anecdotes anyone?

[emchy]

a few question for all you gorgeous poets/writers/freelancers etc. out there

where do you go to find places to submit your work?

how do you choose which places are worth the reading fee?

(and for you published folks) how did you come into contact with/choose your publisher?

now of course I know the poets market and various poet mags - I am looking more for personal process, if you're wiling to share
I am trying to get a grip on sending work out
and though I have read the entire - cover to cover - poets market, I am floundering

Comments

[postmaudlin.livejournal.com]

my best advice on finding places to publish: look for poets just a little bit ahead of where you are, where you want to go, who have similar target demographics (i used to use justin chin a lot, for example. this is where the stalking comes in: use the internet -- find out who has been publishing them and submit there. find out where these places link to, if they're internet. read them. if you like them, submit. go to city lights and look at journals. ditto. etc.

as far as how i found/chose my publisher, it's really two different stories (well, three). the first time around, i gave a reviewer from the BAR a copy of my limited-edition artist-edition (handbound, fur on the spine, only 50 copies) book. i didn't know at the time she was editing for Odd Girls Press, and she suggested i send one to the publisher, Margaret Gillon. I did, and Margaret made an offer on the book. Second time around, I made a list of the top 5 presses I most wanted to be published by that were reasonable bets (performance po publishers who published first-time authors). I went and researched these five a little more, wrote query letters and sent samples according to their guidelines. Of the 5, two wanted to see the complete manuscript. I had to withdraw my ms from one of the two, because Soft Skull wanted to make an offer. So they did. This time around, my agent has sent the partial ms to publishers. We'll see what happens...

Hope this helps.

xoxo

[postmaudlin.livejournal.com]

One more thing -- I still use the spy technique on other writers when I want to send out work! And, the great thing about getting stuff in somewhere is that other people who are sometimes editors of another thingamabob will send you a request for work. I tend not to send submissions out so much right now because recently, I got a lot of requests for work, which makes me really happy. It's a lot easier.

[cindymonkey.livejournal.com]

it does help - a lot in fact - a picture of how and where to go

I have a hard time in seeing an accurate picture of my own work
i mean figuring out who my own personal justin chin might be

i know authors i like of course
and authors who influence me

but i feel like i either like work that doesn't resemble mine much - or I am zero to sixty
example: my current aspirations lead me to hayden carruth
however a. i am certainly not there yet by a long stretch and b. it doesn't cover the range of my voice or the voice i am developing

i need to read read more i think to find these models

(by the way - total offtopic side note - ever thought about Mae West?)

[postmaudlin.livejournal.com]

i'm guessing you mean for the book -- YES, i have -- the problem is in keeping her discrete from monroe!

[cindymonkey.livejournal.com]

true - but mae was so much more the badass bawdy one
i am so curious to see how that turns out if you try it
i have been renting mae west movies lately yum

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

No place is ever worth the reading fee. Ever, ever, ever. Seriously, The $ is going in the *wrong* direction.

[postmaudlin.livejournal.com]

I second that. I stopped paying entry fees for contests, too.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Here's more:

I scan the acknowledgements page in the front of books of poets I admire. I ask where my friends are being published. I check out local publications and browse the litmag stand at my local bookstore.

I try not to send to somewhere that I don't know at least a little about.

no entrance

[nerak-g.livejournal.com]

fees! someone told me this once & since i'm pretty poor, i adhere to it. thanks for asking this question because i think i'm in similar space right now, fumbling.i didn't even think about it until people here and there started asking questions like "so, when are you going to publish?" two friends have even donated a computer and printer to the cause, so i guess i'd better get serious! the how has always been the sticking point, because i'm the type who doesn't even find the good deals at the thrift store.
i'm in the process of articulating it-collecting answers, talking up other poets, and just beginning to send things out.i have to be better about killing the procrastinator in myself.
thank you, daphne, for your advice!