pi & anne

Hi. You can download the whole blog post as pdf, if you like to. 🙂

Part 1: Should I self-publish… or not?

If poems could actually express their needs … that would be great, wouldn’t it? Since they don’t have the ability to do so, we as poets have to give voice to our own dreams, ideas and fears about what to do with what we’ve written. So. Imagine you either have a fantastic idea on a subject you have some great insight or experience to share about, and you know you’ve already written many poems to go with it. Or you’ve recently had a look through your old notebooks and files and realised that there’s a kind of common thread running through many of your poems. And you think… Oh wow. I should get these poems into people’s hands, in a collection. They work particularly well together, and while the individual poems certainly have their place, they are even more effective in a cumulative reading. 

Publish it as a (chap)book. Just so you know the difference: I researched online and a chapbook can be anywhere from 15 to 30 pages long, some say you can fit two poems on a page, but most recommend only one poem per page. Ultimately, it’s your choice (if you self-publish) or a requirement you have to meet if a publisher publishes it. So that leaves you with about 15-30 poems. Some make mini books that are less than 15 pages/poems. More than 40 pages? Then you can already call it a book.

The next question arises (apart from the rigorous process of collecting, editing and determining a specific order in which the poems should appear): Should you self-publish or not? How should you decide? What is best for you? (This is the moment when it would be good to know the needs of your poems… .)

The decision depends on various, often very subjective influences. To make it a little easier, I have put together some aspects in the form of questions that will hopefully help you to get your decision-making process going.

Get to know your preferences.

1. What is your initial aim with publishing?

Possible goals: To see your best poems in print. To leave a legacy. To make a dent in the literary world. Impress other poets, your significant other, Auntie Dorie. To become famous. Maybe that’s just the next step. To challenge yourself. To tell your story (and you know it’s a good one). To pass the time. It’s just something you’ve dreamed about your whole life. To be done with it.

Whatever your personal goal is, it’s good and it’s good to know. It could influence the way you decide to go about it. Burn for it. You will need that energy.

2. Do you want to get your book into as many hands as possible? Do you want to sell internationally?

Then you need an ISBN and online bookstores to sell your book. This is possible with a larger publisher, some small publishers AND self-publishing. And you need a good reach and good marketing and, alas, good poems, a catchy title AND A GOOD COVER.

3. Do you want a bigger marge?

Then self-publishing could be an option. Pay attention to what the different publishers are willing to set up for you and how much it will cost. I think most self-publishing platforms work as a print-on-demand service. This means that when you order a book, it will be printed, but it may take a little longer for the buyer to get it delivered. This ensures that you don’t have to invest a lot of money. You basically only pay once for setting up your book project and the ISBN (this can be different for different platforms), and later a percentage of the set book price automatically goes to the publishing platform for printing and editing. You get a special author price when you order your own book, which is very handy if you want to sell your book yourself on certain occasions (this can vary depending on the platform)!

4. Do you feel okay with pitching your work and letting editors have a say in how it will be arranged, changed, what will be taken in and what thrown out?

Know that good editors will help you polish your book, and that they have experience and insight into what might work and what might not. Also, listen to your gut instinct. How much outside influence can you take? Are you able to pull back if necessary? A contract is a serious matter, just like your creative idea and your happiness. And another thing: sometimes editors may not understand you (and you may not understand them), it’s a matter of trust. Trust has to be earned. Take the time to get to know potential publishers, previous books they’ve published, seek feedback from their authors. Just. Take. Your. Time.

For the writer that needs a better overview and facts for their decision:

Overall: Create a small table in which you note down the most important aspects and differences between the publishers of your choice and various self-publishing providers. Don’t forget to include lines for “Gut feeling”, “Print and paper quality”, “Additional services (free)”, “Paid services”, “Typesetting support”, “Customer recommendations”. Add anything that upsets or worries you. I know that seems like a lot, AND I can tell you that it was pretty easy for me to decide to self-publish. I wanted

• full control, even over the design of the cover
• no pressure
• no compromises
• perfection (I’m a perfectionist, and I don’t always trust others to honour my ideas)
• my own mistakes at the same time (better than having to accept others’, after all, they’re my own, haha)
• the end result to be a book I am proud of (the number of sales was not the first priority)
• to prove to myself that I can do it
• a type and amount of marketing that I feel comfortable with

You’ve come to a conclusion, yay!  And let’s assume (for the sake of this blog) that it’s self-publishing. Now let’s move on to what you can expect. 

