So yeah, Quitter #6 is ready to go. As usual, the cost is $2 or whatever. An additional 80 cents covers the postage and PayPal fees. Here is a taste -

I distinctly remember second grade. It was somewhat of a turning point in my life, as much of a turning point as you can get when half your life is measured in years instead of decades.  That year I got my first and only pair of cowboy boots, a sharp toed brown and gold stitched outfit with heels and zero traction.  That year I also shoplifted a candy bar from a nearby gas station, smoked my first few puffs of a cigarette and, most importantly, got into my first real fist fight with someone who wasn’t my brother.

Quitter: Good Luck Not Dying: Compendium of the first five issues of Quitter zine, in a nice hand-sewn hardback, with dust jacket and stickers. Trace’s essays wander appealingly and wittily around, as he searches for something real in our cosmetic world. Issue #2 is the standout: Trace flies over the Midwest, musing over cultural impermanence. I liked this greatly, but however nice the book and stickers are, $19 is more than I would have paid for it.

Making books is not what I’m looking to do with my Spring and Summer.  It is more of a Winter project, a project that I failed with horribly this year.  I am behind on books – way behind.  If you ordered a book recently, you will get it within the next few weeks.

So I am again looking into getting the book printed in softcover, either through a self-publishing avenue or by a publisher wanting to run with it.  All options are open, but I simply can’t keep up with a hand made book…

If anyone out there knows of a publisher, is a publisher or just wants to help out, let me know.

I will continue to offer the paperback version as well as individual issues, but I am taking the hardcover version off the shelf.

So, for 2009 a few things are changing.  For one, the price of the hardcover is going up to $18.  I am not looking to get rich with this effort (it is working so far, right?) but the process should at least cover the associated costs.  In addition, I will also start printing a softcover version for around $8, give or take, that I can start shipping really soon.  The softcover will also be full color and individually numbered just like the hardcover.  Both versions should be available through The Abundance Foundation pretty soon.  In the meantime, check out the Quitter page to order.  If you live in Chatham County North Carolina, I’ll take payment in Plenties at the old hardcover price of $15 (1 and 1/2 Plenties), paperback at $5 (1/2 Plenty)!

If that were not enough, the ideas for Quitter #6 are rattling around in my head, on scraps of paper thrown all over the heres and theres of my life or sitting alone somewhere, talking to themselves and waiting for me to go pick them up.  I’ll get on that shortly…

And finally, I hope to commit issues one through five to audio in the very near future.  Look out!

quitter #4: Every once in awhile you read a zine written in beautiful prose. It’s great, you don’t have to commit to read beautiful and complex descriptions for a whole book; instead you get a brain massage for just a few moments while waiting for the bus. My favorite story was on the author’s experience living out in nature for three months studying birds: “Early on in the study I passed the time chewing on birch twigs and inventing commentaries, developing arguments against the domestication of humans, and settling philosophical disputes between pebbles and sticks, using a slow flowing creek as the adjudicator.” Other stories discuss an unnamed health condition and a treatise on fish sticks; “plastic wrapped… fully reduced from sentient parts of an underwater ecosystem into full color anthropomorphic cartoon representations of happy fish enjoying a full plate of their own ‘fingers.’” Trace [$1.50 everywhere, or trade 20XS :15] –ailecia

He (Trace) has been putting out his zine Quitter since 2005. After publishing five issues, he has decided to collect the whole lot into a 40-page hand-made book and he was kind enough to send me copy #35 (I know because each copy is numbered). The object itself is a little jewel, with a great color cover and color and b/w illustrations throughout. And then there’s the writing, of course. Put it simply, I believe that the best writing is the kind that 1) manages to be engaging regardless of the subject; 2) makes me think; and most of all 3) makes me feel like I want to take highlighter and pen and cover the pages with comments and orange marks. Quitter managed to do all these things.

Trace writes what he calls creative non fiction, and through the years has developed the ability to put common words together in original combinations. He manages to be sophisticated in a natural, unassuming way. At the same time, he anchors his rants with stories taken from his memories. Sometimes he will write something like ‘I was born with an extra pair of ribs’ and the reader (or at least a dumb reader, such as myself) will search for hidden meanings until he realizes that is the plain truth. Apart from the autobiographical notes, the common theme that returns in all the five issues is Trace’s decision to ‘quit’ the kind of world that humankind has turned into a huge pile of garbage. Quitting a job he hates and translates into ‘someone else’s hopes and mortgage and car payments;’ quitting unconscious consumption; temporarily quitting the civilized world in order to live for three months in ‘solitary confinement’ in a forest and study the breeding habits of a small songbird… What he will not quit is fighting to ‘preserve the history of (…) an idea that would often be considered irrelevant by the dominant culture,’ and writing ‘for an audience that is resilient in its opposition of being taken for granted.’ What can you ask more from a zine?

