Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing Poetry 

Yeah absolutely! Most people are only willing to read poets who they have enjoyed work from in the past. And in a lot of cases, they're right. There are plenty of times I've taken a chance on a poetry book only to find that either the poetry wasn't that good, or that it wasn't a style I enjoyed. It is easy to be disappointed, but at the same time, if no one is taking chances, then no one is reading us lesser known poets. I wonder if breaking poetry into genres and making that a common practice would help more? Like, people are willing to take a chance on fantasy books by an author they've never heard of if they like fantasy, but they aren't willing to take a chance on all novels in general if they've only had good experiences with one that lean toward fantasy. Maybe specifying more about the options that are out there will help people find poetry that fits them better? I'm not sure, but now I'm thinking about it pretty hard. :)

@@KayeSpivey Making poetry into genres or sub categories would definitely make a difference for me or at least better direct the consumer. It would also help state that there ARE different styles and would help tear away the generalizations people already make. Personally shopping online I don't try new poets unless I can preview their work somewhere or see a reading. At a bookstore where I can read through the pages I'd probably purchase more at a time if I was in a section of poetry that wooed me and I had a vast option of the things I liked right in front of me. As Opposed to it all being clustered as "poetry" and really have to dig or do research beforehand going in and that research will be biased to people with a presence because that's just what's going to populate in a search result further removing the consumer from those undiscovered raw hidden gems out there that aren't as well promoted.

I would think that one way around this would be publishing individual poems in magazines. That way a potential buyer can see your self- published book but also see that several or many of the poems have been accepted by real journals. [I see this is a point you make in a 9/20 video.]

Congratulations and good luck!

I'm glad it was encouraging! Don't give up! A lot of people aren't comfortable leaving reviews, but eventually some will. :)

This is very true! There's not a lot of advice and a lot of what is out there is either very outdated or costly or involves waiting for luck to strike. The advice of building up your readership by sending submissions out to literary journals is still solid, but you have to be careful because it can also be costly and ineffective. (My advice is don't send if they ask for a reading fee because you aren't going to get a return on that until you're really gaining a lot of momentum) Building up an Instagram following has worked absolute wonders for some people, but it is becoming a saturated market and still falls into the problem of people having trouble giving a new poet a chance before they've heard of them. Don't forget to tag the heck out of your work! Twitter and RU-vid are both great places for finding other poets, but also can be tricky and unresponsive when starting out promoting your own work. Still, Twitter is good for networking and advice because lots of established poets give it freely there, and RU-vid is slowly gaining more of a poetry community with more advice and tips. Spread your net wide, but keep your expenses tight. Keep researching and learning and keep improving your poetry. You'll find luck and success in strange places. I've posted a video on my advice for compiling a poetry collection, which might be useful to you as you continue your research. Good luck! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jkCQBBGhLfk.html

Definitely submit to small journals! Submit a lot! Then, once the publication has come out (be sure the rights revert back to you) you're free to also include that poem in your own collection. Just add a section mentioning previous publications. You'll find examples of that in all professionally published poetry collections. Honestly, having poems included which were previous published by literary journals adds credibility and professionalism to your collection. :) Try searching from a database like Pw.org or duotrope to find some places.

@@KayeSpivey This is great. Thank you!

Each contest is going to have different requests, so be sure to follow their instructions to the letter, but every one of them will want all the poems you want included in the order you intend for them to appear in the book. Some will only want a title beyond that, some may want a title and your name and contact info, some may want some or all of the front and/or back material too. Go by their guidelines, although I would suggest you create a table of contents, acknowledgements, about the author, as well as any dedications and keep them in a separate file just in case, since those things will wind up needed if you win :) Good luck!

@@KayeSpivey thank you so much for your advice!

No problem!

100% it does look that way. Often you see people getting published who have an in with the publisher through their schooling getting their collections published, however it isn't always the case. Plenty of people really do get found through the slush pile or do well independently and are reached out to from bigger houses, but you're right (even if you're smoking something. LOL!). There is an elitist bend toward traditional publishing and if you don't have a massive amount of luck and skill, you may have to know someone to get published. Some of the bigger presses are better than others about truly just publishing the best collections sent their way, but you do need to do some research. Just as you need to be very wary of letting small presses who may have no resources access to your work, you also need to be wary that bigger publishers may just be taking your money with no intent to publish from the slush pile at all. As far as poets without MFAs? I think you can widen your search and find more (I don't believe Danez Smith or Mary Oliver hold MFAs), but yes. Of course. A good MFA program is going to plant their student in front of a good publisher. You'd certainly hope so with how much it costs to get into one. :)

Agreed publishing self made statements are NOT poetry.

Oooh! That's a very good reason to use a pen name. Or else stylizing your name in some way to make it less common.

@@KayeSpivey My books were attributed to a Professor John Orr of Edinburgh University. He was a Sociology professor, and he died in 2010 at 95 years old.

Lol typography

Please feel free to supply captions in your native language. :)

@@KayeSpivey 😂😂