How can I get my poetry noticed?
I have been writing poetry since I was 8 years old. I am wandering where i can get published or maybe my poetry could be in greeting cards or something just not sure how to get started really.
- Amy D
Tags: 8 Years, Greeting Cards, Poetry Writing, Published Poetry, Writing Poetry
January 18th, 2009 at 6:16 am
send it to all the major publishers. Good luck
January 21st, 2009 at 12:44 pm
if you go and yahoo free poetry contensts, then you can enter them, and ever poem i have sent in has been published. most of them let you keep the copyrites, and after you have been published a few times, type up your poems, get them ALL COPYRIGHTED!!!!, and put them in a portfolieo type thingy, and go make tons of copys, and send them into publishers.
January 24th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Hallmark Cards in Kansas City does have a test you can take. However, without an English major or minor, there’s little hope. I tried for 20 years to publish poetry. Nothing happened until I decided to turn them into song lyrics. I have published 3 songs.
January 25th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Tried the wall of the local public toilets?
January 28th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I write poetry myself, and have found that the only way to get your poetry out there is to have the book published yourself, and see how it does on the sale stands…Don’t do what I did, and fall for those ads that say how to get yourself published, and win so much money (?)…I did that, and ended up spending gobs of money on these books that had just one of my poems in it…Then our house burned down, and I haven’t even got one of them books now, but I do know that everyone that fell for that game, never earned a dime! We were being exploited…
I wish you luck!
January 31st, 2009 at 3:18 am
I submit mine to poetry websites for free. I receive comments. Many poets also have blogs and post their works on forums. For me it works just fine.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Get the Writers and Artists Yearbook most Waterstones, etc. have it.
It list agents, publishers, competitions and festivals that are open to poets and writers. Lots of other useful tit bits too.
Good luck
February 4th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Buy the Poet’s Market 2008. It will have listing and requirements from scores of publications.
That really is all you need. Well, except for persistance and the ability to handle rejection no matter how good you are.
Good Luck.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Publishing collections of poetry is tough if you haven’t established a reputation by publishing your individual poems in magazines. The competition is so tough that most publishers want to see your work vetted by other editors. Buy a copy of Poet’s Market and check out and figure out where you can send your poems. You should aim for at least 30 to 40 percent of the collection to be published in magazines.
Some people are going to tell you to self-publish with the likes of lulu.com and iVerse.com or others. That’s fine if you don’t have any interest in being read by anyone outside of your immediate circle of friends and you have the money to spend. It will be pretty tough to convince people who book poets for readings to take you seriously, and so your book really isn’t going to sell, even though the self-publishing outfits will tell you your book will be listed on Amazon, it really won’t matter because no one will buy it. So unless your dying or not planning on sticking around in the PoBiz, you don’t need to go the self-publishing route.
Your best bet is to do the work. Get established in the literary community and do it the right way. Impatience is never a writer’s friend.
February 8th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Stop wandering, and start wondering. If you’re going to specialize in English, master English. Hallmark does not require an English degree, but they do ask that you speak English.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:15 am
you establish a reputation as a poet the same way you establish a reputation as a rock-band: work.
start by finding out about writers groups local to you. go along to their meetings. show your poems and discuss them, read other people’s poems and think about things they can do which you haven’t mastered yet.
when you have a group of poets you are comfortable with, organise poetry readings at local clubs or drinking places. university campuses and leisure centres are also useful. reading aloud to an unsympathetic audience is the best training you can get. doing your own bookings, accounts, and publicity will also teach you more about poetry than you realise.
if you can get involved with any local arts festivals - either performing or administering - this is also first class experience.
submit your poetry to poetry websites (ones where the poems get discusses:- yahoo! is no good for this) and try to get published in local magazines (and then national ones when you have enough reputation).
it takes a long time to make a name for yourself, but it can be done.