poetry books

by Melissa Ward
18th June 2014

hello everyone i am currently at university studying fine art but what i really want to do is be a poet and write my own poetry books. if anyone has any good advice that would help me i would be very thankful, such as how to get it published and how to publish e-books etc.

many thanks, Melissa

Replies

Thanks for the advice Alice, i have already been entering my poems in any poetry competition i can find. But i have not heard of Templar poetry so i will definitely check it out.

also, about magazines or competitions the university i am at is art based, so there is none i'm afraid for me but thanks again for your help it was really helpful! :)

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Melissa
Ward
270 points
Developing your craft
Melissa Ward
18/06/2014

Hi Melissa,

Somebody else on this site recently asked a similar question, but due to the fact that you're clearly a bit older than they are, as you're a university student, the answer will differ slightly!

My first suggestion would be entering competitions - these can be great both in terms of boosting your confidence and 'getting your name out there'. If you have a large archive, you could probably submit a few poems to magazines too (there are heaps of online ones you could research).

I would advise competitions for individual poems as the place to start, but if you've already assembled a potential collection and don't want to isolate its components, there are competitions for poetry pamphlets too. Off the top of my head, I think that there's one run by 'Templar Poetry', but I don't know enough detail to be of much help there. They'll have a website, so maybe check that out?

Finally, does your university have any competitions or magazines you could submit to? That might be a good idea, as breaking into the university writing scene would stand you in good stead for breaking into the national (or global!) one. And if there aren't, which would surprise me greatly, perhaps you could start your own? Or even a poetry club!

I'm afraid I really can't help when it comes to e-books - my technical and media knowledge is zero! Hope I've been of some help, regardless - and best of luck! :-)

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Alice
Cattley
330 points
Starting out
Poetry
Short stories
Fiction
Alice Cattley
18/06/2014