Topic: New member needs help with publishing questions related to poetry

We have a new member (Walyullah) currently evaluating our site, looking for guidance re publishing poems they've written, not to mention feedback about those poems. Can anyone provide assistance with that, especially publishing guidance? Feel free to reply here or to the appropriate Premium forum post created by the author over the last few days.

Walyullah, two major sources of info are google, where there are articles for everything, and how-to books sold at online booksellers about finding agents, publishers, and going the self-publishing route. Although the technical details on how to self-publish aren't too onerous, going that route requires you to take on (or pay for) all of the tasks yourself (editing, cover art, and especially marketing, which some authors hate). However, marketing a book requires the author to be involved even when getting professional assistance with that, such as doing interviews and book tours, some of which are done virtually these days. You'll almost certainly need a social media presence, which you often need to create before the pros will become interested. Email lists of potentially interested buyers/fans are important too.

Can anyone on the site provide Walyullah with assistance/guidance on any of this?

Thanks
Dirk

Quote Post 1

Re: New member needs help with publishing questions related to poetry

I can help with self-publishing as I did my wife's poetry book in 2021. However, I won't be able to do it until at least July as we're in the middle of a major international move and won't have time until we've completed our transition.

Quote Post 2

Re: New member needs help with publishing questions related to poetry

Hi Randall,

I would be thrilled to receive your help. You've done exactly what I'm trying to do! I'll connect with you and will check in and update you on my progress in the next 2-3 months. The move sounds super stressful but also exiting. Hope you enjoy the transition.

And Dirk, thanks again for the major help. I don't really have any social media following for my poetry. None to be honest, as far as the platforms that matter go, like Instagram. Again, I'm realizing my project might be shifting into something I hadn't anticipated, but it seems like a fun journey. And I have friends to go through it with!

Regarding social media though, wouldn't I need to only post stuff that won't be in my book? You were saying presses don't publish content that's already freely available.

Quote Post 3

Re: New member needs help with publishing questions related to poetry

Walyullah wrote:

Hi Randall,

I would be thrilled to receive your help. You've done exactly what I'm trying to do! I'll connect with you and will check in and update you on my progress in the next 2-3 months. The move sounds super stressful but also exiting. Hope you enjoy the transition.

And Dirk, thanks again for the major help. I don't really have any social media following for my poetry. None to be honest, as far as the platforms that matter go, like Instagram. Again, I'm realizing my project might be shifting into something I hadn't anticipated, but it seems like a fun journey. And I have friends to go through it with!

Regarding social media though, wouldn't I need to only post stuff that won't be in my book? You were saying presses don't publish content that's already freely available.

Many thanks and just accepted your friend request.

Quote Post 4

5 Reply by Dirk B. (edited by Dirk B. 2024-04-09 15:00:39)

Re: New member needs help with publishing questions related to poetry

Walyullaw wrote:

Regarding social media though, wouldn't I need to only post stuff that won't be in my book? You were saying presses don't publish content that's already freely available.

That's what I've always read. It makes sense really since they can't make money if the same material can be had for free. I doubt that prevents you from posting a small number of the poems on social media platforms as a teaser to build a following. One of our other members, who writes sci-fi and fantasy books, started building his social media presence in the last year or so. He has his own website, where he announces new releases of material, offers free companion stories to his novels in return for signing up to his email distribution list, and posts monthly newsletters about the writing process and his opinions of writing tools he uses. So, you could post poems that won't be available in book form. That's a win/win for you and potential publishers.

With regard to keeping your poems available for free at present, keep in mind that the internet has a long memory. smile  I posted a short story (fan fiction) set in the Dune universe, which I obviously can't publish for profit since I don't have any rights to do so, and discovered later that it had been nicely repackaged with a e-book cover on another site and made freely available. Cool, but thankfully, it was meant to be distributed for free (all my short stories from this site are posted here with the widest possible visibility, including the internet). I'll probably leave instructions for my executor to make my books available for free after my death as well, assuming I ever finish one. smile

If you ever need a good laugh, check out my (very) short story called Ms. Bunny Divine, which is itself just a teaser of one of my novels-in-progress. Currently it's only meant to attract site members to read/review the novel, but I could easily post it on the internet for free as a teaser for potential book buyers later.

Regards,
Dirk

Quote Post 5