Considering the time, materials and general effort it takes to make one of these books, I decided on a price of $14 (updated in January 2009 to $20).

That might sound expensive for such a small book, but in a quick search of Amazon I could not find a 78 page hardcover for less than $20. Plus it is made by hand. That has to count for something.

I will pretty much make the books as I receive orders. PayPal seems to work well for most folks, but if you live near me or see me all the time and want to pay cash just let me know. Each book will get some goodies with it including buttons and/or stickers, maybe a book mark.

Thanks for keeping up with this project! I hope you support it if you can…

The corners didn’t stick together the way they should and were coming apart a day later -

And the front pages were wrinkled and generally gross -

The second attempt didn’t yield any better results. After sleeping on it, getting some more supplies and watching some YouTube videos on bookbinding, I finally made a decent hardcover book.

I printed the book in four sections of eight pages. In the lingo of bookbinding these are called the signatures. It took me awhile to figure out that the software I am using (Adobe InDesign CS3) does not make this process easy unless you are a commercial printer. In order for me to print a book on my home printer I have to use a series of programs each requiring some of the same steps. Just figuring out those steps took several hours of searching the Internet, posting on forums and sending emails.

For this hardcover I used construction paper instead of the first few attempts using cloth. Much better results -

I have a few more minor problems to fix, but this stands as the prototype for making the Quitter hardcover book.

In a weird daydream, I decided it would be nice if I knew how to bind books. That led to a quick search of the Internets and loads of free advice and detailed how-tos on not only book binding, but hardcover DIY book production out of scrap materials. Perfect… I have ready access to all types of trash cardboard as well as bags of fabric, paper, glue and tools. If the materials are cheap enough (or free) and it doesn’t take too long to assemble, I can offer the book for a lower cost.

The only problem is that the book will not have a handy bar code and probably won’t have an ISBN number, so you won’t see it on Amazon any time soon. The good thing is that more and more small book stores will sell these types of non-barcoded books and more and more DIY distributors will also carry them. many actually prefer it if the book doesn’t scan.

All that said, I still have not finished the re-write of Quitter #5. It is close, but something is still missing. End of this month? We’ll see…

I have been spending a lot of time learning how to use Adobe InDesign CS3. I have been figuring out how to do the Quitter book layout on my own, but I’m finding that I might need to call in some outside help on this. I understand how it all works; it just isn’t working the way it is supposed to. I’m used to the old PageMaker platform that I have used since 1997. CS3 is really different in good and bad ways.

The good news is that Nathaniel sent me the final watercolor book cover. I am working with it in Photoshop in order to get all the publishers requirements met. The cover is amazing, but I won’t give away the details. It is exactly what I was looking for even though I provided no guidance. The first idea is usually the best idea…

The inside illustrations are a few weeks away from being finished and scanned. This pretty much means that the completed layout is about five weeks from completion. This assumes that I actually finish writing everything that needs to be written in that time frame. I read the guts of Quitter #5 aloud to Kristin a few nights ago. Traditionally this means one last edit before printing. Traditionally…

I’m getting close, and I can’t wait to actually hold the book in my hands.

It seemed like a logical way to conclude the first five issues of the Quitter story, five fairly different pieces of writing. I have no idea if the demand is out there for this obscure personal zine, but I am confident that I can break out of the zine world and into a larger audience. These are stories about me and my experiences; will they resonate beyond those that know me? I think I can say yes at this point, three years on…

I meet people, randomly, who have read the series but have no connection to me personally. I have learned that people pass on their copies to friends and family, and this gives me the inspiration to put Quitter out there with some sparkle to it (read: glossy cover and ISBN number).

Cricket Bread reaches around the world instantly. It has grown more than I ever thought and it is just getting started. The emails I get from readers are inspiring. Folks are getting something out of my experiences, and they are enjoying coming along with me as I discover my foodshed. If I was just talking to myself, I wouldn’t need all *this*. But folks also like somethings to be tangible, which is the draw of printed material. This is why Quitter is not available electronically. That is not the format it needs.

Quitter has never made any money. Any zine writer will tell you that hundreds of dollars go in and a fraction of that comes back. It is an art, not a paycheck. I expect to price the book with a minimal return just so that it can be affordable. Hopefully, as the publication date gets closer, you all won’t mind me making a couple pitches for the book.

Until then, back to local eating…