What are you looking for in a poetry publisher?
- At July 12, 2013
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
- 5
I get lots of mail from poets asking about how to get a book published. But a question poets often don’t think about is, what are you looking for in a poetry publisher? I think it is something we should give more thought to before we even start sending out our books. Sandy Longhorn has a great post here about the state of poetry publishing today, and voices some of the frustration at a system that requires writers to pay for the privilege of having an editor or publisher even glance at their work. I piped up a bit because in my own career, I’ve mostly worked with small poetry publishers who either have open submissions or…wait, that’s all I’ve worked with. I like supporting small publishers, but there are pluses and minuses to every decision we make about our books. We actually have a lot more control than we think.
Putting together your first book of poetry, you’ll look at the list of first book contests, which are the most numerous and often the most prestigious, and wonder…You’ll ask….should I part with the $25 contest fee for a lottery ticket to a very expensive, very low-paying lottery? Or should I do research around my city at literary fairs or conferences, find micro-or-small publishers who might be friendly to my aesthetic? Should I wait til AWP’s bookfair and take a look some of the books on offer, find one that offers the kind of design and content I like?
But after your first book, there are fewer contest options, so you’ll have to look around at other resources, like http://www.dacushome.com/Poetry%20Book%20Publishers.htm and http://thelinebreak.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/presses-with-open-readings-for-full-length-poetry-manuscripts/#comment-1345. You’ll probably want to take a look at the books a press produces BEFORE signing up to publish with them, so you’ll want to either check them out in person (easy at AWP, harder the rest of the year unless you’ve got a terrific all-poetry bookstore like Open Books around the corner) or order a copy of one of their books online.
What are the most important things do you think for your publisher to do? Is it great distribution? Is SPD or Ingram okay, or do I want Consortium? What about a dedicated marketing department or PR service? Or is my priority that I want to work closely with a friendly editor who loves and is enthusiastic about my work? Do I want to help promote a new publisher and do extra work to get the word out about both them and my new book? Do I care about the royalty statement, prize money, or profits? Have their books won prestigious prizes? Do I even care about prestige? Can they afford to buy any ads or do any promotion? What about review copies? Do I get input on my book’s cover art? Do they have a decent web site, use social media, are their books available on Amazon, who seems to be on the way to being the monolith of book publishing? Or do I want to try to do everything myself and self-publish?
I have a friend who will remain nameless, who sent out his book manuscript, which I got a chance to read and knew was excellent, for a long time. Lots of years. It was really good and I was anxious for him to get it out into the world, so I advised him to go look for a smaller publisher, and not to concentrate just on the big poetry book contests. Still, he persevered. Then he won the Yale Younger Poet’s Prize. So ha ha, joke’s on me. Remember not to take my advice if you’re about to win the Yale Younger Poet’s Prize.
I’m thinking hard myself about these questions for manuscripts #4 and #5. Please leave your own advice, questions or thoughts in the comments! If you ask questions, I promise I’ll try to come up with an answer, but it may not be the answer. That will be up to you.
Jessie Carty
J I’m thinking about these same things right now as I feel like I’m about half way through putting together a 4th manuscript. My 1st manuscript was requested. Small press. I’m still the only full length poetry collection they’ve published. Very supportive.
My 2nd was picked up from a previous relationship with a publisher who had published one of my chapbooks. It will be out soon. I’ve had a really great experience with this small press. There has been some prestige coming their way. It has been nice to bask in that side glow 🙂
My 3rd is another small press. Very new. Time will tell how that on goes.
I could go on, but I wonder what I’m looking for for the next one. Part of me would like to win a prize even though I know it is such a crap shoot. That is mainly career oriented. So Hmmm Got me thinking again.
Sandy Longhorn
Thanks for the linkage, Jeannine. It’s turning out to be a great conversation, and wouldn’t you know I just stumbled across a small press this morning, one I’d never heard of before. Onward!
Lynn Pedersen
Thanks for this info. I’m much newer to the process than you are, Jeannine. My strategy for my first chapbook was to find a publisher who would take the work. I didn’t feel that I had much choice in the process. I can see now that there are many more options to explore. Sandy Longhorn’s post is great, too.
Monia Swaans
Thank you Jeannine. I’m working on my first poetry book and decided to self-publish. My question is where and how do I find a good editor?
Jeannine Gailey
Dear Monia, That’s a good question. If you don’t have a local writing group that you work with regularly, you can try to guild a relationship with a mentor. Sometimes that person can also help you edit. You can also hire people (the back of Poets & Writers lists a lot of editors, and I occasionally do poetry manuscript editing myself, as do a lot of my friends.) The thing you want to be clear about with your editor is exactly what kind of feedback you’re looking for – is it just copyediting, or is substantial edits where you want to know about cliches, tone, ordering the MS, etc.