| Author | Message | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30307 Registered: 11-1998 |
. From Poet’s Market, 2008: Where & How to Publish Your Poetry, 1,600+ listings (If you do not own this book, you are missing out on a very valuable resource. It’s worth the investment. The listings in it are categorized by market level -- from those who accept unpublished poets to prestigious mags who rountinely only accept those with proven track records. In addition to complete market listings, it contains other valuable articles about writing and publishing. It will literally teach you how and where to submit to get the best results.) “Getting Started” You’ve decided to take that big step and begin submitting your poems for publication. How do you really begin, though? Here are eight quick tips to help make sense of the marketing/submission process: 1. Be an avid reader. The best way to hone your writing skills (besides writing, obviously) is to immerse yourself in poetry of all kinds. It’s essential to study the masters; however, from a marketing standpoint, it’s equally vital to read what your contemporaries are writing and publishing. Read journals and magazines, chapbooks and collections, anthologies for a variety of voices; scope out the many poetry sites on the internet. Develop an eye for quality and then use that eye to assess your own work. Don’t rush to publish until you know you’re writing the best poetry you’re capable of producing. 2. Know what you like to write – and what you write best. Ideally, you should be experimenting with all kinds of poetic forms, from free verse to villanelles. However, there’s sure to be a certain style with which you feel most comfortable, that conveys your true voice. Whether you favor more formal, traditional verse or avante-garde poetry that breaks all the rules, you should identify which markets publish work similar to yours. Those are the magazines and presses you should target to give your submissions the best chance of being read favorably – and accepted. 3. Learn the “business” of poetry publishing. Poetry may not be a high-paying writing market, but there’s still a right way to go about the “business” of submitting and publishing poems. Learn all you can by reading writing-related books and magazines . . . Surf the Internet for a wealth of sites filled with writing advice, market news and informative links. 4. Research the markets. Study listings thoroughly. These present submissions guidelines, editorial preferences, and editor’s comments as well as contact information. However, studying market listings alone won’t cut it. The best way to gauge the kinds of poetry a market publishes is to read several issues of a magazine/journal or several of a press’s books to get a feel for the style and content of each. If the market has a Web site, log on and take a look. Web sites may include poetry samples, reviews, archives of past issues, exclusive content, and especially submission guidelines. Submission guidelines are pure gold for the specific information they provide. However you acquire them – by SASE or e-mail, online, or in a magazine itself – make them an integral part of your market research. 5. Start slowly. It may be tempting to send your work directly to The New Yorker or Poetry, but try to adopt a more modest approach if you’re just starting out. Start with markets that welcome beginning or unpublished poets. As you gain confidence and experience (and increased skill in your writing), you can move to medium level markets. Later, when you’ve built a publication history, submit to the more prestigious magazines and presses. Although it may tax your patience, slow and steady progress is a proven route to success. 6. Be professional. Professionalism is not something you should “work up to.” Make it show in your first submission, from the way you prepare your manuscript to the attitude you project in your communications with editors. Follow the guidelines. Submit a polished manuscript. Choose poems carefully with the editor’s needs in mind. Always include a SASE with any submission or inquiry. Such practices show respect for the editor, the publication, and the process; and they reflect your self-respect and the fact that you take your work seriously. Editors love that; and even if your work is rejected, you’ve made a good first impression that could help your chances with your next submission. 7. Keep track of your submissions. First, do not send out the only copies of your work. There are no guarantees your submission won’t get lost in the mail, misplaced in a busy editorial office, or vanish into a black hole if the publication or press closes down. Create a special file folder for poems you’re submitting. Even if you use a word processing program and store your manuscripts on disk, keep a hard copy file as well (and be sure to back up your electronic files). Second, establish a tracking system so you an always know which poems are where. This can be extremely simple: index cards, a chart created with word processing or database software, or even a simple notebook used as a log. Note the titles of the poems submitted (or the title of the collection if you’re submitting a book/chapbook manuscript); the name of the publication, press, or contest; date sent, estimated response time, and date returned or accepted. Additional information you may want to log: the name of the editor/contact, date the accepted piece is published and/or issue number of the magazine, type/amount of pay received, rights acquired by the publication or press, and any pertinent information. Without a tracking system, you risk forgetting where and when manuscripts were submitted. This is even more problematic if you simultaneously send the same manuscripts to different magazines, presses, or contests. And if you learn of an acceptance by one magazine or publisher, you must notify the others that the poem or collection you sent them is no longer available. You run a bigger chance of overlooking someone without an organized approach. This causes hard feelings among editors you may have inconvenienced, hurting your chances with these markets in the future. 8. Don’t fear rejection. Learn from it. No one enjoys rejection, but every writer faces it. The best way to turn a negative into a positive is to learn as much as you can from your rejections. Don’t let them get you down. A rejection slip isn’t a permission slip to doubt yourself, condemn your poetry or give up. Look over the rejection. Did the editor provide any comments about your work or reasons why your poems were rejected? Probably he or she didn’t. Editors are extremely busy and don’t necessarily have time to comment on rejections. If that’s the case, move on to the next magazine or publisher you’ve targeted and send your work out again. If, however, the editor has commented on your work, pay attention. It counts for something that the editor took the time and trouble to say anything, however brief, good or bad. And consider any remark or suggestions with an open mind. You don’t have to agree, but you shouldn’t automatically disregard the feedback, either. Tell your ego to sit down and be quiet, then use the editor’s comments to review your work from a new perspective. You might be surprised by how much you’ll learn from a single scribbled word in the margin; or how encouraged you’ll feel from a simple “Try again!” written on a rejection slip. Keep these eight tips in mind as you prepare your poetry submissions. Believe in yourself and don’t give up! There are many opportunities for beginning poets to become published poets. . | ||
