Answers to some commonly asked questions,
aka “what does X mean?” and “why do I have to Y?”
Q – What’s the difference between a chapbook, a collection and an anthology?
A – A chapbook is a small book, usually stapled, and usually under 30 pages. A collection is a full-length book of poems, usually by a single author. An anthology is a book made up of poems from lots of different authors, often on a single theme or topic.
Q – What’s a simultaneous submission?
A – A manuscript (or poem) submitted to more than one place at the same time. Most publishers don’t like this, as it’s a pain in the backside to put the time in to reading a manuscript and arguing to a board that this is one you should publish, only to turn around and be told sorry, someone else has it now..
Q – What’s the difference between solicited and unsolicited submissions?
A – Unsolicited submissions are open to anyone, or anyone within a given set of conditions (women only, under/over a certain age, writers with a X background, etc). Solicited submissions are where the publisher approaches people directly and asks them to submit a manuscript.
Q – What do you have to do to get solicited to submit?
A – Read your work where people who publish go to listen to poetry. Win prizes. Publish poems in literary journals. Do writing courses. Network. Generally be visible, and demonstrate that there is a market for your work.
And cross your fingers.
Q – What’s self publishing?
A – An honourable tradition, especially where poetry is concerned. The book is created and selected by the writer themselves, although the printing is usually done commercially. There is a long tradition of writers publishing themselves. The downside is that you don’t have the quality control of having an editor (unless you hire one – a very good idea!) and the imprimatur of someone else being willing to put their reputation behind your work. Many journals won’t review self-published books, and shops may be less willing to stock them. Harder to do well, but can still result in a very good book, if you put the work in.
Q – What’s a small press?
A – A small-scale publisher of other people’s work. The independent guys. They can be every bit as professional as the full commercial publishers, but are often run by a handful of people, and with very small profit margins. Because of this the writer may be required to underwrite some of the costs of production, or there may be a profit-sharing model in place rather than standard royalties. Compound Press, Dead Bird, Seraph, and Sudden Valley Press are some New Zealand small presses with good poets on their lists.
What’s Vanity Publishing?
A – Printing masquerading as reputable publishing. For a fee, they will publish your book. Regardless of how bad it is. The fees are usually quite high, and they make no effort to edit the book, or promote or distribute it afterwards. While a commercial publisher’s intended market is the general public, a vanity publisher’s intended market is the author. Avoid them.
Q – How do I pick a publisher?
A – Check who publishes the poets you enjoy reading. If they have lots of poets you enjoy, there’s a good chance you’ll fit their ethos (although ideally you’ll be like, but also a bit different.) Then check their website to see if they are open for submissions. If they are, check their submission guidelines, and dive in.
Q – Why do I have to submit my manuscript as hardcopy?
A – Because the editors prefer to read manuscripts on paper, and shouldn’t have to pay to print them all out.
alternatively (depending on the publisher) …
Q – Why do I have to submit it as a pdf?
A – Because the editors prefer to read manuscripts on computer, and pdf maintains the formatting of your work better than MSWord files. It also makes it less likely that you’re inadvertently sending a virus.
Q – Why do I have to use double spaces?
A – Because it’s easier to read and make notes on, and gives the editors a sense of how your manuscript will shape up as a book. (Manuscripts are usually A4, but books tend to be A5). Some publishers prefer 1.5 spacing. Check the requirements, and follow them.
Q – Why is there a minimum page count?
A – Because it gets very hard to get a readable spine below a certain number of pages, and the less readable the spine is, the less likely it is to catch the eye of someone in a bookshop.
Q – Why a page count, not a word count?
A – Because poems are written in lines, and there are a fixed number of lines per page. And the number of pages determines the length of the book, which in turn has a big impact on how expensive it is to print, and how readable the spine will be. A word count would make a nonsensical distinction between poems written in short couplets versus single-stanza long-lined pieces.
Q – When you say it has to be at least 60 pages long …
A – Yep, but this does include title pages, notes, acknowledgements, contents etc.
Look, I’ll let you in on a little tip. Blank pages count – if you have your book divided up into multiple sections, add a blank page to make each section start on an odd numbered page, then have a blank page on the reverse of that, and put the first poem of each section on the next odd numbered page. Extra pages! Just don’t go overboard. And just between the two of us, there is another way of legitimately increasing the page count. When we put the book into A5, the width of the usual page is halved. So if you bring the left and right margins in to 54 mm, that will leave you with the approximate size of the ‘container’ we will be using for each page of the final book. There are good reasons for doing this, especially if you have poems with long lines – it gives you control over where lines will be broken or wrapped around, and also will almost certainly generate some additional pages. But don’t tell anyone I told you this, ok?
Q – I have long lined poems. Can’t you just make the pages wider?
A – Yes, and if the majority of poems in a book require a wider page, you may well go to that. The A5 default is just a default, not a law. But … moving to a less standard size will cost more to print. It has to be worth it.
Q – Why can’t I use fancy fonts?
A – Because fancy fonts are very tiring to read, and the editors are going to be reading a lot of manuscripts. A fancy font for titles and covers and so on in the final book is a different matter, but at the submissions stage, stick to clean, clear, and readable.
Can I include drawings/photographs/illustrations?
A – Generally better not to, unless absolutely essential. Images are much harder to incorporate into a layout, and add significantly to the printing costs.
Q – Can I include song lyrics?
A – Short answer: no. Longer answer: oh hell no, unless you have very deep pockets. Song lyrics are notoriously expensive to license, and record companies are extremely litigious. Best to avoid, unless you have a personal connection to whoever owns the rights.
Q – Can I set things up the way I want them to look?
A – Yes, and no. You should definitely set your manuscript out in the way you would like it to appear, in terms of the order of the poems, italics, spacing on the page, that sort of thing. But publishers have their own house styles, so it is inevitable that there will be some things that will need to change. Unless you are very familiar with book design, anything you do beyond the basics to style the book will likely cause the layout person extra work. Plus there will be changes made as part of the editing process, so keeping things simple and clear is always the best bet.
Q – Why does it need to be edited again, after you’ve accepted it?
A – Because it is incredibly unlikely that you have absolutely everything perfect. And because publishers have their own styles for things like commas versus semi-colons or dashes, use of sentence case versus title case, levels of formality etc. But most of all, because there will be errors and things that can be made better that didn’t get in the way of the editors saying yes, but which will haunt us all like the smell of long dead fish if they appear in a published book with our names on the cover.
Q – How long does it take to get a book published?
A – It depends on the publisher, the market, the genre, the author, the funding … A good rule of thumb is 12 months from yes to press. Most publishers will have a number of books in various stages of the process, so it will be a case of where you can slot in to their production queue.
Q – What happens after your book gets accepted?
A – It varies a little, but roughly:
- editing for content (polishing, tightening);
- copy/line editing (making sure tenses are correct, grammar, punctuation, etc);
- layout and design (text and cover);
- proof reading;
- gathering endorsements (blurbs);
- printing;
- launch;
- reviews /no reviews;
- fame and fortune / obscurity and destitution
Some of these things will overlap, and the order will vary a bit depending on the publisher.
Q – What can an author do to make the process go faster?
A – Answer emails from your publisher promptly. Seriously, communication delays are one of the things that make the process drag on. If you get on to things straight away, it will make your publisher’s life much easier, and can allow you to slip ahead a couple of places in the production queue. Editing and proof-reading, particularly, can be time sinks if you don’t keep on top of things.
Q – Are poetry publishers saintly beings whose names should be recited in awe by all future generations, or just insane?
A – Yes
Still got questions? Use the contact form to ask them.
Sudden Valley Press 