One of the best workshops at the conference was the first book workshop where Nickole from Sarabande went through exactly what their editors look for in a first book manuscript…that my friend was worth the price of admission.
*put your strongest poems first, by the third poem they know which pile it goes in.
* build your readership, they look for writers who have a strong following
*worry less about the flow and more about the strength in the first half
*a top heavy book can be fixed before it goes to print
*develop an email list of ppl who would buy your book
* and if you have a friend who has published a book that did well have him/or her show your manuscript to their publisher/editor and get it out of the contest circle.
Okay that last one was given to me when we were at the bar so I don’t know if that was more personal advice. I use to be believed to be a successful poet I had to win some big title. I don’t think that anymore. I have more possibilities for my book than before. Did I mention it was a great conference?
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8 comments:
When I submitted my chapbook to Wick--yeah, imagine that...I actually submitted something--I was advised by my prof to begin with my three strongest poems, put my next 3 strongest as the last poems, then tuck 3 more that I felt were really strong (I know...9 strong poems? He must've been dreaming) dead center in the chapbook. Of course, I got a big fat rejection letter. Still, he said you want to start strong, end strong, and for the reader who might open the book and begin in the middle, you wanna hit them with strong poems too. (meanwhile, would it be completely impossible to have a chapbook full of strong poems?)
I'd ask you to email me but clearly, that ain't gonna happen. I'll drop you a line and try to guilt you into it.
Glad to hear you had a good time at the conference. Goes without saying that I wish I'd been good enough to be there with you and Jenni.
I just wrote to you. Bella is ill and it has been a crazy re-entry.
"I use to be believed to be a successful poet I had to win some big title. I don’t think that anymore"
Why don't you think that anymore?
I wish we could have coffee Suzanne because some of these things are hard to explain on line. I see contests more of cattle herding now and not that I am going to stop entering. I just think there are other ways to do it. One is sending directly to a publisher and another is developing your own connections in the writing community. But it still comes down to the work in the end. It doesn’t matter who reads it if the book does not hold its own. Anyway, I wish we could talk more about this, my view of what kind of writer I want to be has changed in the last few days. I think all these things are elements for me to grow as a poet and a human.
Thanks for posting these notes, I forgot to get them from you while I was there! Congrats on your reading too! I think with your personality and social skills, you'll have no problem making the right connections and networking. Email me your phone number. I'd like to call you sometime.
luv,
jenni
I wish we could have cofee too, but there's no way in hell I'm going to Minnosota. *lol* This conference transformed you--that's very cool. Of course, coffee is *always* on here at my house. :-)
What you were told is absolutely correct. I didn't go the contest route. And believe it or not, it wasn't long ago that the only contest to enter was the Yale Younger Poets contest! But to approach a publisher, you need an acknowledgments page, and you need good poems. Contests can be good, but even winning one doesn't guarantee anything for the future. The best advice? Write good poems. Get them published in magazines. This expands your audience.
Your post ended up prompting one of my own. I ended up rambling on for probably too long, but it might be of interest.
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