5 ways to gain publishing experience as a new poet
As artists, we all know when you decide to put your work out there, it can be a daunting experience. Your poetry is how you see the world and express yourself, but how can you get your work out there and connect with people? Rupi Kaur is what we mostly set our sites on, and even she was writing for years before she self-published her book and started posting online.
We hope to post our poetry online and, hopefully, it will get a ton of views and go viral and soon have thousands of people liking & commenting on our poetry. Unfortunately, times have changed, and so has social media. Posting doesn’t mean you’ll get likes and views, especially when Instagram & Tiktok have made video the most preferred type of content to be consumed, so for camera-shy artists, it can be hard to create content.
So what can we do to get published and move our careers forward as artists? How can you get started with publishing? How much will it cost? How do you know which publications aren’t a scam?
I have compiled a list for you! These are the five ways that I, as a poet, have been published and how you can as well!
Self-Publishing
Yes, you can self-publish! This can be as easy as posting on Instagram or publishing your own poetry collection/book.
When it comes to self-publishing there are many ways you can go about doing so and here are some of the ways I have self-published poems:
Posting On Social media eg Instagram
Posting on a Website
Spoken Word Video
Book (Soon to come)
My Instagram Page @alot.of.poetry where I publish a lot of “ Micro Poetry ”
First Note: when self-publishing , make sure to keep a list of your poems that are considered to be published. Here’s why: Some submissions are based on “Unpublished work” meaning, they can’t be published anywhere else in any form.
I would say try to curate your social media in a way that you are not posting the pieces you are thinking of submitting or performing that way you can make sure that you are not breaking any rules or contracts.
Second Note: Make your poems easy to read! With attention spans decreasing, capture your audience with your feed, and make them want to click on the poem and read it! Curate your feed as you would your book, add visuals and use consistent (readable) text.
If you are not a graphic designer but you still want that professional aesthetic look, I highly suggest using Canva and Unsplash. Unsplash is a database of royalty-free (which means you don’t need a license to use them) images, for anyone to use. Both are free to use, make sure your text is clear and your graphics are high quality. You don’t have to tag the photographers of the images you use on Unsplash but I like to do so, to promote their work and also grow my artist community!
I use Canva to keep track of the poems and Unsplash for graphics I have posted, both are free accounts.
2. Magazines/ Zines/ Journals
SUBMIT. SUBMIT. SUBMIT.
One of my favourite (albeit the most time consuming) is submitting my poetry to various publications.
My Poem “ Free Me” was published in the 9th Issue of F-Word Magazine
Cover Art by Alixe Ménard
The reason why it can be so time-consuming is that you need to create a system to keep track of your submissions as well as each submission's rules and agreements.
As stated under publishing, some publications will want sole rights to your work to be only published under their publication.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
This means you cannot submit the same poem to multiple publications unless you properly read over their rules or else you may end up with a conflict if the same poem gets published twice - oops.
Finding publications to submit your work can be tedious but in case you wanted to get started I have put together a list of publications here for you to check out!
3. Anthologies
An anthology is a collection of literary works compiled by a curator written by different authors/writers. Anthologies can be anything from short stories, to music and more.
I wanted to put this separately from magazines and journals because of the nature of anthologies. When you are published in an anthology, you are considered to be a published poet but not necessarily a published author ( because you did not write the book) if you were to publish a collection of your work in a book then “author” would be the correct term.
My poem “Tempermental Calgary” was published in YYC POP: Portraits of People by Sheri D Wilson, the 4th Poet Laureate of Calgary as part of her legacy project.
The best part about anthologies is that you submit work and it usually gets published in a hard copy vs a soft copy and it’s amazing to have that book in your hands! Anthologies can also be sold in bookstores and they are usually paid opportunities vs when you’re published in a magazine or journal. So Being published in an anthology can be a potential source of passive income depending on the terms of the creators of the anthology.
You can also self-publish an anthology! You can gather some artists that you know or seek them out online and put together an anthology that has a message or theme around it!
4. ComissionS
“Commissions” is the word you would most likely hear and associate with the word “ Freelance”. While commissions are more of a transitionary form of making art, this is in fact- a form of publishing. Think: “ Cute illustrations on cards at the store”
As a poet you can write poetry for products: cards, apparel, mugs, you name it!
Here are some photos I did in collaboration with a Calgary plant propagation business called YYC Plants for the People. The owner, Tiffany Tse, commissioned poems from me for a Mother’s Day special on plants, cards, and candles from Wickware Candle Co another local Calgary company that hand pours soy wax candles. So cute!
So now, not only are my poems published as Mother’s Days cards, I can add “ product creation” to my portfolio and broaden my range when it comes to the kinds of collaborations I can do!
5. Galleries
This last way of publishing was one that I didn’t know existed or, I didn’t know that it was an option for poets. You could have your poetry displayed in an art gallery! This route of publishing came to by chance due to something I had participated in before. The curator of Gallery@501 saw my work online and loved it! So much that she wanted to put it in the gallery she was working at alongside Temi Phillips and Nisha Patel, the Poet Laureate of Edmonton at the time.
Here are some key things to note about this opportunity that came my way:
If I had not been submitting to projects, she would not have found my work.
If I had not posted on Instagram, she would not have been captured by my feed and felt that the visuals would be perfect in the gallery.
So here is what I know about getting your work into a gallery:
Some galleries do not work by submission, in this case, the curator would be the one searching or coming across art they feel will fit into the theme/message of the installation.
You can submit your work to Galleries, however, this becomes more of a pitch rather than: “ Hey, read my poetry and put it in your gallery.” You would have to provide context, background, and a vision for the collection of poems you are submitting.
In the end your publishing starts with you and your goals for yourself as an artist, however, the main thing you can do to get started is to put your art out there first and the rest will follow!
