Write Out Loud has stumbled upon a new kind of poetry publishing that might well attract some WOL poets. Dog Ear publishes poetry, prose and cartoons online – but also selects some work to turn into bookmarks which it distributes to some bookshops and libraries. The concept is the brainchild of  Pete Lewis, aided by editor Joe Hedinger. Pete said:  “The process from submission to bookmark is a simple one. Pieces are collected and posted online - and once we've received 40 pieces, we make a nifty printed version of the top 10. The bookmarks are then distributed for free through our stockists. One thing we have started exploring is using our contributors as distributors. If people seem hungry to be involved we send the finished issues for them to place in local libraries and independent bookshops.” 

Those thinking of submitting poems will realise when they visit the site that bookmark widths require a certain discipline – and that lines need to be a maximum of five or six short words, tops, to avoid too many breaks. Do any poets on WOL naturally fall into that category? Pete conceded that the column width was “a little fiddly”, but emphasised: “I like the fact that it's our only limitation.”

The site was launched at the beginning of the year, with issue one hitting the stockists in March. Pete and Joe run Dog Ear as a sideline; they work full-time at a London advertising agency. Pete, who is head of design at Fallon, was visiting Berlin a couple of years ago when he came across a few magazines in distinctive shapes, one of which was long and thin. It had him wondering what you could do with a more streamlined version.

Pete said: “Much to our pleasant surprise, we’ve been receiving a steady flow of contributions since – from all over the world.” Because of Dog Ear’s simple nature the cost of printing is relatively low, and Pete and Joe pay for it out of their own pockets.