I’m a veteran of publishing poetry books with small presses, but now as a successful self-published novelist, I’m considering how to succeed with self-publishing a poetry book. While it’s true that far fewer readers engage with poetry than with fiction, I know the poetry readers are out there. And I know how to publish a book using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, a good cover designer, and promoting books with ads. What I don’t know is…
Publishing My Poetry as a Practice Long ago, in a less digital world, I wrote things and sent them through the mailbox to a few print magazines to see if they wanted to publish them. I enclosed a self-address, stamped envelope (the old SASE — anyone remember that acronym?) and waited, often for months. Most of the time, my poems came back to me like homing pigeons in the old SASE, sometimes with an editor’s…
Happy Fourth! But this post isn’t about our national celebration of Independence — unless I can conflate America’s with my own independence as a writer. There. Done that. I’m celebrating today and in general because 2018 will see TWO OF MY BOOKS PUBLISHED! Both my fourth book of poetry and my novel The Renaissance Club (forthcoming from Fiery Seas Publishing, 2018) will appear next year on Amazon and other places you can buy books, in…
I’ve had poetry in a lot of journals over many years, but I’ve rarely been so pleased to have work alongside such a great group of poets and writers. I was talking about publishers and poetry presses with a friend this morning and we agreed that even if it’s on a paper bag, it’s the quality of work that outlasts any reputation, prominence, or publicity a publisher might be able to boast of or gain.…
To help us all tilt our pens forward and launch them into a vibrant and productive 2016, I thought I’d share some bad news and some good news about writing. First the bad news. Kristen Lamb’s blog entry today sums up the bad news about publishing, for the writer. Never mind if book sales are up over Kindle sales, and don’t bother with the debate about Amazon vs. Indie bookstores. You’re almost never going to…
I do some of my best writing in the shower. In my mind, of course. Neither pen nor phone can withstand the water. The inspirational quality of the shower may be in part because mine has a skylight. I can wash or just do hyrotherapy in sunlight, watching clouds drift overhead, or listening to rain on the glass. Whatever it is, washing naked in sunlight has to be one of the best pleasures ever invented.…
While I was appalled to learned about a gender difference in the way women and men submit their writing for publication, as I read Kelli Russell Agodon‘s essay on the subject, I increasingly recognized my own female style of sending out my work. Women poets, read this essay on the differences, and see if it rings any bells. She is the author of Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room and was the co-editor of Crab…
That’s perennial question, along with its corollary: Should writers be sane? Or is crazy really better for the work. If there’s one thing that drives every writer and poet I know crazy it’s the topic of publishing. Publishing is like hunting dragons — you’re not even sure they exist, you know you need some magical arrow that’s not in your quiver, and really you don’t have a killer’s heart. Especially the poets. It’s such a…
I’m happy to celebrate the one-year anniversary of my collection of poetry, prose, and short drama, Gods of Water and Air. Thanks to Karen Kelsay and Aldrich Press (an imprint of Kelsay Books) for creating a beautiful print book from my manuscript and supporting it! And thanks to all of you who bought a copy and read it. I’m going to make my book a little cake for its birthday, which I’m calling September 4…