Vanity press or independent self-funded publishing and printing is the easiest way to get published since the writer does not need to pass the approval of a publisher or editor. However, often due to the costs of printing, the runs are often small in number and done through digital desktop publishing methods. For beginners and specialty, non-mainstream books, this is the best way to do it. Canzine by Broken Pencil has events which gathers independent publishers together to promote themselves to each other and to the general public. Tables are set up per publisher to show off their books, dvds, tapes, products. The Gladstone Hotel was packed table to table and the crowd had to squeeze through tight hallways and rooms to browse through the tables. There was also a mic setup with chairs for those who chose to entertain or read as well. This type of special small-run publications are ideal for gift books to love ones since they are more unique and can be collections. It is also easier to get them signed by the author or meet the author since some of them read locally at events and unlike famous writers have no agents nor publishers to block them from the public's attention. There are a lot of talented writers and even the covers are done by talented illustrators, which makes these books visually appealing for special gifts. It is possible that some of these are run as collectives of writers or artists who are mutually supportive of each others works, certainly less critical than big publishers who are only thinking of the marketability of a book, and not its artistic value alone. Venues such as the Gladstone Hotel are artist-friendly and often host these events to support the arts and entertainment field. The art events in turn help promote the hotel too so hopefully it is a mutually beneficial relationship between the hotel and the artists. If in time some of the authors of these books get noticed by bigger publishers, they may move on to the mainstream consciousness and the mass productions but that unique special look is replaced by the more common. Of course money would make it worthwhile to have that acceptance by the ordinary tastes of the mainstream. If one is too strange, one risks being misunderstood by the average person, and some artists have that oddity which can be ostracized by more conventional people. Experimental artists and writers are categorized that way. But thanks to groups such as Broken Pencil, there is room in the world for everyone! It is possible that some artists are simply ahead of the times and through gradual exposure, the public will eventually accept and be brainwashed into buying. Till then, these books are more suitable for special gifts and collectors of the unique.
