I. The book MS:
creating a coherent MS out of unmediated formless poetic protoplasm
a. sections or all-in-one
b. musical flow, considerations of variety/contrast, lengthc. thematic/context book vs. collection
d. title
e. length (and how much should you send?)
II. Sending a selection to a magazine/journal
SENDING OUT
- where to send?
- how to find appropriate places?
- rejection, the abyss of self-doubt and the always hanging another 'hopeful stocking' out method
- format of MS. etc.
- book publishers
- agents
- query letter
- magazines: online and other
- royalties, etc.
- small & micropress
- ebooks & self publishing
- readings
- community & publishing
Some resources:
Jane Friedman's excellent site.
Something about genre.
WHAT TO DO:
Some good basic advice on publishing and contests from Poets.org.
And from Neile Graham here on poetry.
The Writer's Union of Canada Guide to Getting Published.
Association of Canadian Literary Agents
Joyland Magazine's brilliant rejection guidelines:
WHERE:
A Writer's Guide to Canadian Magazines
CBC Guide to Canadian Literary Magazine accepting submissions.
Canadian Literature Centre list of Canadian Publishers
Duotrope.com is a good resource, though they require that you pay a nominal fee after a free trial period.
COVER LETTER
- if you can, find an editor's NAME to send it to (not just ‘editors’)
(how to find: website, phone, look in published book for acknowledgements, Quill & Quire)
This is particularly a good idea for sending in a book MS. - only send to one editor at the publishing house
- can include brief bio or few biographical lines
- SASE
- Queries. Sometimes editors only want to see a sample. So, send them a sample, already. Usually, in this case, they also want a summary of the whole book, a précis of some of the central concerns. Sometimes they also want a few lines explaining why your MS is appropriate for their press.
- can query simultaneous editors and/or make multiple submissions if you let the editors know in your cover letter
Here's a really excellent blogspot by Jane Friedman explaining EVERYTHING.
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SELF PUBLISHING USING COMMERICAL POD SERVICES (from a London, Ontario writer)
Some self published authors use Createspace or Lulu (see also Blurb) to upload their e-book to on-line sellers. I haven't used them but I understand from comments I've read that its quite straight forward -you just follow the step by step instructions on the sites.
I used FriesenPress for my first book -they helped with most aspects: content edit, copy edit, book cover design, ISBNs etc., but of course I had to pay for it. They arranged for the uploading of all book versions (e-Book, hard and soft covers) to online sellers and I believe they are the print on demand printer when a hard copy is ordered on line. I'd like to use them for my second book but they want $1,000 and that's too much in my opinion for the little they have to do on this book.
I'm going to use Ingram Spark - they will upload your book and paperback to all major on-line sellers as well as to 35,000 bookstores worldwide for $49.95 USD. The E-book inside pages must be in ePub format and the cover as a jpg: the paperback must be in PDF.
I had Christine at Double Q Printing - 519-852-2601 put my Word ms into her book program (I think its called InDesign) to format it because it has 38 photos and then then convert it into a PDF.
I have downloaded Adobe to my computer and this will allow me to save an ms as a PDF. This should work for Ingram Spark. To convert your Word doc to an e-pub file you can do it online for free at www.2epub.com
EBOOKS (from Arthur Slade)
YA Author writes about his eBook explorations. And some strategies here. But, then again, he's an award-winning established and popular writer (his Dust is one of my favourite YA novels). But then again, he's also a smart and canny marketer with much to teach about that skill in addition to writing well.
USEFUL ARTICLE ABOUT SELF PUBLISHING THOUGH MAINLY ABOUT NONFICTION
http://growthlab.com/how-to-self-publish-a-book-and-double-revenue/
Contest? http://www.aspiringpoetscontest.org/How-To-Enter.html