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Self-publishing Part 2: The 101

You have opted for self-publishing. You may even have already decided which platform you want to use. You don’t have anyone to tell you what to include and what not to include. (Wait, that might actually be a problem!).

I’m now going to take you step by step through the things you need to think about. I may have forgotten some, so feel free to ask me about them in the comments. 

1. Research.

If you’re still looking for the red thread in your project, a good title or how it should look on the page, and you feel like you’re stumbling around in the steppe and getting lost: one option is to turn to your personal network. Fellow poets. Friends. Your significant other. Tell them about your project, your idea. As you talk about it, you may notice that they ask you questions and you answer them. Any time you feel powerful and bubbly about it, that’s good! Make notes about what made you happy when you answered the question. If you feel unsure and can’t think of an answer easily, that’s good too! But maybe it doesn’t feel that way. It’s telling you that you either need to take more time to figure it out, or that it’s something that shouldn’t be included in your book.

If you feel like you need more facts to make your decisions: Go to your favourite bookshop or library and browse the poetry section. Ask yourself: Which covers make you pause? Which titles attract you, which are more neutral, which seem boring to you? Finally, when you take a book off the shelf and look inside, do you like the layout on the page and does it intrigue you to turn the page? Which fonts work for you and which don’t? (By the way, there are apps that allow you to recognise the name of the font from a photo. I’m not going to advertise specific apps, but I think you should be aware of this). Pay attention to how thick these books are, how many poems are included, and how much they cost.

2. It is good to become best friends with your red thread.

What is your message? After everything you have already collected, narrow it down to one sentence. THIS IS IMPORTANT. You may already have an idea (as I mentioned in the previous part), but you need to write it down or have a clear picture of it, as precisely as possible. Every time you change something, this will be the signpost on your journey. Make sure you are happy with it. It’s your baby.

Also. If you realise later that the red thread changes somehow, that’s fine too. It just means you need to make sure the poems and the red thread still belong together. Things happen. Things change. Paths are usually not completely linear. 

3. Polish and arrange your poetry in order to finalise your manuscript content.

Put your poems into an order. I usually compile everything in one text document (the choice is yours). Use a larger font size, leave a few blank lines in between. When I’m quite sure I want these poems, I print them out, cut the paper into strips, spread them out on a large table or on the floor and start organising them into groups and within groups into some kind of order. Be it in the form of sequences, or not. You can skip this, do it digitally, work with a mind map, whatever feels good to you.

It’s important that you pay attention to what happens when you move from one poem to the next. Compare this to your red thread (B). See if chapters emerge naturally if you want them to (especially if you have more than 40 poems). The more poems you have, the more time you will need. Don’t rush it. It’s (almost) as important as each individual poem.

4. Settle for a title.

Maybe you have already found a title… That is fine, too. Now is the time though to double-check if it is a good one, and if your poems can live under that roof. Take your research into account. It is absolutely okay to pull a phrase from one of your poems as the title. It should resonate with you. Go back and ask your personal network when you are still unsure.

5. Follow the specifications and requirements of your publishing platform.

Look at how your publishing platform works. Usually they will give you specifications about how the manuscript has to look like. 

• Overall size, page orientation, margins.
• What will count as the first page
• Where the page numbers on the pages should start.
• What must be included on the first pages.
• The number of pages you need.

Sometimes they offer empty .docx files which are already set up with the right basic requirements. Or in other formats. You will need to be able to work with Word or a similar text document software, know about the difference of page breaks and section breaks, how to set up page numbers in the footer, work with paragraph styles, how to insert pictures and place them on a page. 

If you feel comfortable working with professional layout and design software (which is most often quite expensive and used for setting up professional magazines, art books, photography books, or similar), do it. You have much more options, because you can design each page differently, and if this is how your dream comes true, do it. Still it is a lot of work and quite complicated for a beginner. (I chose to use Affinity Publisher just for the cover for “something with feathers”, and did the rest in Pages on my MacBook.)

