Welcome to the first post in my series on self-publishing a poetry book. I wanted to share how I went about publishing my book as a way to demystify the process for anyone else interested in putting out a book of their own work. I went completely DIY and paid no money except for the cost of purchasing a hard copy for myself. I am by no means an expert, and I advise you to consult experts on any topic in this series if you would like more information, especially any legal or technical areas. I’m simply sharing my own experiences.
Of all the posts in this series, this one is the most subjective. A poetry book does not need a theme if you don’t want one. You could simply compile everything you’ve written in a given period of time or choose your favorite pieces to put together. Deciding what goes into your book will probably be the most time-consuming part of the process, especially for those who have been writing for years and are just getting around to putting a book together.
While I have been writing fiction since I was about ten, I only started writing poetry last May. I began with the idea of writing a book, so while I was participating in various prompts on Instagram, I kept a separate file on my computer for the poems I wanted to include in my book.
From day one on my poetry Instagram account, I described myself as a woodland spirit and a Gothic soul, and I had the idea to write a pair of books, one for each side of my personality. I wanted each book to have the same section themes. I love the number 12, so I decided to have 12 sections with 12 poems each. A book of 144 poems would be a decent size, since I tend to write shorter poems. In my first book, only one or two of the poems take up more than one page.
I made a list of 12 themes that would work for both books: Escape, Flames, Waking & Sleeping, This House, The Woods, Storms, Night, Time, Silence & Sound, Love, Decay, and The End of the World. Some of these are more relevant to Woodland Spirits than Gothic Souls or vice versa, but they all left enough room for interpretation and some creative freedom. (Yes, I did write a book of optimistic love poems that ends with sections titled Decay and The End of the World.)
Learn from Others
If you don’t have an idea of how you want your book to be laid out, I recommend reading as many poetry books as possible to gather ideas. (Not to copy anyone else though, of course!) I have read almost exclusively poetry books with my Kindle Unlimited subscription. Whenever I come across someone in my Instagram community with a book in Kindle Unlimited, I add it to my KU wish list. (My book is not available in KU, a decision I’ll talk about in a later post.)
You don’t need to divide your book in sections, but you might want to consider the flow from one piece to the next. I tried to start each of my sections with one of the strongest pieces in that section, and end each one with a poem that would lead nicely into the next theme. Remember that the first poem in the book will be your readers’ first impression. If they’re checking out the sample online, the first few poems will be what makes them decide if they want to buy the book or not, so choose wisely. Likewise, your final poem will be their last impression, so end on a strong note, maybe something that sums up the theme of the book (if you have one) or what you as an artist or a person are all about.
How Long Should Your Book Be?
This is your book. There is no rule about how long or short it should be. My book of 144 poems (156 if you count the haikus I wrote to introduce each section) is on the longer side, so if you don’t have nearly that many, don’t feel like you need to write a lot more to reach an arbitrary number of poems. Like with a story, a poetry book is as long as it needs to be and no longer. I’ve read a few where the poems began to repeat themselves, and I started to get bored. I will also be the first to admit that I have pieces in my book that are not as strong as others. You could have an amazing book of only forty poems, especially if you write longer or really intense pieces. Include your best work, remove any that don’t feel like they live up to the others, and you can’t go wrong. Don’t add more poems in just to have a longer book if you’re not in love with them. This is about quality over quantity.
Putting the Pieces Together
So, what do you need to put into your book? You could go as simple as putting only the poems in with nothing else, but there are a few other pages or sections you might want to include. First, don’t forget the title page! If you’re publishing a paperback version of your book, this is the page where you’ll sign the book.
Copyright Page
As far as I understand it at least in the US, your work is automatically copyrighted the moment you write it, but I like to include a simple copyright page. I often choose publication dates that have personal significance, so I like to put the publication date on the copyright page, especially since the timing of hitting the “Publish” button doesn’t always result in the date you choose being the date listed as the publication date in the online stores.
Copyright pages use different terminology depending on what country you’re in. I’m in the US, so my copyright page says:
Copyright 2021 © by Michelle Wicklow
All rights reserved.
Other countries use phrases like, “The moral right of the author is asserted.” On the copyright pages for my novels, I also include a note about characters, places, and incidents being fictional. This is also a good place to credit any editors, formatters, or designers you used. If you have an ISBN, you can include it here, but beware that e-books and paperback books require separate ISBNs, and a paperback published through KDP will require a separate ISBN from one published on Nook Press. You will have to change this for each platform you upload your files to. This is why I didn’t bother to include an ISBN.
I definitely recommend doing your own research on this topic, as I don’t know enough about it to give advice.
Dedication Page
A dedication page is another option. You can be as detailed or cryptic as you like. For example, my book is dedicated to “A.” The dedication for my next book is still in draft status, but it will be a few lines long. Have fun with this. You can search online for examples of the most outrageous book dedications. I love looking at these.
Table of Contents
A few notes about the table of contents, another optional section. If you have a lot of poems in your book, be conscious of how many pages this will take up. The sample downloads of books will often cut off after the first few pages. If I download a sample of a poetry book and all I get to read is the copyright page, dedication page, and table of contents, I’m not likely to download the book because I still have no idea what the poems are like. For my table of contents in my book, I put only the list of the 12 sections. I wouldn’t have included a table of contents at all, but I wanted to highlight the comparison between my first book and my second book, which will have the same 12 section titles.
If you want a list of your poems in the book, you could include an index at the back instead of a table of contents. Indexes are generally organized in alphabetical order, but since you have complete creative control, you can do whatever you’d like. Look through the poetry books you have at home or check out a few from the library to get a feel for how others have handled this in their books.
Introduction or Afterword
Some poetry books have introductions, written either by the author or someone familiar with the author’s work. Again, be mindful of how a lot of introductory material will affect the sample that people can download. It’s frustrating to read an introduction that makes me really interested to read the book, only to have the sample cut off before reaching any of the actual content. Some publishing platforms allow you to adjust how much of the book readers can sample, but not all of them. I find it easier to keep introductory material to a minimum.
However, I did want to include a personal note about the poems in my book, so I wrote this as an Afterword (not to be confused with “afterward”). I wrote a page about what inspired me to write the book and thanked the reader for taking the time to read my book. Like you would expect, I put this section immediately after the poems. I think it provides a bit of closure as well.
About the Author
Author bios are difficult and awkward to write for most people. They’re generally in third person, as if someone else wrote it about you. I prefer to keep my author bio short and simple. You might want to mention any other works you have available and where readers can find you online, either on social media or your website. Most e-books will allow you to include clickable links, which I’ll talk a bit more about in the Formatting an E-book post.
Illustrations or Photographs
Many poetry books have awesome illustrations or photographs in them to go along with the text. This is another consideration you might want to make, whether you’re a visual artist as well and want to include some of your own drawings and photos, hire someone to provide images, or collaborate with a friend. As I have no experience with including images in a book, I won’t be able to speak to the formatting of images for paperbacks or e-books, but I wanted to mention this in case it’s something you would be interested in researching on your own. If you do include images, it’s essential to be sure you have the rights to use them in your book.
Next
The next post in this series will cover the basics of formatting your paperback book for self-publishing. Follow my blog to be notified when I post. Later in this series of posts, I’ll also discuss how I formatted my e-books, created my cover for both paperback and e-book, and distributed my book through online self-publishing platforms.
Woodland Spirits
If you’d like to see the finished product I’m referencing in these posts, you can learn more about my debut poetry collection, Woodland Spirits, by clicking this link.
Michelle Wicklow 