When was the last time you BOUGHT a book of poetry?
When was the last time you READ a book of poetry?
I’ve been tossing around the idea of publishing a book of poetry. I would want to go the traditional route of publishing. I LOVE poetry. I enjoy reading poetry. But WordPress these days, is pretty much the extent of the poetry I read.
So I started poking around the internet and came across some pretty popular books from Barnes & Noble to Amazon & Kindle. So there is a lot of popular poetry books coming off the presses. Good to know!
Then I dug a little deeper and did some reading of said popular poetry. This convinced me that I should at least consider publishing a book of poetry.
I hear good and bad about publishers and poetry. I hear some feel it’s not enough of a money-maker, so they avoid them.
Publishers. Another piece of the puzzle. There MUST be a better way than to just submit my stuff willy-nilly to publishers and cross my fingers??
If anyone has any advice, or hints that might help me along on this journey, I would sure appreciate your input! Or if someone out there would at least let me play 20-questions so I can pick your brain? Please drop me a note!
Ok my WordPress friends. I need your help! Thank you!! Penny
** Thank you for all the responses that I’ve received on this post! You guys are awesome! I know that I need to get more individual pieces published before approaching a publisher. It’s just hard to be patient. So I will just keep writing and keep submitting. Thank you again. Your help is appreciated! Penny ❤
Penny Wilson Writes 
Hi Penny it’s really easy to self publish through Kindle Direct Publishing or the like. The thing that kills you is the marketing. There’s so many books out there you struggle to get attention and sales.
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Yeah…. I know it’s gonna be a tough road. Thank you for the visit! 🙂
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The last book of poetry I bought was Pablo Neruda. Sadly, I don’t think anyone can make a living from poems. The term “drunk as a poet on payday” has been around for a long time…
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sigh…. I hear way too much of this kind of thing. 😦
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Thank you Sweets. ❤
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Ciao Bella Mon Amie, Ms. Penny.
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It’s a tough publishing world out there today for literature of any kind, and maybe especially poetry. I did get two books of poetry for Xmas this year and I do read them–in fits and starts–but I certainly don’t spend the money on books of poetry that I do on fiction. Many of my classmates in my MFA program were poets, and like us fiction writers, they frequently submitted (poems and groups of poems) to literary journals. The more you have published by good journals, the better chance of finding an agent to represent you and your poetry–or that was the understanding anyway. However, it does seem more “acceptable” for poets to go the self-published chapbook route these days. I don’t know much about self-publishing or the straight-to-publisher route, as I know I would need the PR heft of the traditional publishing route. I do know that if I couldn’t publish traditionally, I’d probably just publish pieces on WordPress or an author’s website. But that’s just my preference!
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Thank you Rebecca. I appreciate the input. I’m probably in too much of a hurry. I do need more in print first.
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Go for it. Like you said to me.. If you don’t try you will never know. You have a talent for it so why not give it a go. No harm in getting your name out there…… Good luck..
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Thanks Matt! It helps to have a cheering section! 🙂
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