"Four hundred of the world's best performance artists are descending on Austin, Tx. for the SUPER BOWL of Spoken Word!
(August 9th -12th)
75 Teams, 4 Days, 1 Winner

The National Poetry Slam pits teams of three to five members against one another in five-team "bouts." The teams are formed through slam competitions throughout North America and Europe, which take place during a September to May slam season. The teams, representing, venues in cities from huge metroplexes to small towns practice throughout the summer for the event. All the teams compete the first two nights, and the top 20 teams compete on the third night, with the four winners of those bouts facing off in a team finals competition which closes the event. Nationals serves as a convention as well as a competition, offering workshops and daytime reading events which are free and open to the public. The daytime events and open mikes featuring many of the competing poets include a grief and remembrance reading, a group piece showcase highlighting ensemble work many of the teams create over the summer, a head-to-head haiku battle, and the always-irreverent nerd slam, to name a few.

In his entry The Fan Mail That An Author Wants To Get, Nat referenced my assertion that obscurity is a greater threat to authors than piracy. That was from a piece I wrote in 2002, entitled Piracy is Progressive Taxation. It contained seven lessons from my experience as a print and online publisher:

• Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.
• Piracy is progressive taxation.
• Customers want to do the right thing, if they can.
• Shoplifting is a bigger threat than piracy.
• File sharing networks don't threaten book, music, or film publishing. They threaten existing publishers.
• "Free" is eventually replaced by a higher-quality paid service.
• "There's more than one way to do it."