Forget Esoteric: How to Get Your Poetry Out of the Closet and Into a Book

Poetry is an esoteric art isnt it? Theres no point in getting caught up in base things like publishing or pandering to an audience its only the work that matters, right? Wrong. Writing superbly crafted works of art full of gorgeous rhythms and intense insights is a magnificent thing to do for oneself, but if these works arent shared with others, they will disappear into the vacuum of our certain death without trace. Of course there is always the chance that, like Emily Dickenson, your masterpieces will be found in the desk drawer post-mortem, but the chance is higher that if and when they are found, they wont be that good, since you wont have gone through the wonderfully stringent process of refining, grouping, and structuring that publication involves, not to mention the opportunity of working with a professional editor. The poet has a responsibility not only to his or her art, but to the world, to publish, and to have publication as an end goal for the work.

Thats easy to say, but how do you get your poetry published as a collection? Getting a chapbook or full length poetry book published isnt easy, but it isnt that hard either. Because small collections like chapbooks are cheap to produce and often have a small price tag, it isnt all that difficult to sell them either. There are a few tricks though.

Group your work into a common theme: In his great guide to publishing poetry, Poet Power Thomas A. Williams (Sentient Publications, 2002) says that poems should treat a subject for which there is a market. On a worldwide basis, there is likely to be a market for almost anything as long as it is thematic. One of the key ways to get a collection published is to work within an overall unifying theme. This doesnt necessarily mean you have to write to a theme at first. But you might find yourself attracted to a specific area which will ultimately form your framework. For me, I found myself increasingly making use of Quantum Physics and Astronomy, and a number of my poems seem to pivot around that. For example, one of my poems, Betelgeuse used the impending (in star terms) and dramatic explosion into a Supernova of our closest star after the Sun for an impending nervous breakdown in a loved one. Once I had decided to produce a full collection, I began to read journals like New Scientist and whenever something caught my eye (and many things did), I would use that as the basis for a poem. I set myself a goal of two poems a week and before long I had enough poems for a collection.

Find a publisher who is looking for work on a theme and write to it. If you dont seem to be naturally gravitating towards a theme, look for one. What hobbies do you have? Since getting a pool, Ive become so smitten with swimming that I bought a wetsuit to keep going through the winter. When I saw a publisher calling for sports poetry, I wrote a couple of swim poems, and then sent them a query with those poems, asking if they would be interested a book which involved me interviewing professional sportspeople and then writing an original poem for each sport to go with the interview. I havent heard back from them as yet, but its a concept that could work for any publisher, on any topic. Just find a call for submissions on a specific concept and build a query or series of poems around that. Another publisher friendly theme is to write about where you live, and submit the work to a local publisher. There are probably a lot of poems about Paris or New York, but what about Morebath, or Poughkeepsie? Youre sure to find something historically interesting, and the local council and libraries will probably buy up your first print. Periods in history are also good. I read a wonderful book of poetry based on Walt Whitmans Civil War Years -- Karen Knights Under the One Granite Roof. Pick a period in your own history and write a series of poems around that topic. The possibilities are limitless, and its so much easier to let your creative flow rip when youve got a theme to work to. Finding a publisher is also much easier, as the market for your work will be ready made.

Get Out There. Or get your work out there. Go to poetry slams; read your work, talk about your work, network. One of the nice things about publishing poetry is that pre-published poems are much more likely to be accepted in a collection than poems that havent been published, so you can submit each poem immediately when you finish writing it, even as you are pulling poems together into a collection. Publishers of collections prefer poetry that has already been published. You get double benefits for your work, and increase your odds of getting a collection published every time you publish a poem. Publishers are much more likely to take on your book if they recognise your name, so make sure your name is being bandied about.

Create a Market Database Research the different poetry publishers and create a little database of those that are likely to be right for your work. Build your manuscript to their requirements and once its ready, following their guidelines to the letter and submit your queries. Does this sound basic? It is! Local Writers Market yearbooks are excellent sources of publishers and guidelines as is the Internet just do a Google search on poetry publishers (and watch out for the many sharksnever pay to have your work read, or published and be especially careful about anthologies!). Just remember that most legitimate poetry publishers are small and wont be offering advances, or big margins on your work. Nor are they likely to have a big publicity budget youll have to do all that yourself, which is where your experience at reading will come in handy. One of the many upsides of being with a small house is that you get a lot more attention editorially (and the whole process of having your poetry edited is well worth the trouble of being published it will make you a better writer). There also isnt the dramatic time pressure that you get with a large house. You can expect to continue selling your book for years, rather than months, and since most small publishers use POD (print on demand) technology, you dont have to fear the dreaded pulping machine.

If all else fails (and even if it doesnt), you can always self-publish. Get a good book, like Peter Bowermans The Well Fed Self-Publisher and do your own thing. Again, chapbooks are inexpensive to produce (most are around 32 pages) and can be done primarily with a good computer and colour printer and if you keep your costs down and use an easy payment system like PayPal, you might even make some decent money along with your good name. Two key points with self-publishing dont sacrifice the editing step good editing can make or break a collection and a badly edited collection wont do your name any good at all. Hire someone to knock your good poems into great poems and help with the ordering, structuring and linguistic power. The learning curve is a bonus, since a good editor will most certainly improve your writing for future collections. Dont sacrifice quality either get good paper, good staplers, a beautiful cover, or use a good printer to get a nice looking collection. You will certainly be judged by the look, and feel of the collection, so the output is something you shouldnt skimp on.

Thats it. Dont let a fear of failure stop you. The only way to publish a collection of poetry is to set a goal and work towards it, at whatever pace your schedule allows. Poetry is particularly suited to this method, as it doesnt take that long to write a single poem and the satisfaction of completion comes regularly as youre building the collection. Good luck!

Magdalena Ball runs The Compulsive Reader http://www.compulsivereader.com/html. Her stories, poetry, reviews and articles have appeared in many printed anthologies and journals, and have won several awards. She is the author of The Art of Assessment, and Quark Soup. Her novel Sleep Before Evening (http://tinyurl.com/3crnk5) will be published by BeWrite Books in July 2007. Mmarianne Blog24016
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