at a super discount)
Airfare -- $400 ? (I haven't booked yet, but current fares are in the $400 range with checked baggage fees included)
PR Materials -- $160?? (I bring postcards, bookmarks, business cards, flyers, print anthologies, and other materials to distribute over the course of the 4 days of the book fair -- all of which costs money. Some of these I have left overs from previous years, but other materials I will need to order again)
Books / Research Materials -- $100? (If I have money left over, I try to support other presses and journals by purchasing some of their books. I also like to study print journals, chapbooks, and poetry books -- especially first books -- as this helps me improve my design aesthetic as well as discover new poets)
Food -- $50-$100 (I do my best to keep my dining costs down when at the conference, and as a non-drinker, that's actually pretty easy to do. Nevertheless, it would be nice to join fellow writers for dinner.)
What happens if you exceed your goal?
If there's money left over or if I raise more than I use on this trip, the surplus funds will go to
1) restocking supplies for next year;
2) ordering new copies of my own book (it's sad that right now I can't afford to have a stockpile of 20 copies of my own book);
3) covering any travel expenses for other conferences or job interviews
4) funding other writers and presses through their crowdsourcing efforts
I will announce stretch goals and a more specific breakdown if/when we get there. For now though, I'd like to cover the costs of this trip.
Your help -- whatever you can provide -- would be greatly appreciated!
If you help fund me and are planning to be at AWP in Minneapolis next year, be sure to let me know and I'll prepare a thank you gift that you can pick up at our table in the bookfair.
Hi, I'm Neil Aitken, the founding editor of Boxcar Poetry Review , an online literary journal that I launched back in 2006, and I need your help in raising the funds to cover travel expenses for Boxcar for next year's AWP Conference Book Fair in Minneapolis, MN.
$500 will cover airfare, baggage fees, and shuttle costs.
If this goal is met, we have some stretch goals:
$750 would cover all transportation costs plus enable me to print new promotional materials and giveaway items (swag)
Additional goals and benefits to be described if we get there.
----------------------------------------
If you're really curious, you can read the long version of this fundraiser's description and history below:
Long Version
What's Boxcar?
Boxcar Poetry Review is a (usually) quarterly literary journal that publishes outstanding poetry and art, and features reviews of first books of poetry and interviews with first book poets. I created Boxcar in 2006 as I was finishing my MFA in Creative Writing at UC Riverside. I was thinking at the time that there needed to be an online journal which showcased not just really incredible poetry, but also featured reviews and interviews from first book poets. Poets publishing their first books typically find it quite difficult to get reviewed -- and their reviewers find it hard to get those reviews published. Which is a real shame, since often these first books are full of exciting and innovative work, writing that pushes poetry into new territory. I realized, given my own background in programming and web design, that if such a forum didn't exist, I needed to create it.
Here's what it looks like today:
Boxcar gets between 30,000-40,000 unique visitors a year and a returning base of readers that numbers around 5000. (For a journal that's entirely funded out of the pocket of a graduate student, relies on word of mouth for advertising, and is staffed by four people, that's actually pretty amazing.)
What's the problem?
Over the past 8 years, I've funded Boxcar almost entirely out of my own pocket -- finding a variety of ways to cover costs through doing website work for other people, redirecting any literary award monies back into Boxcar, and dipping into my own personal savings. When I still had money left over from my days as a programmer, I also bankrolled the Oboh Prize . I don't regret doing any of this -- I believe strongly in the value of poetry and rewarding good poetry, and have tried to provide a good home through Boxcar for some of the best poems being written today. I'm truly grateful and honored to have done that. But after 8 years (especially living as a PhD student), I have reached a point where I need to ask for help to keep going.
Why do you want to go this conference?
I'm launching this GoFundMe project to raise money to cover the costs of my upcoming trip to the AWP Conference in April 2015 in Minneapolis. AWP (The Association of Writing Programs and Publishers) is the largest conference of writing and publishing professionals and academics. I have had a table in the book fair every year for the past 7 years. It's a tremendous blessing to be there -- through the conference I am able to meet the poets I've published in person, form new connections with other journals and editors, create new collaborative projects, and help writers find new ways to reach their readers. I'm always learning, always growing. It's good for me as an editor and as a writer.
Where will the money go?
Going to AWP costs money. Here's where most of it goes.
Bookfair Table - $300 (It was about $600, but I'm splitting with another press)
Hotel - $440 (4 nights -- I've already booked at a super discount)
Airfare -- $400 ? (I haven't booked yet, but current fares are in the $400 range with checked baggage fees included)
PR Materials -- $160?? (I bring postcards, bookmarks, business cards, flyers, print anthologies, and other materials to distribute over the course of the 4 days of the book fair -- all of which costs money. Some of these I have left overs from previous years, but other materials I will need to order again)
Books / Research Materials -- $100? (If I have money left over, I try to support other presses and journals by purchasing some of their books. I also like to study print journals, chapbooks, and poetry books -- especially first books -- as this helps me improve my design aesthetic as well as discover new poets)
Food -- $50-$100 (I do my best to keep my dining costs down when at the conference, and as a non-drinker, that's actually pretty easy to do. Nevertheless, it would be nice to join fellow writers for dinner.)
What happens if you exceed your goal?
If there's money left over or if I raise more than I use on this trip, the surplus funds will go to
1) restocking supplies for next year;
2) ordering new copies of my own book (it's sad that right now I can't afford to have a stockpile of 20 copies of my own book);
3) covering any travel expenses for other conferences or job interviews
4) funding other writers and presses through their crowdsourcing efforts
I will announce stretch goals and a more specific breakdown if/when we get there. For now though, I'd like to cover the costs of this trip.
Your help -- whatever you can provide -- would be greatly appreciated!
If you help fund me and are planning to be at AWP in Minneapolis next year, be sure to let me know and I'll prepare a thank you gift that you can pick up at our table in the bookfair.
Organizer
Neil Aitken
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Begin your fundraising journey
