Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Landon Porter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Landon, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

I self-published my debut collection of poetry, “Whiskey & Cash”, in the summer of 2021. I held a book release party in my backyard in the swampy heat of mid-July (thanks COVID). Family and friends provided a wonderful head start with a handful of pre-sales, but with the expense incurred to produce the book (design, artwork, website, the initial batch order, etc.), I wasn’t in the black until I sold book #150 (or thereabouts).

I did not hit that number the night of the book release. But by dint of a little determination and creativity, I eventually surpassed that mark. Sure, there’s still a box of books on the landing of the basement stairs and a few copies in my trunk (no self-respecting self-published author would be found without his book on hand and available for sale), but I am proud to say I’ve actually made money as a self-published poet.

Landon, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

With respect to poetry, while I wasn’t exactly an opsimath, I definitely consider myself late to the party. I did not study poetry or literature in college. I took a grand total of three English courses, one of which barely qualifies (public speaking). I am more inclined to spreadsheets than journaling. But then one day in my 30’s I stumbled upon a pocket-sized volume of Frost’s poetry and I was hooked. Perhaps it is owed to my left-heavy brain that I gravitate toward formal poetry (think meter, rhyme, pattern, order, etc.) but I started dabbling in verse, began reading and studying poetry for the first time, and when I came up for air a few years later I realized I really loved what I was doing and had a small cache of poems stored away in notebooks. I submitted a few poems to online journals and contests, got a lot of rejections and a few acceptances, won some cash here and a few accolades there, just enough to encourage this painfully pragmatic Johnny-come-lately to pursue publication.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Like many publishing stories, mine was long in the making. And perhaps even longer than others because I had opted to bushwhack the self-publishing path rather than being chauffeured down the predictable highway of traditional publishing. Now, this is not to make light of the adversities of the latter (from what I’ve heard, the waiting alone can be tortuous); I just want to emphasize the unique weightiness of the DIY experience.
Along the self-publishing path the milestone markers (editing, layout and cover design, illustration, printing, publicity and marketing, sales and fulfillment, and whatever else I’ve forgotten) are craggy gorges to traverse, swift rivers to ford, fantastical beasts to slay, all by your lonesome self armed with little more than a dull pencil worn to a nub and an aging smart phone infected with flitting WI-FI. Alas, it’s the journey that matters most, right?

The short of it is that I didn’t really want to play the submission-rejection game with traditional publishers. I had a very specific product in mind and figured the one sure way to bring it to life was to do it myself. I had the content written (only a few years-worth of work), the art produced (another six months), and no shortage of vision (I’m a bit of a daydreamer); all I needed was layout design help and a printer. For the former, I wrangled a competent and creative cousin of mine to assist with the book layout and overall design. As to the latter, I researched several on-demand printers, but the limited printing options and horror stories of poor quality and misprints compelled me to go the route of traditional printing (i.e. offset printing). The obvious benefit of an on-demand printer is the lack of managing inventory: Someone orders a book, then said book is printed and shipped directly from the printer. But with offset printing a run of books is purchased and then produced as a batch. The publisher (in this case, yours truly) is responsible for paying for the books up front, warehousing the inventory, and fulfilling orders. This is no small feat. There are currently books in the trunks of both our vehicles, a couple boxes of them on the basement steps, a handful are sitting right here next to me in my office. I have prints of artwork tucked away in closets and hidden under the banquet bench in our kitchen. Packing supplies is, wait, Where did I put those boxes?

So, I wrote and rewrote and saved money and met artists for coffee and daydreamed a lot and rewrote more and researched for hours upon hours and figured out how to create my own website and found a printer and hustled and prayed and finally after a few years and a few thousand dollars, 231 books of my very own making showed up just 2 days before my book release party. So, I guess that’s how it’s done.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Much of my writing is strongly influenced by my heritage: genealogically, geographically, and culturally. I write to honor those who have come before me and to give voice to the place which formed me—namely, a small farming community in the High Plains of western Kansas. I have taken to heart author Wallace Stenger’s sentiment, “Until it has had a poet, a place is not a place.”

To this day I always marvel when someone with whom I have no connection purchases my book. There is some pride there, and honor, too—a sense of worth confirmed and justified. But I also fell an overwhelming sense of responsibility, a unseen weight tied to conveying truth and wisdom and joy all in a few dozen pages of 12-point Garamond.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ltporter.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/landonporter
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/landontporter
• Twitter: https://x.com/LandonTPorter