Putting together a poetry collection, general discussion

I'm glad someone has asked this question, and that the someone is a poet of repute. I've had these questions too, but felt like I should already know.

When I even think of putting together a collection, I gather up my poems, read them, and decide that maybe three of them merit printing as is. I think this is why I don't write much anymore: what I've done needs so much work, but really, I should just leave them behind and work harder on the next ones.

Bottom line: I'd think that whatever survives your utmost critical eye can go in; if you have doubts, either revise them or leave them out. Make that collection the best you can, regardless of size.

I realise I haven't answered your question directly, but that's the answer I have.

And put me down for a copy, boyo.

Skelly,

I realize that I'm going to make you and probably everyone else angry at this, but I do not consider POD, Self Publishing or Vanity Publication of any kind to be valid "Publication" at all. None of the above will be accepted by Libraries or Brick and Mortar Bookstores, nor will they be reviewed or taken seriously by critics or prize committees.

They are, in fact, nothing but an EMPTY and EXPENSIVE gesture.

"True" Publication is achieved only through "Traditional" Publishing Houses, and their interest MUST be based on Publication Credits in Magazines/ Journals, (35 to 50 in Major Publications like The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine and The Atlantic Monthly and over 100 for lesser markets).

As for the size of any Book, the first will probably be determined by the number of Publication Credits one has and whatever the Publishing House wants, whereas subsequent publications, (assuming the first was successful) will be determined by the nature of the Poems available.

I currently have over 200 Poems 55 song lyrics and 200-250 Haiku/Senryu that I consider Publishable and have them broken down into 5 Volumes of over 50 pages each and 3 Chapbooks of 20 - 40 pages which will be my target after that first Publication.

If I NEVER achieve enough Publication credits to attract a Publishing House, I will consider ONE "Collected Works" POD Volume with copies sent to any library or Institution or relative that will accept it simply so I have a permanent record somewhere, but I highly expect that if I reach that point, I'll have to concede that ALL my works will be lost or forgotten.

I know this sounds like a bleak scenario, but that is the nature of the game, and a fact of life that any prospective Poet is going to have to accept.

Think About it.

Jim Hoye, (JRH)

Well I'm not a poet of repute and much doubt I'll ever be. I use "Flipalbum" software for my poems and pictures and send them to friend and family.

You do have to deal in this way with two different mediums if pictures are included, but you can just make color backgrounds with some add-ons as well. Lots of fun but hard work. You can add music also. The resulting book opens with a click from page to page.

You can make hundreds of copies for family and friends.

Check out Flipalbums.com. You can get a pro version that alows
for bookmarks , password protection, album encryption and copyrighting information. No I don't work for them. Just been a user for years.

skelly said:

Honestly, some of these poems are ones that I have been tinkering with for two decades, and I feel like it is time to put them in some sort of collection and shut the door on them. Move on into some new poetic realm.

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Forgive me for being bold, but why won't you take some of those poems and send them out to speculative poetry magazines, where some of them will find good homes? I understand humility very well, but honestly, you should try publishing at least some of those because they are damn good.
No advice on POD, etc.

Hmm, I piddled around with the idea of creating ebooks for a while. Software costs about a bill and a half, but the ebooks can be sold on any website for whatever the poet (or Group of Poets) decides to charge. Just gotta have somebody trustworthy doling out everybody's share.

KTC said:

I have an e-chapbook too. Published by Artella and available of their site. It was part of my prize packet when I won poetic idol. They did a great job with it...included artwork with a lot of the poems. It's a PDF and it sold lots of copies.

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Yeah, thanks for that and relegating me to fifth place, lol.

Yeah, that poem about a damned city haunts me...it haunts me I tell ya...

It's been so long, but I seem to remember some poem about observing a city from above...meh, I've read so many...and, yes, Rodin's Rebuke was the fifth place poem to yours in that Artella contest...doh! (of course, yours was better)

Kevin, yours was "The Wild White". Interestingly, I also got an honorable mention a few months later with "November". Perpetually a runner up, nothing ever changes for me, lol.

"Reprisals"?

If you're making your own chapbooks, next time you are near a crafts store, take a look at the scrapbooking / cardmakin section. They tend to have lots of stuff that could pretty it up at little cost or effort: cover stock in a rainbow of colors, rubber stamps, punches that create a complicated shape you could glue on or punch the same shape out of your paper, cutters that make fancy corners. I wouldn't do a lot of that for chapbooks I meant to sell comercially - too much time for the money - but just one quick thing like architecturally-shaped corners might be worth it.