is there any one out ther who can help me get my poetry into print?

Question

i have been in love with poetry since i was about 8 years of age and have been writing sice the age of 12. i think i'm pritty good but everyone eles thinks i'm great and should be published. i want to give it a try but don't know to get started.HELP ME PLEASE

Answer 1

If you havent already you should start by publishing to a blog like wordpress perhaps, you will get feedback and you can develop your art. This is a half way step and the way the world moves so quickly now you could see yourself in print in no time.

perhaps you can enter your work into competitions.

Answer 2

Please do not take this personally, but poetry is not a big seller these days. Very few publishers are interested and even fewer agents. In fact almost NO agents read poetery anymore.

Prove it to yourself. Go to the nearest Barnes and Noble or Borders and scout around. Find the poetry section. Notice the size of it first. Then take a quick look at who the publishers are who are represented there.

Then ask yourself which is going to sell more books- Dean Koontz' great new book which came out this week or a volume of poetry. The answer is easy. Dean = hands down. Ask the people who say your poetry is great and should be published when was the last time THEY walked into a bookstore and bought a volume of poetry. Quite possibly never. High body count thrillers are what sell.

Some magazines purchase individual poems. Would you like to know what they pay? Recently. the Poet Laureate of the US was paid for a five line poem printed in a magazine. He received 5 dollars a line or a grand total of 25 bucks. One can only hope he didn't blow it all taking the family out for dinner at Mc Donald's.

There are poetry contests like poetry.com, but they are pure scam. They prey on people desperate to find an outlet for their poetry that they can't sell. Avoid them. They will tell you that you are nominated for Poet of the Year and that if you pay for a copy of the book your poem is in and pay to attend their conventiohn, they will regale you with a cheap 50 cent trophy. You will find if you attend, that there are many other Poets of the Year there. In fact EVERYONE who sends them a poem is nominated.

There are also some small publishing houses that specialize in "literary works" that still publish a bit of poetry. But you will find if you ask that the truth is, a poet they publish may sell 15 - 50 copies or so. Not much more. I have seen some as low as three copies. Also a lot of these small publishers are fly by night shoestring budget places. I had a bad experience with one of them. The owner of the company was insane! I tore up my contract and ran.

I would recommend you join Absolute Write Water Cooler's poetry forum. It used to be run by a very nice guy named poetinahat. If it still is, tell him I said Hi. There, you can communicate with other poets, commiserate about the limited ways to sell your work and share ideas.

Sorry if that wasn't the answer you wanted to hear, but it is the cold hard reality. Most of us started out writing poetry, but moved on to novels when we realized there was little to do with poems.


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They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 3

Writer's Journal magazine has a fantastic contest, and there are many poetry magazines that accept submissions. Don't get discouraged, poetry is still being published. You can also pick up Poet's Market (ISBN:9781582974996), a book of publishers and agents that ONLY work with poets. Good luck and keep writing!

Answer 4

Consider writing on a poetry-specific self publish website. You're not likely to make money anyway, so rather than spend huge chunks of time trying to get into print, publish online and spend your time writing more poetry.

And for non-verse, consider using spell check ;)

Good luck.