How to Get Poetry Published at Poetry.com

You've been writing poetry for a while now, and you're ready to get serious. When it's time to publish a book of your own poetry, you no longer have to struggle in a garret waiting for recognition. You can go through Poetry.com to have your poetry published in a quality edition. The process is simple, and everything except the poetry itself is provided for you.

Instructions

1. Head to the Poetry.com website. Now click on the "Publishing" tab at the top of the screen. This is where the publishing process begins.

2. Make some initial choices for your book by clicking on "Step One." You'll need to specify the content you want to include (original poetry, personal photographs, any artwork, a short biography), pick a length for the book (Poetry.com offers 60-, 80-, and 100-page options) and put the contents in order. The screens will guide you through these choices.

3. Choose cover options for your poetry book by clicking on "Step Two." You can select from predesigned examples, or opt to design your own. If you want to sell your poetry book after you publish it, direct Poetry.com to generate and print an ISBN and bar code on the back cover. Then you can list your book for sale on sites like Amazon.

4. Design the way your poems will look on the page by clicking on "Step Three." You'll be offered a choice of fonts (type styles) and you can specify how the poems are aligned.

5. Add artwork, if desired, by clicking "Step Four." Again, you can choose from Poetry.com's library of art and photos, or find out how to submit your own.

6. Get information on preparing and submitting your manuscript and artwork electronically to Poetry.com by clicking on "Step Five." You'll be walked through directions for completing an order form.

7. Click on "Pricing" to learn what it will cost to publish the poetry book you've designed. You can also view and print the Book Design Order Form at this page. If you decide to go ahead, complete the form and mail it to the address on the "Pricing" page.

Tips & Warnings

• If you decide to submit original artwork or personal photographs for your poetry book, they must be "camera-ready." This means either scanned to a disk or capable of being scanned.

• You may not submit any artwork or professional photographs for publication without written permission from the artist. This includes artwork you've copied from other books.

Resources

• Publish your own book of poetry at Poetry.com.