How to Get Happily Published, by Judith Appelbaum (5th ed., HarperCollins, 1998), lives up to its name. It was invaluable to me in getting my first book published, and should be just as useful to anyone else with a novel or nonfiction book. It discusses how to find a publisher or an agent, how to submit your manuscript, what to expect in a book contract, how the publishing process works, publicity, and much more. There's also a section on self-publishing, and a list of resources for more information on specific topics.
The executive-summary How To of publishing poems: Decide which magazines you'd like to submit poems to. Type or computer-print 3 to 5 poems, no fancy fonts, one to a page, with your name and address on each one. Send them with a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage to the magazine. Wait 4 months. Receive rejection slip in mail (well, not always). Repeat process with another magazine.
But how to decide where to send the poems? Your best bet may be magazines that you enjoy reading and that publish poems not too dissimilar to yours -- that is, don't send your avant garde experimental concrete poetry to The Formalist or a heartwarming ditty about a cute puppy to a magazine entitled something like Putrid Gutter Angst.
You may, though, want to look beyond the magazines available in your local library or newsstand. Two annual directories, Poet's Market from Writer's Digest, and the International Directory of Little Magazines and Small Presses from Dustbooks, list hundreds of magazines and online e-zines, with mailing addresses, editors' names, and details about what kind of poetry they're looking for, what times of the year you can submit work to them, how long it usually takes them to reply, etc. Poet's Market also contains articles detailing the mechanics of how to submit poems, and interviews with several poets each year.
The magazines indexed by the Index of American Periodical Verse are among those with the best reputations -- and the best chance of being subscribed to by libraries across the U.S.
There are many legitimate poetry contests, sponsored by
respected publishers or universities, judged by famous poets,
requiring only nominal entry fees, paying significant prize
money to the winners, and offering publication in a good magazine
to runners-up.
Some legitimate contests are listed every two months
in
Poets & Writers magazine's "Deadlines" and "Classified"
sections. (Unfortunately the online version of the "Deadlines"
contains much less information that it used to -- you have to
buy the print edition to get the details of these -- but the
"Classified Ads" are still online in their entirety.)
Poet's Market lists a number of contests, and magazines
often publicize their own contests in the magazines themselves.
On the other hand, there are outfits like the self-anointed
"National Library of Poetry" that aggressively solicit entries
in "contests" where everyone is a "winner" -- and where everyone
is then urged to buy expensive anthologies (full of very bad
poetry), certificates, and other merchandise. They're not illegal,
but they're not real poetry contests. See
Wind
Magazine's scam-warning page for more information.
As a general rule, I'd recommend avoiding any "contests" that
Bruce Tindall Poetry Contests: Avoiding the Scams
bruce.tindall@gmail.com
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