Getting published.

[GuiltyPleasure]

Any thoughts, experience, recommendations?

 

[Tzara]

Any thoughts, experience, recommendations?

Yes. Off the top of my head:

1. Expect to be rejected. That is the norm.
2. Do some research on the site/journal that you want to send a submission to. Read some of the poems the site/magazine has published to see if you think your poems are a fit.
3. Submit to multiple publications. (This is a recommendation that depends on the site. Does the site allow simultaneous submissions? Then, of course, do so. If the site does not allow simultaneous submissions, think about how much you want to be published by that site.)
4. Pay attention to each site's (publication's) guidelines, so as not to be rejected because you simply didn't put your contact information right-justified at the bottom of the page, or some such nit-picky requirement.
5. Write a brief cover letter, even if they don't ask for one. State that you are submitting (number) poems for their consideration. If you can find out the name of the poetry editor, address your letter to him/her/it/they. If they ask for a bio, include one. Be honest, brief, and not too cutesy. Even if they don't mention previous publications, list any two or three publication credits you have. But not more than that. Recent ones are better, but more prestigious ones might trump (I now hate that word) that. If The New Yorker printed one of your poems, say so.
   
   (I know--that's in the God, I wish category.)

Anyway, preliminary list. Good luck, in any case.

 

[Angeline]

I haven't tried to publish for years, but I have had poems published in both online and print poetry journals. I've had many (many!) more rejections than acceptances. But any of us who've tried to publish our writing know that's how it works. Keep your hopes high and your expectations low. Above all keep writing.

Most important imho is finding publications that are likely to be interested in the kind of poetry you write. To that end I'd recommend getting a copy of the Poets Market. It has scads of info on how to submit your poems and where you can do so. You'll be able to read submission guidelines for loads of poetry publishers, see whether they accept poems from unpublished poets: some places like The New Yorker are a waste of time for unpublished (and unknown) poets, while other, lesser-known publishers encourage such submissions. Some publisher only want specific kinds of form poetry, while others are open to whatever. Some specialize in erotica while others will reject any blatantly erotic poem.

So you gotta know the market. If you research the market by reading what does get published (most journals and magazines offer samples of what they publish or you can check their online sites and read poems they chose), you can narrow it down to publications where your poems would seem to fit it. Then follow the submission guidelines and see what happens.

That's what I've done and, at times, it has worked for me.

Then there's self-publishing but that seems like a lot of work beyond writing poems, like marketing and selling. Not my thing but some like to take that route.

That's all I got. I'm moving in two days and am sorta brain dead.

 

[Tzara]

One really important thing I forgot to mention: sites/publications almost universally do not want to publish work that has already appeared elsewhere, as in someplace on the Internet, as in, specifically, here.

So scrub any posts you've made of poems you want to publish and check that no one has quoted them, if possible. If someone has, try to get them to delete the quotation of your poem. You might want to go so far as search for your poem on Google and Bing, to make sure they aren't finding some archived representation of the poem.

I know. This sounds like paranoiac spy stuff, but I have been there and I know others who have been there.

And I apologize if I am one of those who have quoted your poems. If I did so, it was because I liked it.

 

[Piscator]

Thanks to all for this conversation. While a post in Lit's Poetry submissions constitutes a publication, does a post in PF&D which I regard as more experimental/developmental than publication count too?

Also does anyone have a connection to a summary of Canadian sites for publication.

While I'm on it I totally agree with Harry et. al., that we don't get enough feedback on what we are throwing out here

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Yes. Off the top of my head:

1. Expect to be rejected. That is the norm.
2. Do some research on the site/journal that you want to send a submission to. Read some of the poems the site/magazine has published to see if you think your poems are a fit.
3. Submit to multiple publications. (This is a recommendation that depends on the site. Does the site allow simultaneous submissions? Then, of course, do so. If the site does not allow simultaneous submissions, think about how much you want to be published by that site.)
4. Pay attention to each site's (publication's) guidelines, so as not to be rejected because you simply didn't put your contact information right-justified at the bottom of the page, or some such nit-picky requirement.
5. Write a brief cover letter, even if they don't ask for one. State that you are submitting (number) poems for their consideration. If you can find out the name of the poetry editor, address your letter to him/her/it/they. If they ask for a bio, include one. Be honest, brief, and not too cutesy. Even if they don't mention previous publications, list any two or three publication credits you have. But not more than that. Recent ones are better, but more prestigious ones might trump (I now hate that word) that. If The New Yorker printed one of your poems, say so.
   
   (I know--that's in the God, I wish category.)

Anyway, preliminary list. Good luck, in any case.

