“ We’ll never be the same writer we were when we first started writing, heck, every time we write a poem, we are more experienced than we were during our last writing session.” – dimitrireyespoet.com
First ever poetry feature!
1st pub. (Peeking Cat Poetry Dec 2016)
There are many milestones in a writer’s life and each achievement is special. I remember when I wrote that poem that really solidified my speaker’s voice and my first featured reading. Everyone also remembers their first publication and whether they’re ecstatic about it or a bit hesitant to tell people because it doesn’t mean a thing to them unless it was a paid gig. It’s an event that is christened into memory. Authors that have continued to publish even get embarrassed by their first pieces, because they don’t write that way anymore, or they would’ve said certain things better. I loved my first publication as it was a learning experience. We’ll never be the same writer we were when we first started writing, heck, every time we write a poem, we are more experienced than we were during our last writing session.
Have you not gotten around to publishing your work yet? There are many ways to publish your work, and I’ll be going over 7 Ways to Publish Poetry.
1. Social Media
This is you publishing your poem on Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Instagram, or Whatsapp. Though many wouldn’t consider this published work, in the literary world and in general, work that appears anywhere online is often considered published. Magazines and other organizations looking to put out content would rather have work that hasn’t appeared anywhere else for the sake of introducing that new work first. Perhaps there is also something to say about copyright as well as quality of the content too, but that can be saved for another conversation. Just know that technically, if you are publishing on social media, you can say that you publish your work on your social media platforms and that generally, you will need to make the distinction during conversation if you were to call yourself a published author posting your work directly from a social media handle.
2. Literary Magazines, Journals, Reviews
Generally, I believe that the only distinction between these are the names. Specifically, the magazine, journal, or review itself carries its own amount of prestige depending on several factors such as how long they’ve been in business, how many people read the magazine, and who they have published. Many are run via Universities with creative writing departments where they pull work from audiences that are simpatico with the students they admit or their audiences are developed by the faculty that advises the journal. Other independent magazines represent the counterculture of bigger presses and as an alternative, their mission can be thematic, avant garde, or focused on publishing work that is historically underrepresented. In the YouTube video that accompanies this blog, I give examples of two different independent journals.
As a helpful tip: many journals look for even more talent. They don’t only look for creative literature, they can also have calls for visual arts, audio-visual arts (if online), and essays or reviews.
3. Artist Books
If you’re interested in producing your own material, you can put together a small collection of poems, lyrics, essays, stories, or all 4 and sell them. Read, watch, and learn more by learning about the process through the video and blog.
4. Zines
As spoken about in my How Poets Make Money blog, zines are pretty inexpensive and consists of simple paper folding and paper cutting books. A bit more cost effective than the standard artist book (zines can literally be several folded pieces of paper stapled) some artists drop them off at places with their contact info attached. These small booklets are great when you are first starting out and building a name for yourself. Many renowned writers had their start in small zine making when they frequented events.
5. Chapbooks
Larger than artist books and zines, these can be self published as well as published by a traditional publisher. Essentially thinner poetry books, chapbooks are anywhere from 25 pages to 45 pages where afterwards, they’d be considered a full length. Here are pictures of two examples of chapbooks. On the left, we have a self published chapbook by Leah “Lyric” Jackson whereas the book on the right is Marina Carreira’s chapbook published by Finishing Line Press. Both are about the same length and both have their own aesthetic.
Leah “Lyric” Jackson 2016
Finishing Line Press 2017
6. Full Length Book
This is a collection of 46 or more pages of work. In my experience, 45-60 seems like a sweet spot in a poetry collection. Though more pages can feel like there’s extra fluff, in many instances, it can still work well. Again, this can be through traditional publishing or self publishing, but either way it’s important to hire a professional to look over your work. A book is a large undertaking as it should flow well, the narrative should be consistent, and your writing should be the clearest it can be.
7. Anthology
As an extension of the magazine, review, or journal publication, you can be featured in an anthology. This is a larger volume of work that usually revolves around a certain theme or style, such as COVID-19 or Haiku. Other features of an anthology include 1 or several pieces from multiple contributors and usually a deliberate introduction or forward that explains how this larger pool of authors make up the dialogue of the anthologized book.
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