Your Poetry: How to Succeed at Publishing Poetry

The Writer’s Market: Image via Wikipedia

Publishing your poetry successfully is easier with the right resources. Some of us have the dream of one day being successful published poets.

Here is one fact about publishing your poetry to keep in mind: Only one out of every hundred books belonging to poetry or other genres gets published, out of all the books that are written.

There are great resources available on hard-copy for poetry writers who are looking for publishers; for example, the Poet’s Market and Writer’s Yearbook are good resources that help with publishing poetry successfully.

When using these resources, use them to match the type of work you have done with the kind of publisher who is interested in that type of work.

One publisher of poetry may prefer sonnets or love poems while publishing poetry for children may be the specialisation of another poetry publisher.

Meet the Publishers

Look at what the poetry publisher wants-whether a synopsis is enough or they want a sample chapter. Give the poetry publisher exactly what they want. If at all possible, attend literary fairs and meet the people involved in publishing poetry who you are interested in sending work to, so you know more about who they are.

Publishing Poetry on the Internet 

There are also many resources for publishing your poetry and gaining exposure as a poet available on the internet.

The speed of communication is a little faster with the internet. Be careful, there are a few scam artists involved in publishing poetry. A common publishing scam is to host poetry competitions and then require winners to purchase an anthology of poems.

Gelderland Poetry Festival-Image via Wikipedia

 Self-Publishing Your Poetry

When you self-publish a book of poems, you take on the task of marketing, promotion, packaging and sales. This may seem like a big task but if you decide self-publishing is the route for you, don’t let the workload intimidate you. To succeed at publishing your poetry you may have had to do a lot of promotion even if you went with a publishing company.

Edit Your Poetry

Editing your poetry is important if you want to succeed at publishing poetry. Learn how to edit or find an editor to do the editing for you.

An editor may sometimes suggest things that are different from what you want with respect to your poetry. If you want to succeed at publishing poetry, don’t just dismiss them. It may be difficult but consider everything they say carefully.

 Typesetting your work sets it apart. Learn how to typeset your work.

Choose Cover Art Carefully

Book Cover-Image by Vince Alongi via Flickr

Some people buy a book of poetry based on the cover art alone. If you are not sure of your skills with creating a cover, find a friend or hire a professional to do it for you. You could consider bartering skills with an illustrator you know if costs are a little prohibitive.

If you use print-on-demand to publish your book of poems, buy a copy and check it for errors.

To help you with completing your book, I recommend StoryCraft Story Creation Software, unique novel completion software which makes the process of story creation easier by guiding you through the entire process of writing novels and screenplays. 

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