Have you thought about self publishing a book of poetry?

[WriterDom]

I did it once. I more than broke even only because I have an unusually large family. It was very "nice" poetry. Nothing erotic. Now I'm wondering if I want to do it again. Perhaps with more of a theme this time.

Most people, especially around here aren't interested in poetry so I didn't figure I'd sell any in stores and really didn't put much effort into doing that. I had one book signing that I missed because the lady never told me when it was.

I'm pretty sure the publisher I used wouldn't take erotic stuff. Do you know of someone who would?

 

[champagne1982]

I just found a page at writing-world that explains the difference between subsidy publishing and self-publishing. They list a few links to printers who cater to the self-publisher.

WordClay is a subsidy publisher since they charge fees for everything from editing, jacket design, marketing, press releases, ISBN coding and printing and binding. My big hesitancy in something like self-publishing is that I'm not a book marketer, I have a hard time accentuating my positive qualities on a resume never mind needing to do it in order to sell a book. It's hard enough promoting a poem I submit to an editor nevermind trying to release my babies to the great unwashed hurly-burly.

Good luck!

p.s. Thoughts concerning erotic poetry. Don't you think that poetry has a more subtle feel in the way the erotica is presented and wouldn't that difference disguise the "porny" side of the writing enough that nearly any printer would take a chapbook manuscript? As I say, just thinkin' out loud.

 

[annaswirls]

I have thought about it, just because submitting stuff is expensive and a pain in the ass.

I have self-published an anthology of the work on our website. I used Lulu and would recommend it if you are considering self-publishing. There is no financial risk as it is print on demand. You set the price, can charge for downloads or give them away. You can buy as many as you want for yourself at cost, etc.

Good luck! It is exciting to have work in print. Takes away an element of abstraction.

I did it once. I more than broke even only because I have an unusually large family. It was very "nice" poetry. Nothing erotic. Now I'm wondering if I want to do it again. Perhaps with more of a theme this time.

Most people, especially around here aren't interested in poetry so I didn't figure I'd sell any in stores and really didn't put much effort into doing that. I had one book signing that I missed because the lady never told me when it was.

I'm pretty sure the publisher I used wouldn't take erotic stuff. Do you know of someone who would?

 

[Angeline]

I was all set to publish my first book of poetry, had a publisher and printer all lined up. My marriage had recently broken up and my ex informed me that if I published it, he would fight me to own half the rights to it. Well it's not as if poetry books ever make any money and I certainly didn't expect mine to be any different, but the thought of him potentially owning half of this book that was mine, my poetry, that meant so much to me and (clearly, to me at least) so little to him, made me put the kibbosh on the publishing deal. That was over four years ago and now I'm divorced, but the book still sits on my hard drive. Maybe someday I'll try again. It wasn't about money, not to me.

 

[Epmd607]

I was all set to publish my first book of poetry, had a publisher and printer all lined up. My marriage had recently broken up and my ex informed me that if I published it, he would fight me to own half the rights to it. Well it's not as if poetry books ever make any money and I certainly didn't expect mine to be any different, but the thought of him potentially owning half of this book that was mine, my poetry, that meant so much to me and (clearly, to me at least) so little to him, made me put the kibbosh on the publishing deal. That was over four years ago and now I'm divorced, but the book still sits on my hard drive. Maybe someday I'll try again. It wasn't about money, not to me.

That's probably the most depressing thing I've ever heard out of a divorce. I've never self-published a book, but I've used print on demand to publish books full of poetry. I dont have a printer so I just pay the five dollars to get a physical copy of a years work or something. Stick some picture on the front, give it a title, but I don't really think of it as publishing a book because at most I print two copies and move on.

I don't really know what a publisher can do for a book aside from getting it reviewed. If you've got your work in a bunch of poem mags they'll usually review your book, so if you can get your book reviewed it doesn't seem like a publisher can do much more. How many poem books did Nabokov sell in The Gift? I think it was like 57 out of 500, cuz he didn't bother sending his book for review. I don't like that one or pale fire, the books that have all the poetry.

 

[WriterDom]

I was all set to publish my first book of poetry, had a publisher and printer all lined up. My marriage had recently broken up and my ex informed me that if I published it, he would fight me to own half the rights to it. Well it's not as if poetry books ever make any money and I certainly didn't expect mine to be any different, but the thought of him potentially owning half of this book that was mine, my poetry, that meant so much to me and (clearly, to me at least) so little to him, made me put the kibbosh on the publishing deal. That was over four years ago and now I'm divorced, but the book still sits on my hard drive. Maybe someday I'll try again. It wasn't about money, not to me.

I'm no lawyer but I don't see how he'd have any rights to it at this point.

 

[Angeline]

That's probably the most depressing thing I've ever heard out of a divorce. I've never self-published a book, but I've used print on demand to publish books full of poetry. I dont have a printer so I just pay the five dollars to get a physical copy of a years work or something. Stick some picture on the front, give it a title, but I don't really think of it as publishing a book because at most I print two copies and move on.