6. Fonts and font size. 

Once you have decided on all of this, you need to think about the font size and typeface. If you decide on just one poem per page and it’s a very short poem, it’s best to try out different fonts with one line of one of your poems online. There are many fonts that you can simply use without fear of a copyright issue, there are some that you can use for private purposes but are not allowed to sell, and there are some that you simply must buy no matter what. Check every font you use. Here are some sites you’ll find if you search the internet for “sites to buy fonts”: Google Fonts, Font Squirrel, Future Fonts, DaFont, Fontspace, MyFonts, and many more. Important aspects to consider:

• Readability (size and design)
• How does the font look on the page?
• Do you need boldface, italics or similar?
• Which font suits the purpose and overall idea of the book?

Once you have found some favourites, print them out if possible. There can be a big difference between seeing a font on the screen and seeing it printed out. Do not use a font with very fine lines, it may not print well. The font of the title on the cover and also the names of the chapters do not necessarily have to match the font of the poems. The perfect font for poems may look terrible in very large letters on the cover or in bold. It usually doesn’t look professional to use one font for everything. You can also research on the internet to see which font combinations work well together.

The font type and size can affect the page count of your book if you include prose sections (e.g. haibun). Finalise your manuscript before moving on to the next step.

7. Binding, paper?

So, depending on the number of pages you come up with, there are some more things to consider: if you include images, you might want to make sure that they cannot be seen through the page, you might need a special paper. I am no expert in this, but your publishing platform will have a list of which kinds of paper they offer for which purpose. In case you are not sure, don’t hesitate to call them and ask, with the specifics of your project. Some publishing platforms offer to print a test copy (you might pay for this additionally), which you can alter if necessary before the book will be officially published. 

Important: The thickness of your paper will determine the thickness of the book spine which you will need to set up the book cover!

Also… will it be a paperback, a hardcover, a booklet? Do you need a book jacket? A good self-publishing platform will offer some ideas and advice about that, too.

8. Price

When you want to sell a book, you need to consider a few aspects: how much content is included, how thick is it, how much is a reader willing to pay for it, and how much do you want to earn per copy? 

It’s helpful to know what other poetry books that are roughly in the same size range and category cost. Also: a good self-publishing platform will give you some suggestions for a reasonable price range. 

9. Cover

Design your cover, or find someone to do it for you, or buy a pre-made cover. If you design your own cover, you will need the exact dimensions and position of the spine so that you can ensure that all text is well placed. Also take into account that the book will be printed and a small portion will be cut off at the edges to ensure that all pages are smooth and fit perfectly on top of each other. You may need to design your cover to include this margin. If you have a pattern or image that you want to extend to the edge, you will need to make sure that it also covers the trim edge. 

On the back of your book, you need to include your ISBN (and price), write a blurb or quote from the book, ask someone else to read the book in advance and write a short review. You can also include your CV there with a picture of you, or somewhere on the first or last pages of your book. The choice is yours. 

I could go on at length about what makes a good cover and what not, including title placement and other things, yet I have to add here again: I am no expert in this field. I just have a sense of what works and what doesn’t (for me). I would suggest that you take inspiration from other book covers. I wouldn’t underestimate the power and influence of a well-made cover. It can exude professionalism, but also the opposite. 

Phew. That has been a lot, right? I can just repeat myself… Take your time. You do not have to rush anything.

So you’ve finalised everything, uploaded the files and your book is on its way to being available on the self-publishing platform and in online bookshops. This will take a while. Don’t ask me about that one big online seller and how long it took for the book to be available in Canada… . Incredibly long. Anyway, now is a good time to customise your website or set up a landing page for your book, make some social media announcements, plan how you’re going to celebrate the book launch, and do everything you can and want to do to get potential readers to buy the book. 

(I hate this part. I’m so bad at marketing. I prefer to just be myself. Don’t ask me for really detailed advice on marketing, haha.)

Remember that once your book is published, you’re not done yet. Remind people about your book. Send it to journals to get it reviewed. Interact with people who comment. Create a newsletter that readers can sign up for. Offer your readers additional treats, such as signed copies, a reading, a party or something similar. This is also a way to get creative beyond writing poetry. Do what feels good for you and stay yourself. People are more sensitive than we assume, and they will recognise if it comes from the heart or if it’s just an act.

Maybe this is the right way to end this. Always be yourself, please, and do the same with your book and the way you present it to your readers.

Be proud of what you’ve accomplished, that’s a big deal. You rock.

Contact:

piandannes.wordpress.com

@pi.and.anne (Instagram)

kati.mohr@web.de