Get yourself Published

Natalie Houston, a graduate Victorian studies student who happened to put an essay up in AccessMyLibrary (for those of you who don 't know about this site...it's awesome, tons of articles and essays from students all over the world) raised an interesting point about the publication of poetry. In Victorian times, more people than ever were able to read or have access to literature, through newspapers and pamphlets. Poetry, because of it's ability to mock public officials, it's familiar and relatable themes, like love or family, and it's brevity (usually anyway) made for great content and boosted the newspapers readership. The public took this form to heart and today it is still the genre, in my opinion, that most people are willing to attempt. Very few people sit down to write a novel or their memoirs, but jotting down a quick poem for a friend on a birthday card, or writing out how you feel about someone you love for Valentine's Day, are pretty common occurances.

Now, all that being said....where has the poetry gone? Like the spooky serial stories by Henry James that used to appear weekly in newspapers, it has virtually disappeared from print. Head into any Barnes and Noble or Borders bookstore, the poetry section is laughably small. In fact, many of the best modern poets don't even have their work appear in print, unless someone prints it off the internet.

Yes, the internet, that's where the poetry has gone. Google pops up with millions of results for poetry because instead of finding a way to justify spending thousands of dollars to a print publisher, most poets can find a place to publish them online and actually get a larger fan base going than any print medium could offer them.

And the options! Good grief there is a place online for any kind of poetry you can imagine, some of which we have tracked on this blog. Also, by publishing online with other people working with similar themes or forms, you can collectively achieve noteriety while individually you may not have been able to.

Despite all the ups of not publishing in print, I do wish that newspapers and poets could work out a collaboration again. Poetry in newspapers (that aren't literary magazines) has a long and fruitful history that should be embraced instead of ignored. There are some instances of this being successful still today, usually when a newspaper runs some work by a local student or holds a contest and publishes the winning pieces. However, these smal isolated instances aren't enough to get the ball rolling again.

Until the day when we poets can show up on your doorstep again (or rather, in your email...) There are tons of poetry contests and resources that practically beg people to publish in them and it's never to early to start. You could even get your own blog going! (there are tons of those out there)

Keep visiting this blog if you are interested in trying a little poetry online because coming soon will be the Grab-bag, a place on my blog to write you own poetry based around lines from commericals...who knows, you might get hooked and start publishing all over the place!

Below are some links I have used successfully in the past to publish my own work and gather a few dedicated readers:

www.CreateSpace.com

www.poetry.com/ - these guys can be annoying, they send a LOT of emails out, but they have great contests with big prozes too

www.writersrelief.com/publishing-poems-online.htm - this is a how to guide that I find useful when trying to get my stuff online