I don't really know what a publisher can do for a book aside from getting it reviewed. If you've got your work in a bunch of poem mags they'll usually review your book, so if you can get your book reviewed it doesn't seem like a publisher can do much more. How many poem books did Nabokov sell in The Gift? I think it was like 57 out of 500, cuz he didn't bother sending his book for review. I don't like that one or pale fire, the books that have all the poetry.

I'm no lawyer but I don't see how he'd have any rights to it at this point.

He doesn't share rights with any of my poetry (that I wrote during the time we were married) now. I had that put in the settlement. At the time he was just being a dick to me because of the divorce, and he knew what my writing meant to me.

Again I never expected to earn any income from poetry. The only poets I can think of who really sell are Neruda (posthumously) and Ginsberg and he made way more from talks and events than his writing. It was just that they were my words, yknow? I should own my own words.

 

[WriterDom]

He doesn't share rights with any of my poetry (that I wrote during the time we were married) now. I had that put in the settlement. At the time he was just being a dick to me because of the divorce, and he knew what my writing meant to me.

Again I never expected to earn any income from poetry. The only poets I can think of who really sell are Neruda (posthumously) and Ginsberg and he made way more from talks and events than his writing. It was just that they were my words, yknow? I should own my own words.

I'll tell you how hard it is. I had articles in two newspapers that served around 60,000 people and sold one book from each article. That was it.

 

[Angeline]

I'll tell you how hard it is. I had articles in two newspapers that served around 60,000 people and sold one book from each article. That was it.

Yeah I know people who print poetry chapbooks on sites like Lulu and then try to sell them. Well, I'm no salesperson; I am too laid back to bug anyone to buy stuff. I could never sell seeds or cookies or magazines when I was a kid in school either, lol. But it might be worth it to me to use Lulu to print a few copies each of various books I have put together (three off the top of my head) to give to my kids. Or maybe put away for them lol I doubt they'd be thrilled to have mom force her poetry on them at this point in their teenaged lives.

 

[Epmd607]

I'll tell you how hard it is. I had articles in two newspapers that served around 60,000 people and sold one book from each article. That was it.

I'll tell you how harder it is. A former friend of mine had a weekly article in the local paper that was distributed to probably the same size area you're talking about, a really popular dating article he did with his girlfriend each week. So popular they got a deal to make the article into a book that sold well locally. He did poetry workshops that were advertised well in the paper, so of course when he went to publish a book of poems he had publishers willing, since he's a proven seller of books, has a name people recognize. Last I knew he'd sold 90 some, and that was after a year and a half of taking it with him to workshops and readings, having multiple articles which mentioned it. There's gotta be people that look over the local section at the barnes and noble.

Just stunning the lack of interest in a book of poetry at whatever price and whatever advantage. The poems were contemporary prose poetry, told his actually interesting life story, nothing academic or difficult. I thought the book was uninteresting as a whole, but I thought the 25-50 year old females that read his column would eat it up. I guess you have to be named state poet so you can get invited to the universities so you can collect your 5 grand for talking about poetry, and then sell a dozen books afterwards. It's depressing thinking about all the books of poems I've read after been given a promise on the back that this book 'transcends the human experience to give a fragmented picture of one human life, while in turn describing all human lives.' haha

Now that I think about it, I've never bought a poetry book I've seen formally reviewed. Reviews give you a couple lines out of the book and basically repeat what's been said on the back by some editor friend of the poet. I've written some of those blurbs that have really nothing to do with the contents of the book. But that's cuz most books of poems have no real story telling cohesiveness. There's like one langston Hughes and maybe A couple books of sonnets.

 

[EroticOrogeny]

Again I never expected to earn any income from poetry. The only poets I can think of who really sell are Neruda (posthumously) and Ginsberg and he made way more from talks and events than his writing. It was just that they were my words, yknow? I should own my own words.

One of my professors years ago said that Poe was the only poet to mke a living at it alone (and he wrote stories as well).

 

[WriterDom]

I can buy 500 books for $1845 if I use outside editing. My break even point is to sell 173 books at 10.95. That's if I use one of their canned covers. That's 130 pages. It would probably be smaller. Their turn around time is pretty quick. A month or two. I have a theme in mind that will have more local interest. And I'm guessing I'll sell at least 200 to the family so there is no reason not to do it. And I made a few mistakes last time. Like not setting up a book signing before I went to the newspaper. And I could have gone to more newspapers. Small towns eat that shit up and don't care if you self published.

 

[Epmd607]

I can buy 500 books for $1845 if I use outside editing. My break even point is to sell 173 books at 10.95. That's if I use one of their canned covers. That's 130 pages. It would probably be smaller. Their turn around time is pretty quick. A month or two. I have a theme in mind that will have more local interest. And I'm guessing I'll sell at least 200 to the family so there is no reason not to do it. And I made a few mistakes last time. Like not setting up a book signing before I went to the newspaper. And I could have gone to more newspapers. Small towns eat that shit up and don't care if you self published.

