Publishing your manuscript

In addition to the statement that the most likely of these resources to result in a book publication are already listed in our Poetry Contests index we would like to add a related possibility. Some state poetry societies offer book publication awards among their annual competitions. We suggest that Allen Ginsberg's criticism of these over stated their lack of relevance, and recommend membership in these societies, especially to non-academic poets.

Poets and writers, but especially poets who are new to the publishing game, need to understand that most of the more successful publishers are looking for more than just good poetry and writing. Most will only consider manuscripts of collections of poetry that has largely won awards and / or been published in the better known and respected literary journals and magazines. If you have not been published by these journals and magazines, you should concentrate on becoming published in them first.

Even significant publication credits are not enough for most of the large publishing houses though. Often, they also want poets who have prior book publication with a successful sales record, and who are recognized nationally and internationally. Even the smaller, but respected and successful small press publishers, generally demand the similar assurance of a viable market that such demands povide.

Most of the more successful publishers accept submissions only through literary agents. Others state that they do not accept unsolicited submissions, but are often open to queries. Many of these provide little or no information in regard to submissions or queries, and will need to be queried regarding their editorial policy.

Few of the publishers will seem truly welcoming of your submission, and others will seem entirely hostile—many have in fact all but resigned themselves to the fact that it is in their best interest to discontinue publishing poetry altogether. Our best advice is to look at the listings that appear discouraging to see whether they are currently accepting queries or submissions, and to study and follow very closely their submission guidelines if you do perceive an opportunity in what they seem to offer.

Academic presses, with the exception of those that publish poetry through their contests, have little interest in receiving even queries from non-academicians, writers not already recognized as authorities, or those who do not hold advanced degrees. This is not necessarily a matter of personal arrogance on the part of the publisher, but a practical matter of the potential marketability of a publication. It also reflects the mission of academic publishers to provide opportunities for academics to publish, and thereby avoid perishing.

Many and sundry other publishers that range from what are called "small press" publishers, subsidy publishers that use various rhetorical arguments to differentiate themselves from what are generally termed "vanity" presses, and electronic / online publishing provide general descriptions of the remaining options for publication.

The small press publishers range from those mentioned above to a range of publications that may offer all of the various other types. What they offer to writers and what they are able to deliver in the way of access to the markets and marketing expertise ranges just as widely. The same holds true for subsidy publishers, and your options and decisions regarding your options should be based on what you hope to gain through publication.

If your interest is in establishing a reputation, there are a number of small press literary publishers who will consider your work with only minimal success in having your work published in literary magazines and journals. Many of these will encourage you to familiarize yourself with their "style," and doing so is a good idea. The tastes of editorial staffs, and this is often the publisher, vary widely. This often means buying their publications if you cannot find their publications through your library system.

Many publishers will go so far as to demand that writers buy their publications before submitting. It may be a good idea to check on the availablity of their titles through the booksellers before buying their publication. This is often, but not always, little more than a sales tactic, and seldom leads to publication of even very good collections of poetry without some further subsidy.

This last advice should not be taken as entirely disparaging of the idea that a hopeful writer / poet buy a publisher's publications. The reputation of the publisher should however be considered when making such a decision, and, having made the decision to buy, the quality of what you read should be factored back into the same equation in any decision to submit for publication by any writer who takes their work seriously.

Many very good, well known poets indulged in self-publication before becoming well known (and a few have expressed regret that they did so, but primarily because they were not particularly good poets at the time). A writer should know what they want to accomplish through self-publication, and decide what they can afford to invest to accomplish their ends.

Several of the large subsidy publishers have established effective marketing departments, and writers in many genre can expect some degree of "success" through investing in self-publication—but not poets, generally. There is little in the way of a market for poetry, and established literary presses with aggressive marketing programs usually just survive on a few well reviewed books by poets whose names are widely recognized.

Without taking it in the context of derogation, self-publication by poets should be considered as vanity publication in the main. Whether they put together a chapbook without the services of a subsidy publisher, win a chapbook competition or enlist the services of a subsidy publisher, every poet should indulge themselves in this minor vanity. Though not usual, it is possible that someone who may hear you read at a reading may ask to buy one of your chapbooks—while you are trading chapbooks with the other poets at the reading.

When deciding to go beyond publishing your own chapbook, you should, if you actually expect to sell them, consider that you will need to invest time and effort marketing them—even if you pay for the full marketing package that a subsidy publisher offers. You can often place books on consignment with local booksellers, sometimes even in one of the local outlets of a large chain store.

Electronic media provide another recourse for self-publication. Despite the relative inexpensiveness of this option, it offers a few drawbacks in addition to hard-copy self-publishing. The many and sundry, and entirely incompatible devices and formats for these may be the greatest limiting factor. Then again, the greatest limiting factor may be that few who may have any interest in your publication will have any of the hardware necessary to use the software. It may however make more sense to lump these drawbacks in with a another significant limiting factor—how is anyone who may have just what they need to read your publication going to stumble upon the oneor two Web pages among 8,000,000+ other poetry pages on the Web that offers your publication for sale.

Now that you are thoroughly discouraged, we suggest that you not be. Like any other destination in life, becoming published is a matter of developing the vehicle that will take you where you want to go, building it from the ground up, and driving it the distance necessary to get there—study and learn the craft, write and submit until it happens.