Many people write poetry, and yet, relatively few books of poetry are published by trade publishers. Small presses pick up the slack, but there aren't enough to publish all those who wish to see their poems in print.
Some poets, though, have no desire to be published widely. They would be perfectly happy having a few copies of their work made available for family and friends.
In both above cases, the internet is the new knight in shining armor. It is now amazingly easy to have your poetry collection bound, with a not-horribly-embarrassingly-amateurish cover, and made available to the world, or, to just a few of your friends, through print on demand (POD).
One internet source (and there are many more) is Lulu.com. Lulu.com offers a whole range of services for a writer, some of which are outlined here here. Some literary organizations, and micropresses, use the services of Lulu.com, rather than engaging in the complex and time-consuming business of hiring a printer.
The reason I'm singling out Lulu.com is because I've purchased several books of poetry from their online store. The books I purchased were printed and arrived quickly. The quality of products I've received has been good.
This week, two of my poems appeared in a new anthology edited by M. Kei, Catzilla!: Tanka, Kyoka, and Gogyoka About Cats, which is published by Keibooks (a micropress) through Lulu.com. (FYI: tanka, kyoka, and gogyoka are 5-line poems.)
Of course, if you are an individual using Lulu.com to publish, the resulting work is going to be considered "self-publishing." I'm sure I don't have to tell you the stigma that is often attached to a self-published work, so do some serious thinking before committing your work to a POD publisher.
As the old computer adage goes, "garbage in, garbage out," but, if you've had your work critiqued, and/or edited by a competent editor, then perhaps this new world of online publishing is for you!
I welcome your opinions, and/or tales of your dealings with any of the online publishing services that exist. Please use the comments section below.
Head on over to the Poetry Friday Round-Up being hosted by Elaine at Wild Rose Reader.
--Diane
4 comments:
I enjoyed the preview at the link you provided, but didn't see your poem there. It looks like a lovely collection! Congratulations on being part of it. I haven't used Lulu yet but I plan to in the near future...
I'm only one of 45 contributors, so it's not surprising that my poems weren't included in the preview. Thanks for stopping by!
Loved your haikus in Tabathas comments!
Thanks Mary Lee for declaring me an early winner. You're too kind! But, I stacked the deck by also listing the additional countries mentioned in Tabatha's P.F. postings. I like a challenge!
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