I think there's a magic price for poetry books, anything under 5 dollars I usually buy on sight. 4.95, people spend that much on coffee every day. 40-60 poems average 12-14 lines, under 100 pages, that's usually what I like, something I can read in an hour then go back and re-read the handful of poems I liked. Books of poems that I'd say are good usually only have five poems I re-read, so the bar's set pretty low, fitting well a fiver. Penny/Peter Pauper Press used to operate in upstate new york, thin books, nice looking, they were like a buck in the 60s and 70s. They exist in a different way now, as an absolute waste of time publisher.

 

[WriterDom]

I think there's a magic price for poetry books, anything under 5 dollars I usually buy on sight. 4.95, people spend that much on coffee every day. 40-60 poems average 12-14 lines, under 100 pages, that's usually what I like, something I can read in an hour then go back and re-read the handful of poems I liked. Books of poems that I'd say are good usually only have five poems I re-read, so the bar's set pretty low, fitting well a fiver. Penny/Peter Pauper Press used to operate in upstate new york, thin books, nice looking, they were like a buck in the 60s and 70s. They exist in a different way now, as an absolute waste of time publisher.

If you don't want them perfect bound you can get them really cheap.

 

[annaswirls]

Have you considered lulu?

I can buy 500 books for $1845 if I use outside editing. My break even point is to sell 173 books at 10.95. That's if I use one of their canned covers. That's 130 pages. It would probably be smaller. Their turn around time is pretty quick. A month or two. I have a theme in mind that will have more local interest. And I'm guessing I'll sell at least 200 to the family so there is no reason not to do it. And I made a few mistakes last time. Like not setting up a book signing before I went to the newspaper. And I could have gone to more newspapers. Small towns eat that shit up and don't care if you self published.

 

[WriterDom]

Have you considered lulu?

No, is she nice?

 

[WriterDom]

Oh, you mean lulu.com. I looked at it. It will be a while before I'm ready.

 

[Angeline]

One of my professors years ago said that Poe was the only poet to mke a living at it alone (and he wrote stories as well).

Yes, even if you think of poets who have been very popular in recent years, they teach or do other kinds of writing for income. Billy Collins became very well known and sold a lot of books after he became US Poet Laureate, but he never stopped teaching. Perhaps that was something he wanted anyway; he really seems to love teaching Still I doubt even he could have supported himself solely with his poetry books.

 

[Tzara]

One of my professors years ago said that Poe was the only poet to mke a living at it alone (and he wrote stories as well).

Wyn Collins, I think, makes a living from poetry, but as kind of a fluke. One of his poems ended up being used by Sheryl Crow as the lyric for the song All I Wanna Do.

Hey presto, buckets of money.

'Course then he still writes lyrics for other people, so I guess that would be his "real" job.

 

[Tzara]

Yes, even if you think of poets who have been very popular in recent years, they teach or do other kinds of writing for income. Billy Collins became very well known and sold a lot of books after he became US Poet Laureate, but he never stopped teaching. Perhaps that was something he wanted anyway; he really seems to love teaching Still I doubt even he could have supported himself solely with his poetry books.

I've read that Jane Kenyon's Otherwise sold something like 60,000 copies, and the New York Times reported that Collins' Sailing Alone Around the Room sold 160,000 copies in hardcover and paperback, which it called "an astonishing number for a genre in which 3,000 copies is considered a hefty print run."

I think a more typical print run for even a fairly well-respected poet is more like 1500 copies, not all of which get sold.

 

[WriterDom]

Jewel's book sold over a million copies. A Night Without Armor.

 

[Tzara]

Jewel's book sold over a million copies. A Night Without Armor.

There ya go. Just build a multiplatinum recording career first, and you can probably sell a few poetry books.

Worked for Jim Morrison, too, back in the day. Billy Corgan's Blinking with Fists was a NYT bestseller as well.




Where's my guitar?

 

[Angeline]

I've read that Jane Kenyon's Otherwise sold something like 60,000 copies, and the New York Times reported that Collins' Sailing Alone Around the Room sold 160,000 copies in hardcover and paperback, which it called "an astonishing number for a genre in which 3,000 copies is considered a hefty print run."

I think a more typical print run for even a fairly well-respected poet is more like 1500 copies, not all of which get sold.

It probably paid for that trip to Japan he took.

 

[annaswirls]

Oh, you mean lulu.com. I looked at it. It will be a while before I'm ready.

It is pretty easy-- they have templates you can use. Time consuming but very doable. What's nice is you do not have to put any money up front, people can order online without your intervention, etc.

 

[annaswirls]

Probably my favorite breathing poet, James Lineberger publishes through Lulu to bypass the bs of the professional publishing world. And it is not like he couldn't get a publisher if he wanted to. Takes too much away from writing, I am sure.

If you have any extra cash lying around, I would highly recommend any of his books. He is one of a kind living genius. And no, we are not on speaking terms.