{"id":970,"date":"2018-02-21T12:53:10","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T12:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonelkon.com\/?p=970"},"modified":"2018-02-21T12:53:10","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T12:53:10","slug":"a-dilemma-self-publish-the-poems-or-chase-a-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/a-dilemma-self-publish-the-poems-or-chase-a-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dilemma: self-publish the poems? Or chase a deal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Help!<\/strong><\/p>\n

A strange thing is happening.<\/p>\n

Poetry is being published again! Some publishers have discovered that there is a real market for poetry. Recently my AD (Adopted Daughter) completed her first book of poetry and decided (with my encouragement) to self-publish. So she put a cover together, signed up with\u00a0https:\/\/www.createspace.com<\/a><\/p>\n

and created her first Slim Volume. The poems are very evocative – she has a fine crisp feeling for words and emotions and her unique story gives her licence, even at her young age (she is 20), to a great deal more wisdom than many older people. You can judge for yourself \u00a0at\u00a0https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Estranged-birth-collection-Zara-Sen\/dp\/1548661430\/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519215598&sr=1-2&keywords=zara+sen<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s the thing: encouraged by the success of Rupi Kaur’s collection Milk and Honey, who self-published hers and was so successful, a traditional American Publisher gave her a deal, Zara submitted her work to them – and we’ll see what happens.<\/p>\n

At this point I had just finished collecting and collating all my poems, going back hundreds of years (I am immortal) (according to some people who should know better) and forward into post-apocalypse (I am after all adrift in space and time according to some people who know better) and was about to self-publish.<\/p>\n

It’s a bit like throwing a stone into eternity. It tumbles on down, tumbles and tumbles, and disappears.<\/p>\n

I have no idea whether my poetry is any good. I have the feeling that a few of the pieces – especially the title poem – echo long in the mind. Others are mere doggerel, often comic. It’s a concatenation of trash and treasure. I have submitted some of the poems to various collections, mostly Forward Press. They published everything I submitted but to be frank, some of the stuff they publish is just embarrassing. Seriously, people who rhyme moon and June. People I would edge away from on the tube. (Mutual, I’m sure.) Dear Forward Press even gave me some prizes in their competitions. This is no proof the poems are any good.<\/p>\n

So I really don’t know what to do. I would appreciate advice! Preferably email, or post below. The illustration is an idea I have for a cover – any good?<\/p>\n

GOOD ADVICE = FREE COPY OF THE COLLECTION!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are a few poems to give you an idea. If you look under Poetry on this blog, some contemporary stuff. Some older stuff can be seen here:\u00a0http:\/\/jonelkon.com\/poetry-inundation-trash-and-treasure\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking forward to hearing from you….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Help! A strange thing is happening. Poetry is being published again! Some publishers have discovered that there is a real market for poetry. Recently my AD (Adopted Daughter) completed her first book of poetry and decided (with my encouragement) to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","category-thoughts","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=970"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":976,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions\/976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonelkon.com\/jnlk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}