Haiyaz. So, I'm a poet and have written a lot of poetry (about 35+), I want to publish but I also have many concerns. I'm worried that because I am young and only have a little over 40 poems, that nobody will accept or take my poetry seriously. I do write often, and my poetry is very deep and emotional, but I'm still afraid nobody would take it seriously. I've looked at publishing stuff, but I honestly don't know what to do, where to start, or where to go from here. Please help.
You'll need to start small. Books of poetry are usually published by known poets who have had their work published in other venues. The most common venues are literary magazines. There's a lot of lit mags that accept poetry in addition to poetry-specific magazines.
If you don't want to go the traditional route, you can self-publish your own book of poetry through a company like LuLu.
Why do you want to publish a book of poetry? Depending on your answer, the best route for you to go with will change.
You are right, some publishing companies don't take you seriously because of your age, which is a shame because they should really inspect the quality of your poems.
I agree with Kyll, if you start small, then you can take small steps toward getting an ebook published. As long as you stick with persistence, you can do it if you believe in your abilities.
First things are first, try to publish it at the green room on our website, YWS. All you need it points, and you might just be surprised how much useful feedback and review you will get. YWS is always a good starting point.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads only lives once ~George R. Martin Life isn't about finding yourself; it's about recreating yourself. ~George B. Shaw
The thing about publication is it's not about the number of poems you've written, but about the number of publishing credits you have. And by publishing credits I mean actual magazines or anthologies that accept your work.
You have to keep in mind publication is, as a whole, a rejection game. You submit your work to a bunch of places and people read it, dislike it, and often don't even get back to you. This isn't a case that they're not taking you seriously— they just don't have room for your work in that particular place. You can get personalized rejections, as well, which is actually a good sign. It means they nearly considered you.
If you're hesitating to publish because you're worried about rejection— understand that is very much the norm in publishing. You will not get anywhere in the publishing field if you can't swallow your pride and withstand the fact you will get turned down. Quite frequently. While, yes, this often does have something to do with the quality of your work— we all improve over time— it sometimes doesn't. Googling "famous authors rejected" gets you hundreds of lists that display very famous works that were rejected and really got published by luck.
Because that's the thing with publishing. It's part luck, part quality work, and buckets of blood, sweat, and tears.
Just start submitting but keep improving. You'll get there one day.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo
Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
Publishing books of poetry is particularly tricky because poetry books by a single poet don't sell as well as poetry anthologies (which are collections of poems by multiple poets) UNLESS the poet is well-known or otherwise acclaimed. If you want to publish a book of poetry via traditional means, you need to establish yourself as a poet of note by having your poems published in various venues. Unfortunately, YWS doesn't count as actual publication as submissions do not go through an editorial selection process.
Age has nothing to do with the publishing process, and believing that it does or trying to force it into the process is a great way to cripple your publishing opportunities. You should not be mentioning your age in a query as it tells editors nothing about the work you are submitting. Previous publishing credentials on the other hand show editors that your writing is good enough that others have paid you for it, and that is something worth noting.
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