Know Before Publishing The Book
Surpassing traditional publishing, where a writer undertakes a contract with a publisher to print, publish and sell their books against royalties from the sale proceeds, the new era poets and writers have taken to self-publishing their work at a much quicker and smoother pace.
Many Instagram poets have successfully managed to self-publish and self-market their exquisite collection of poetry, garnering millions of followers who are already well-versed with the visual form of their creation on various social media platforms.
Hybrid publishing is a publishing model that combines elements of traditional and self-publishing.
This has enabled them to access and cater to an audience who are still dedicated to buying and having a print copy of their favorite poet/writer’s creations.
Are you a dedicated poet, you must already be aware of the steps to write a book and have a whole collection of your precious compilation ready to be published.
If you know how to use the book writing app and have already jotted down your work safely and securely on your digital gadget, here is what you need to know and do before moving ahead to printing and publishing your creation and giving a definite look and feel to them.
Table of Contents
Steps For Self-Publishing Your Book of Poetry
Cultivate your collection of poetry
An average unified poetry collection book consists of anything from 30 to 100 poems. Hence, to get an unimpeachably strong compilation, you need to write attractive and meaningful poems. Constant writing exercises can help you evolve as a renowned poet.
Posting small pieces of your work can get you a huge fan-following on social media platforms. Also, getting reviews from your readers would work as an add-on for your print copy. So start focussing on creating your collection of poems and compiling them into one single file/book.
Choose your poems wisely
Just having a strong collection of poems is not enough. Knowing how to organize them well is an equally important aspect of publishing your poetry book. Your poems should create a conversation and relation amongst each other and should work together and sync with each other.
They should not look like a sandwich of poems juxtaposed under one book cover. They should be unified by a common theme, style, and choice of poetic form. All these should then be placed in a meticulous and deliberate order after making sure they are free of typo errors and sloppy mistakes.
Decide on your book format
Whether you want your poetry book to be strictly in black and white text or with visuals containing sketches, paintings, and pictures, you would have to choose the correct format that works best with it.
In the former case, all you would need is a Trade Book of the smallest size, while for the latter, you would have to explore Photo Books to choose the size that would complement your work the best.
Organize your poems
Your creation of poems should unfold as a conversation for the readers. Hence it is highly essential to organize and put your poems in a systematic order.
Edit your collection
Poetry demands minimal words to express the deepest thoughts and feelings. Hence, you should be able to edit and cut down your collection to your work’s essential pieces by editing and removing any poem that does not connect to your theme.
You can save these for your next collection or compilation.
Design your page layouts
Unlike normal text, poetry requires a lot of room for the readers to breathe, think, and evaluate on their own. Hence, it is extremely important to leave enough white space around your published texts when designing a book for poems.
Ideally, you should not put more than one poem on a single page unless there happens to be a link between two poems.
Create your poetry book
What’s best about self-publishing your poetry collection into a print form is that all creative decisions are taken solely by you, right from the type of paper to be used, the cover, layout, and even size of the book.
However, what needs to be kept in mind here is not to spend too much on the creative bit. This will curtail your book’s price so that it is easily affordable and buyable for the masses.
Upload your book and order a proof
There are always inconsistencies, loopholes, and gaps irrespective of proof-reading your book on the screen several times. Unless you print a copy and proof-read it, there can never be 100% correctness to it. Hence, it is advisable to order a single print copy and check every page of it, forward and backward, and even margins.
Request a friend or a professional to proof-read it for you before you finally give it for bulk printing. Remember, once the copies are printed and distributed, you would not be able to make any amendments.
Hence, it is important to catch all the mistakes upfront before floating it into the market.
Final revision and proof-reading your book
Once you have done the edits to the first copy, ask for a repeat print with your changes. Proof-read and check for yourself whether all the amendments have been correctly incorporated or not.
Take note of every grammatical error, page margin, layout, etc., so that when your book finally goes for distribution, it is completely error-free.
Set your book up for sale
Online marketing of books can be done through various social media sites. Registering with Amazon and other e-commerce sites can also prove highly beneficial in marketing and selling your book without spending much on its advertisement and distribution.
Again, how you set your sale processes would entirely depend on the audience you are catering to and the profit goals you are looking at and expecting.
Conclusion
The pen is mightier than the sword, and every writer contributes drastically in illuminating the minds of their readers towards new channels of self-enlightenment. Hence, a writer’s contribution, poetic or prose, to society by large is far-reaching and beyond expression.
Self-publishing your poetry book not just gives the writer complete control over their creativity and financial autonomy. It also lets them highlight their thoughts and ideas to the world through their powerful words of expression.