| Lazarus
Senior Member Username: lazarus Post Number: 3445 Registered: 10-2005 |
Before reading this I spent the morning organizing my submission files and I feel pretty good about it. There is a slow progression, as I wrote more and I gained confidence in my writing, I submitted more. This is what I did: So far I have only submitted through emails so I had all my submissions (4 years worth) stored in a big email file. I converted all this into word files: One file for each submission with the poems. These I put into yearly folders, with one summary file for all the year's submissions with just titles and dates, whether is was accepted, the link if I have it, and comments underlined in the best places. It felt good to be reminded of my small successes. Now I need to make a list of all the web publishers that I might submit to. I have them in my favorites, but it's all very disorganised. Keeping up with reading these mags is essential I suppose, but it's hard when all the information is scattered. And I need to organize potential poems for publishing. My files are always such a mess. I forget what's there and if it's any good! M~ Thanks for this information. I'll keep a copy of it and refer to it when I'm feeling like I'm falling away again. -Laz | ||
| Fred Longworth
Senior Member Username: sandiegopoet Post Number: 4078 Registered: 05-2006 |
I have a file folder labeled "Crucial Poetry Submission Information I Dare Not Lose." This would give me an advantage on other poets less compulsive and less organized, if it were not for one small detail. I can't find the file folder.  Unofficial Forum Pariah -- recent victim of alien abduction -- I'm running out of places to store the bodies. | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30336 Registered: 11-1998 |
Dearest Laz -- I'm glad to hear this information will come in handy for you. Good luck with organizing your files. I have a terribly simplistic system, but it's worked like a dream for me. I have one three-ring binder. It has two dividers -- Poems to Submit, Published Poems. When I've finished editing a piece, I print out the poem, three-hole punch it, and put it into the binder under the Poems to Submit divider in alphabetical order by title. On a 3 x 5 post-it note, I make three columns and stick it right on the poem page. I write the magazine I've sent it to in column one, and the date on which I sent it in column two. When the rejection notice comes in, I write "No" in the third column. Then I write the next mag and date I send it to below that. And continue on that way. If I edit the poem, I print out a new copy, remove the post-it note from the old copy, stick it on the new rev, and throw away the old rev of the poem. I don't keep old revs. But if you'd like to, all you need is one more divider -- Old Revs. And move the old revs into that. In the very rare event that a poem is accepted, I edit the original document, adding date of creation and publication information at the bottom (name of pub, issue #, year). Then I print it out, three-hole punch it, and stick it under the Published Poems divider, again in alphabetical order by title, and remove the copy of it that was under the Poems to Submit divider. This way I have only one binder with all my work in it. If I want to know when and where a poem was published, I just check in my binder. I can also use this same binder when I go to readings. The poems are all right there, published and unpublished. It's convenient and portable. Grab and go. This system has never failed me, never gotten mixed up or disorganized. It's all manual, so I don't have to worry about computer crashes either. And when I want to check on my submissions, I just look through the binder. Pretty easy. And then I don't have poems in one place, submission records in another, blah, blah, blah. Everything's all in one place. I've tried other systems, but they just don't work as well for me. I like seeing the poems printed out, and I like seeing the post-it note right on them with the submission information. No confusions. Just sharing my system in case it might work better than file folders. File folders just get too disorganized for me, slipping and sliding everywhere. Or I end up misfiling something. Things stuck in a binder tend to stay stuck in the binder unless I take them out on purpose. Hope this info helps. Love, M P.S. Don't tell Freddie, but I stole his file folder months ago. It makes me chuckle every time I think of him tearing his house apart looking for it. *LOL* | ||
| brenda morisse
Advanced Member Username: moritric Post Number: 2039 Registered: 04-2007 |
Dearest M, mi hermana, this actually seems like something i could manage. Two sections: submitted and published. How easy is that? What a great system. And the poems are printed out to boot. My only problem is what color post-its do I need. I think they come in three colors. Also how does it work with the simultaneous orgasms, I mean, submissions?  love, love, borrachita with a system | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 30337 Registered: 11-1998 |
Dearest borrachita -- you must use yellow post-it notes, 3" x 5". If you use any other color, your poems will self-destruct. Oh, and if you simultaneously submit, that doesn't matter. Just write the name of each pub and the date submitted in the two columns one after the other. Then when you do hear from one of the pubs with a rejection, just write "No" in the third column across from that pub's name. All the other pubs' column three's are still open. If the poem gets accepted, the post-it note has all the information right there on which other pubs you've sent it to that haven't contacted you yet so you can write them back and tell them you are withdrawing that poem from consideration. Really this system couldn't be much easier or more fool-proof. Unless, of course, you make the mistake of using the wrong color post-it notes. Then you're in big trouble. love, love, swinka | ||
| brenda morisse
Advanced Member Username: moritric Post Number: 2040 Registered: 04-2007 |
thank-you dearest hermana love,love borrachita (Message edited by moritric on June 14, 2008) |
