My New Poetry Book - Self Publishing - CreateSpace

For a while now I have had a poetry manuscript ready to be published. As always I went to Shadow Poetry first as I had with my two previous chapbooks only to find that I could not afford their prices and decided to wait until I had enough money saved to publish my third poetry book. As you know I won a contest with The Publishing Maven a couple of months ago and Christy sent me her book The Step-By-Step Guide to Self Publishing for Profit. I read the entire book, cover to cover and was simply blown away by her book. It is the most comprehensive, concise and detailed guide to self publishing that I have ever read.

She describes in detail how to use createspace which is a division of Amazon.com and is a FREE, yes I said FREE, self publishing venue for anyone who is looking to publish a book. Upon finishing her book I immediately went to createspace to check out the site and found exactly how easy it was to create my book by just uploading my files and making a few decisions as to the cover of which they provide templates, title, etc... By using Christy's book as a guide, I was able to go through the entire process of creating my own poetry book within a few hours. And, did I say it was FREE? There are different options available, however, the free option is what I chose which also includes your book listed on Amazon.com and a free e-store. The only thing I had to pay for was a proof copy of which will be arriving in the mail shortly and costs less than what lunch at McDonald's would cost me, if I ate there :) How do I know my book will be professional looking? Because Christy's book was also published at createspace and it is one of the best books I've seen and read on the subject.

So, my new book will be available very soon and when it is, I will be spamming all of you :) If any of you are thinking of publishing your work, createspace is a fantastic option. Why pay hundreds of dollars to have your book published when it is completely FREE at createspace. They are a print on demand venue and therefore they can afford to offer their services for free.

I urge you all to not only check them out but to check out Christy's book by clicking on the Amazon.com widget below and seriously think about getting her book. It's a must for any writer wanting to self publish.

The Poetry Chapbook

The chapbook was created around the nineteenth century. It was named after writers who would peddle their writing collections on the street. Writers would simply print and write their poetry, ballads and stories on paper, fold the paper in half and sometimes design a sheet of paper with hand drawings and use that as a cover for their book and sell them.

Nowadays, it’s much more advanced. Chapbooks are anywhere from 16 to 40 pages long. Anything over 40 pages is considered a full length book. There is software you can purchase for desktop publishing which allows you to make the chapbook yourself. However this can be very time consuming and if you are not computer savvy, like me, it can be a daunting task.

There are chapbook publishers who can either offer you publishing alone or offer contests which require an entry fee but if you win the contest they will publish your chapbook. I personally am wary of these contests. First, because you need to send a reading fee which is usually pretty steep ranging from $20 on up and if you do not win, you’ve just thrown away the fee you’ve paid. I would say do some research online and find chapbook publishers. There are many out there so see what they have to offer. The one most important factor for me when I was researching publishers for my chapbooks was the control issue. I wanted as much control over the entire process that I could possibly have. I wanted to use my own artwork for the cover, I wanted to choose my own font and style and basically wanted to have a choice for the entire book. In the end I went with Shadow Poetry and there are many others as well. You can also go with Lulu.com who also offers publishing and prints the books as they are needed.

Now publishing a chapbook is not something you should even be thinking about until you have some publication credits under your belt. Of course if you have written some poetry and don’t intend to have anything published but rather a nice little book with your words which you can give as gifts to family and friends, then by all means check out publishing your own chapbook.

If you’re a poet who has some publishing credits to your name such as being published in 10 to 20 different publications then you may want to think about publishing a chapbook of your best work. Chapbooks are great for poetry readings and using to establish yourself within the poetry world. However most bookstores unless they are independently owned do not carry chapbooks. What you can do though is contact your local small bookshop and offer to do a signing of your book in their store and sometimes they will allow that because it creates a buzz for their store. You can also check out local cafes and see if you could host a poetry reading. The bottom line is chapbooks are a good first step in getting your name and work out to the public.

Check out my chapbooks here. Enjoy!