Tips On How To Publish Your Poems In Poetry Magazines
On Poetry Websites, And In Your Own Poetry Books
Dear Reader,
Here are a few tips on how you can get published:
1. You can buy the Poet's Market book which comes out every September. It's
essential because it has 1800 listings of magazines you can send your poems
to. It
tells what each magazine requires for a cover letter, how many poems to send
at a
time, when the reading period of each magazine is, and what style each magazine
wants. It's essential so buy it often because the listings become outdated
quickly,
unfortunately. It costs a hefty $26. You can find it in Libraries for free,
but usually it's
outdated.
2. On my website, www.lucidmoonpoetry.com,
all of the poetry columns have been
converted to guestbook areas. You can type in or copy and paste 1 poem
per column
per week. There is Your Poetry Page' (any topic poems), Moon Beams
(moon-themed poems), A Few Poems A Day Help Keep The Psychiatrist Away
(topical poems), Poetry, Essays and Lectures, Dissect A Poem (where you discuss
your poem's meaning, line by line), Quotable Poetry Quotes (where you post
your
favorite literary quotes), and Jokes About Art, Literature Music and
Poetry. I am posting
new guidelines for each poetry column page and I'm adding a new color cartoon
to
each column which doesn't have one yet.
3. You can check out my Other Cool Websites page for links to other
online poetry
magazines which accept poetry submissions.
4. Please read my permissions reprint agreement policy on the homepage of
my
website and the guidelines area below it before posting anything on my website.
I do
not accept snail mail, email and disc submissions for my website, but I do
accept
email submissions for my newsletter which you can print it out from the site.
Please
do not send poems in the body of an email because they get broken up. Always
send
by Microsoft Word document attachment or Rich Text attachment.
5. Always include a cover letter, bio, and an sase (self-addressed stamped
envelope).
Limit your poem submission oo 3 – 5 poems. Most publications prefer
3-6 poems
submissions. Try not to send poems in the body of an email because
they get broken
up. Always send by Microsoft Word document attachment or Rich Text attachment.
Always address the editor by name, not “To whom it may concern”, which is
rude.
6. There are basically 3 types and 3 tiers to publishing: a big publishing
house that
will give you a million dollar advance; vanity and subsidy publishing and
printing on
demand publishing. Let’s face it, no big publishing house is gonna
give you a million
dollar advance unless you are Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Stephan King or Danielle
Steele. When I first researched publishing my own books, I thought
I could only afford
vanity or subsidy publishing but I found out even they were out of my budget.
Vantage
Press in NYC wanted $10,000 to print a measly 200 books and another NY firm
wanted $20,000 for 500 books, Vanity and subsidy publishing are a rip-off
so steer
clear of them.
When you are ready to print a book don't go with Vanity Publishing or Subsidy
Publishing because they are a rip-off. Checkout the Printing On Demand area
in my
Other Cool Website page for the most affordable way to publish your poetry
books.
Check out links to AuthorHouse (formerly 1stBooks) , Xerox, Xlibris and iUniverse.
Good luck in all your publishing endeavors. Now you can afford to publish
your own
book.
Some people think printing on demand is a scam too, but
for those with a limited
budges it offers the most bang for the buck, with more options than most
traditional
publishers. I have links to all these Printing On Demand Publishing Companies
in my
Other Cool Websites Links area. AuthorHouse, Xerox, Xllibris and iUniverse
are the
major printing on demand companies. The only problem with 1st Books and Xlibris
is
that they claim they can publish your book for $600, when in fact it’s closer
to $1300
when you add in the back cover design option and the hard cover option.
This is bait
and switch advertising. Also, if you want promotional packages it is
another $225 to
$600 plus $3 to scan a page and $2.25 to type each page (data entry) if you
are
unable to type up the manuscript. The actual cost at AuthorHouse
is $600 including
base price fee, set up fee, text formatting, ISBN number bar code,$150 for
Library Of
Congress Catalogue Number, $75 for Copyright, $150 for full color front and
back
cover design and $300 - $600 for least expensive promotional
packages.
AuthorHouse does offer a seasonal sale of $300 off the base price, which
is quite
welcome. So, your book will cost anywhere from $1000 to $1500. AuthorHouse
can
now reproduce color inside, in addition to on the front cover and back cover,
which is
great, because I want to add color photographs and art work inside
each book (but
they can only do color inside books of 120 pages or less).. One problem
I have found
is that after manhandling the books from Xlibris for 3 months, the plastic
film on the
cover peels away from the cover. They assured me they were now using
a different
process for the cover and offered to replace the shoddy copies.
Another error I
experienced is that they switched the typeface on the cover on a big order
I placed,
and they did replace all the copies for free. Avoid Xlibris at all
cost! You have been
warned!
You also have to consider customer relations. Are they
going to foster a healthy
author/agent relationship or are they just going to take the money and run?
I have had
nothing but trouble with Xlibris, so I can’t recommend them. Xlibris
stupidly lost my
entire original manuscript for my Lucid Moon Poetry Magazine which
I wanted to
resurrect later this year. They didn't tell me who my new agent was
when he left, and
they didn't answer my e-mails about pricing and scanning fees. They
also didn't
answer my Dad's livid letter to the president of the company.
So I can't recommend
them. The only reason I am not withdrawing my books from Xlibris is
that I spent
$1000 on each book and that would be money down the drain if I took
them to my new
printing on demand publisher, AuthorHouse. I just have to correct two
dozen
mistakes in each book and that will cost $300 each and I don't
have that so I will hold
off for now. You can check out AuthorHouse, Xlibris, and iUniverse,
which is the least
expensive of the 3 printing on demand companies, on my Other Cool Website
page,
but I am going with AuthorHouse to do all my upcoming projects. I would
highly
recommend them, they are more professional than Xlibris. They have
hooked up with
the largest book distributor in the U.S., Engram With AuthorHouse,
you get the most
royalties, 50%, and you can buy the book sat half price and resell them for
whatever
price you want. And with all these printing on demand companies,
the books stay in
print forever. So you have some choices to make about which of these
publishing
options is right for you.
Warmest Wishes,
Ralph Haselmann, Jr. Editor of Lucid Moon Website.
Lucid Moon Review Poetry Website and Newsletter, Ralph Haselmann Jr.,
editor
Morris Hills Center, Room 427 W, 77 Madison Ave., Morristown, NJ
07960
(973) 993-9744, ralphylucidmoon@yahoo.com
, www.lucidmoonpoetry.com
© Copyright 2004 Ralph Haselmann Jr. and Lucid Moon Review Poetry Website
www.lucidmoonpoetry.com .
HOME PAGE & ARCHIVES
Lucid Moon Home Page
POETRY COLUMNS
Ralph's Poetry
Page | Your Poetry Page
| Dissect a Poem
Moon Beams (More
Moon Poems) | Poetry Essays
and Lectures
A Few Poems
a Day Helps Keep the Psychiatrist Away
Quotable Poetry
Quotes | Jokes About Art,
Literature, Music & Poetry
OTHER COOL WEB SITE LINKS
Ana's
Poetry Page | Alpha Beat Press
CONTACT ME