Thursday, April 5, 2012

Poetry and Agents and Collections

It's tough for authors out there. We have to do more promoting (and other activities) with a lesser advance. We must find where our book belongs on the shelves before an editor will even look into if it's worthy to GET to the shelves.
But, for everything fiction and nonfiction novelists go through, it isn't as bad as what poets must.

If you are not vying for a position as a professor, entering a prestigious contest, or self-publishing, it is very difficult to get noticed as a poet. Yes, there are ways around it but still.

There are many agents who won't even touch poetry to represent it. It doesn't sell well, editors are really picky about publishing it (if they do at all), university presses pick up small runs of poetry so it's covered, etc. If you are a poet and want to publish in magazines there are hundreds but, if you want to publish a collection without the backing of a contest or your own money... yeah.

I know most people think poetry is not mainstream but the industry does absolutely nothing to change it. With the magazines available to publish poetry in, it is not just some dead thing. Yet, there is no real representation.

I don't mean to sound bitter about it, just stating a fact. Are editors and agents too afraid to touch poetry because it doesn't make very much money or is it because other projects are more exciting? I understand publishing is a business but it somehow feels hollow to receive that as an answer...

6 comments:

  1. I think they're too afraid of it because our country has gotten away from poetry, and agents and publishers just don't know what's good and what isn't. That's why I favor self-publishing. You get to publish your novels and your poetry.

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    1. True, self-publishing does enable you to get your work out to the masses and bypass all the other crud.

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  2. It's because there is no money in it. But I love poetry. It is in danger of becoming a lost art form. I try and support poets whenever I see them by buying their books. I recently did so with a Melissa Menatti and her poetry is so lovely. But yeah...it's an underappreciated art that capitalism will never see value in.

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    1. I fear money is the whole answer to this, Michael. It is good to know there are still people out there that love poetry.

      I wonder: How many people love poetry without writing it?

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    2. Such a great yet sad post, Jennifer. We need to push for poetry to stay out there. I'm grateful for those who continue to write it and put it in the public's eye. I wish school systems focused on it more as well. Your poems are wonderful and I'm sure a lot of people could relate to them.

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    3. Thank you, Saumya!

      I wish you were around the blogging world more often. I miss your posts when you're "doctor stuff".

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