Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Traditional publishing houses
• Method 2 of 3: Publish yourself
• Method 3 of 3: Publish online
• Tips
• Warnings

You have poured your heart and soul into your poetry and think you have created something you want to share with the world, but you are not sure how to go about it. Who publish poetry and how can you bring your poems to the attention of publishers? We will give you a number of tips about this in this article.

To step

Method 1 of 3: Traditional publishing houses

1. Send your work to literary magazines. By writing to magazines and literary magazines, you come into contact with editors, agents and other poets. You may be rejected at first - you'll soon get used to that in a creative profession - but if you keep submitting good poems, people will get to know your work and you may also get published soon.
   • By sending your work to the right people, you increase your chance of publication. Most editors see dozens of poems every day, but choosing a magazine that is right for your writing style will give you an edge over other poets.
   • In the source list below you will find a link to Rutgers University and a list of English-language journals in which poetry is published. Dutch examples of poetry magazines are Awater, the Poetry newspaper and Het Liegend Konijn.
2. Collect your poems. As you send your work to magazines, build up a manuscript. Once you have submitted a large number of poems and have been published in various magazines, you can approach publishers with this manuscript.
3. Join the Turing Poetry Competition. Here, good poets have an annual chance of winning € 10,000 and publication in an anthology of Uitgeverij van Gennep.
   • Keep an eye on newspapers, magazines and websites of literary societies. Here you will find regular announcements of poetry competitions with which you can win all kinds of prizes.
   • By spreading your work across the poetry world, people will get to know your work and your work may also be recognized.

Method 2 of 3: Publish yourself

1. Find a way to self-publish your poems. One way to get around the many rejections and fuss is to publish your own poetry collection. This can be done, for example, by having your own booklets printed by, for example, Lulu or Blurb, but also by working together with Brave New Books, with which you can design your own book and then sell it on Bol.com.

Method 3 of 3: Publish online

1. Go to Google. Type in "Publish Poems" and press Enter. You will now see millions of results! Some websites specialize in publishing poetry, while others also post prose. To avoid problems, make sure you get to know a website or company well before submitting material.
   • Google bases search results on the country in which you live. As a resident of the Netherlands you will therefore find Dutch websites, unless of course you are looking for publication options in English.
2. Visit reliable websites. On sites like Schrijvenonline.org you will find many tips for publishing poetry and you can ask questions on a forum.

Tips

• Keep an Excel file to get a good overview of all publication options.
• Write down what you spend on printing and shipping costs. When you get published and start making money with your poems, you can deduct these kinds of costs from the tax.
• If you want, you can also start a poetry blog. Blogs give you the freedom to post whatever you want and get direct feedback from readers. In addition, your work can also be found by search engines.

Warnings

• Some publishers will provide constructive feedback on your work, even if they don't want to buy or publish your poems. Take this feedback seriously and possibly write a thank you note to the editor who provided it for you.
• Consider whether you want to pay a so-called "reading fee" to publishers who want to publish your work or not. These types of services are often a scam.
• Beware of websites that look good, but in the meantime run off with your work to make money yourself. An example of such a website is Poetry.com.
• Do not submit work that you have already published (online) yourself. If they are interested in your poetry, many publishers want the right to publish your work for the first time. If a poem has already been published somewhere, it will probably not be included in a collection by a publisher.