"Poet's Market"

Original title: "Poets and Poetry Outlets Burgeon"

Copyright © 2005, 2006 by Jim Mahood. All rights reserved.

Many poets throughout the United States—and the world for that matter—are closeted, working alone in “splendid isolation.” And many of them may not be familiar with technological advances that have made small print runs more affordable for publishers, thus paving the passage of poets to print.

Poet’s Market, edited by Nancy Breen and Erika Kruse, collects, organizes, and categorizes what is now a multitude of possible markets. If you’ve ever dreamed of publishing your poems, thumb through the 2005 edition of this resource from Writer’s Digest Books. You can obtain the book directly from Writer’s Digest, or through Amazon.com and other organizations. Earlier editions are not so helpful because individual publications pass in to and out of existence so quickly.

Although it's easier to get poems published than ever before, it's still a challenge best met by studying the advice given in Poet’s Market. For instance, unless you’re already a famous poet, it’s unlikely you’ll make the pages of a famous magazine until you’ve been published many times elsewhere in more obscure publications. So begin at the beginning and forget renowned journals until later.

If you take the advice given in Poet’s Market, you stand a good chance of eventually realizing your dreams somewhere. PM gives you the names and addresses of publishers willing--free of charge--to publish previously unpublished poets. The book describes each such market and tells you what types of poems each wants now. The book also lists and describes publishers more suited to experienced, established, or previously published poets. Finding the “correct” market for your poem makes a good beginning, then study current and back issues until you know your target as well as the cover of your dictionary.

Next is presentation, finding the most effective way to present your work, and to whom. PM explains the mechanics step by step. Please don’t think this isn’t vitally necessary. Most editors are picky, and the longer they’ve been editing, the pickier they get. I know because I’ve been one. No coffee-stained envelopes, please. No perfumed, colored, or odd-sized paper. Use common sense. Type your work on unlined 8.5- by 11-inch white bond, vertical orientation. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling all should be correct for the poem’s and the publication’s purposes.

If departures from traditional conventions are made, editors and other readers should be able to see they were consciously made for good reasons and within the context of the poet’s full knowledge of the “rules.” Ignorance of customary practice are as obvious to editors as traffic lights flashing red. Busy editors look for reasons to reject submissions; don’t help them.

Some publishers accept e-mail submissions. Follow each publisher’s directions exactly. And mail your work to the particular individual, if any, named by PM; this makes an actual human being responsible for your work.

Be prepared to mail your poem(s) out many times and to endure many rejection slips, some perhaps humiliating, before it’s finally accepted. But which is worse: waiting awhile or never trying?

What should you do if your family and friends have never heard of the obscure, crudely printed journal that finally accepts your baby? Dismiss it. When a publisher writes to say he or she wants to publish your poem, your day is made. Once your work is published and for the rest of your life, you’ll be able to say you’re a published poet. Through the wonders of technology, your achievement will be available for anyone in the world to read, perhaps for as long as human eyes exist to read it. The pain of writing, editing, preparation, and rejection will be replaced by the euphoria of hard-won success.