Cover Letter For Manuscript Submission

How to Get Your Poetry Published

HOW TO GET YOUR POETRY PUBLISHED

I would have to say that the best place to start looking in order to get your poetry published is a book called “The Poet’s Market”.  It includes detailed info on more than 2000 poetry publishers (including all types of mediums) with all their contact info, what type of poems they look for, as well as a list of their rules regarding deadlines and submissions.

This book is beyond genius!  It divides publishers into categories according to the difficulty of getting published, as well as the type of poetry that they publish.  It takes all the guess work out of finding a publisher who might be interested in your work.

Even experienced poets use this book as a resource and by people in the know it is often referred to as the “Bible” for publishing poets.  “Poet’s Market” is a must have for anyone considering publishing their work.  It also offers a list of online places to go to in order to get your work out there for people to see, but without getting paid for it.

Make sure to apply to all local publishers.  They are normally very excited about publishing the work of a fellow local, its good business for both of you.

One thing that may help get your name out there and advance you career is publishing single poems in literary magazines and after you have gotten a few poems published, start to put together a book and then begin looking for a publisher who is interested.  Having a few articles published prior to searching for a book deal with certainly grab a publishers eye.

Don’t forget that you can always try publishing your own work.  If you do choose to publish a whole book before building your reputation as a published poet, self-publishing your own book may be your only option.

Here are some tips to help get your book published:

• Revise your poems until they are as strong as possible.  Selling to an audience is more difficult than selling to yourself.  Just be careful not to remove what it is you love about the poem.
• Keep your poems real and from the heart.
• Ask yourself; is this poem something I would want to read if I wasn’t the one who wrote it?
• Get an audience’s opinion.  Go to a poetry reading and get your butt up there.  Friends can’t be completely honest, what you need is an unbiased audience.
• Make sure to include a brief cover letter when submitting your manuscript, unless the submission guidelines say not to.  And make sure to address it directly to the poetry editor.
• And most importantly, don’t forget to thank the editor for their time.

If you liked the content of this article please check out my website at www.thestartingpointpodcast.com – David Grimes II, Writer

About the Author

David Grimes II is a writer and artist currently living in San Francisco California’s beautiful East Bay. He is a proud graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English, specializing in Creative Writing and Technical Writing. David has written for print publications in New England, written advertising copy for many Massachusetts-based businesses, written content for multiple websites, written sketches for internet-based video sketch groups, written for live sketch comedy companies, and written songs for a handful of rock bands. David also worked at UMass as the sole writer/producer of the UMass Amherst Annual Fund Newsletter.

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Publishing with Cell Press Part 1: Before Manuscript Submission