I haven't tried to publish for years, but I have had poems published in both online and print poetry journals. I've had many (many!) more rejections than acceptances. But any of us who've tried to publish our writing know that's how it works. Keep your hopes high and your expectations low. Above all keep writing.

Most important imho is finding publications that are likely to be interested in the kind of poetry you write. To that end I'd recommend getting a copy of the Poets Market. It has scads of info on how to submit your poems and where you can do so. You'll be able to read submission guidelines for loads of poetry publishers, see whether they accept poems from unpublished poets: some places like The New Yorker are a waste of time for unpublished (and unknown) poets, while other, lesser-known publishers encourage such submissions. Some publisher only want specific kinds of form poetry, while others are open to whatever. Some specialize in erotica while others will reject any blatantly erotic poem.

So you gotta know the market. If you research the market by reading what does get published (most journals and magazines offer samples of what they publish or you can check their online sites and read poems they chose), you can narrow it down to publications where your poems would seem to fit it. Then follow the submission guidelines and see what happens.

That's what I've done and, at times, it has worked for me.

Then there's self-publishing but that seems like a lot of work beyond writing poems, like marketing and selling. Not my thing but some like to take that route.

That's all I got. I'm moving in two days and am sorta brain dead.

Thank you both....<deep breath> ….. taking the Plunge.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Thanks to all for this conversation. While a post in Lit's Poetry submissions constitutes a publication, does a post in PF&D which I regard as more experimental/developmental than publication count too?

Also does anyone have a connection to a summary of Canadian sites for publication.

While I'm on it I totally agree wit Harry et. al., that we don't get enough feedback on what we are throwing out here

Im thinking of trying to reinstall the daily poetry recommendations.....any takers?...… Anyone?.....Bueller?

I'll PM you re publishing sites later.

 

[Tzara]

Thanks to all for this conversation. While a post in Lit's Poetry submissions constitutes a publication, does a post in PF&D which I regard as more experimental/developmental than publication count too?

This varies by publication (site or journal), but as a general rule most consider anything posted to a publicly accessible page on the Internet to constitute "publication," regardless of whether the site was an e-zine, a workshop forum, or a personal blog. At one site I used to frequent, which was open to the public for viewing (though not for posting--you had to register to post anything), a member who was quite excited to get one of her poems accepted by a fairly prestigious journal was crushed when she admitted it had appeared at the workshop and the journal cancelled publication. Shortly after that, the workshop converted to a private (registered members only) forum, thus removing work-in-progress from public visibility.

You can, of course, ignore this and probably have a pretty good chance of nobody finding out that your poem has previously appeared at Lit, either on the main story/poem portion of the site or on the PF&D forum. Technically, even deleting something that you posted doesn't solve the problem either, because it was publicly available, even if only for a brief time.

It's a problem created by how we're all interconnected online--when your writer's group was four or five people you met with weekly in a coffee shop, it wasn't an issue.

 

[HarryHill]

Thanks to all for this conversation. While a post in Lit's Poetry submissions constitutes a publication, does a post in PF&D which I regard as more experimental/developmental than publication count too?

Also does anyone have a connection to a summary of Canadian sites for publication.

While I'm on it I totally agree wit Harry et. al., that we don't get enough feedback on what we are throwing out here

..
I said that? Who is Al?

 

[Piscator]

Also does anyone have a connection to a summary of Canadian sites for publication.

Actually the CBC has a pretty good guide

 

[darkmaas]

Im thinking of trying to reinstall the daily poetry recommendations.....any takers?...… Anyone?.....Bueller?

Violetta has been nagging and ...

... we're thinking of being taken, if you promise to be gentle.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Violetta has been nagging and ...

... we're thinking of being taken, if you promise to be gentle.

I knew that flower had her blossoms screwed on right. It's often dirty work but some one has to do it.

Gentle you say. Am I not always?

Darkmaas and annaswirls in as many days...….is it Christmas yet?

 

[darkmaas]

Ooooooh,

Annaswirls as well ... we'll have to bring our A-game my dearest Violetta.

So my gentle GuiltyPleasure. Are we to wait for more souls to the slaughter? Will there be a party? We await your instructions.

Violetta was opining yesterday that poets lack a similar event to the painters' "vernissage" where everybody stands around and gossips over glasses of inexpensive wine and stale cheese while ostensibly admiring the latest daubs by an artist who has descended from his or her garret to face their admiring public. She - Violetta - has a drop-dead-sexy jade pot that she wishes she had an event to show off. It's a lovely pale green that shows her darker (and in her eyes more sensuous) lower foliage off without detracting from the delicate pink of her blossoms. I digress ...

 

[champagne1982]

Anna and DM in the same weekend? Woah. I look forward to seeing the remarks on new poems.. maybe in the new year I will have time.