World Class Poetry Blog

Should Poets Self-Publish?
27 October 2007, the poet @ 11:16 pm

Being a professional blogger, I understand how easy it is to log onto your own self-publishing platform and putting your heart, your soul, your words before the whole world. It’s certainly easier than it was 20 years ago when poets had to seek the services of a printer or print on their laptops and printers at home. That was the old-style self-publishing and it cost money, at least a little dime here and there.

Usually, a poet could make up some of his costs by selling chapbooks and making a buck or two on them. But with the new self-publishing model, making a buck isn’t so easy. Online, there are poets putting their words up left and right. All it takes is a free blog host account and in five minutes you can have your first poem published - no hassle, no fuss. It’s that easy. But should you do it?

I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from getting published. But self publishing can have a way of keeping you locked out of being selected for publication elsewhere. Traditional publishers have a tendency to frown on self-publishing and the newfangled way of self-publishing is so close to vanity publishing that many old-style publishers won’t take it seriously. Even if they do, any poem you self-publish on your blog or website, or even in a digital chapbook with limited publication, will probably never be picked up anywhere else. It is for this reason that I say poets should self-publish with caution. It isn’t because you shouldn’t be published; it’s because if you do publish yourself then no one else may even consider it.

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