Things I learned when my debut collection was published – A THREAD! (PART 1):

Now I’m going to feel like a big head when I say this, but I can’t talk about approaching a publisher with my first manuscript, as I was approached by Chris from Salt to submit my manuscript for Death Magazine.

What I *can* talk about is the “journey” (yuck) from the point of getting the offer to publication and beyond. So, let’s start…

The first point to make is I did not have an editor, as such. I think this can work for and against you. Being your own editor means you’re on hyper-alert to every little detail, but it also means you’re lacking a sounding board.

I’m not really a fan of workshops as I like a certain rawness to poems, I think they can lose their mystery when over-worked. But what I will say is that you should have someone you trust to give feedback – just to read the manuscript and give you honest responses.

Ultimately the person you have to please is yourself. If the book goes out and you’re not happy or worse ashamed of some of the poems, it’s going to haunt you.

I’m fortunate in that I discussed every step of Death Magazine with my closest friend, Alex, who I know well enough to have him tell me when something is shit and it won’t end our friendship. That kind of relationship is invaluable in life.

If I think what surprised me, the immediate thing that comes to mind is the book blurb. You know the spiel on the back of the book that talks about how this poet is at the height of their powers and this book is the best thing to come along in years? You write that yourself.

This can be difficult to adjust to because, honestly, you CANNOT be modest. This is a paragraph or two designed to sell your book, to make it stand out.

You can’t downplay your work. I wrote several versions of the blurb for Death Magazine, and it took a while for the voice in my head telling me I was being pompous to disappear.

Ultimately, I focused on the points about the book I thought were my genuine strengths and tried to wrap all that up in some memorable, imagistic language. So yes – you write your own blurb in the 3rd person, and modesty is not allowed.

What about blurbs from other poets? Well, you have to source those yourself. I found the best way to do this is to contact some poets whose work you really love, and in the first instance just politely ask if they have the time / inclination to read your manuscript.

Some people said no when I asked due to time / other commitments, which is absolutely understandable – and I was thrilled to bits by some of the poets who said yes.

You can probably design your own cover. Obviously, this depends entirely on your publisher, but if you have a specific idea or are a visual artist as well as a poet, don’t be afraid to ask if you can have a hand in the cover design.

I was fortunate enough to be given free reign with Death Magazine and I’m so happy with the cover art that Alex came up with.

No matter how many times you read over your manuscript, an error will probably slip through somewhere. I probably read over my manuscript hundreds of times, checking every full stop and comma, and there’s still a typo in the final book. Oh well!

The next thing I had no idea about prior to publication was how reviews work. Salt sent review copies out to a multitude of places, but I found that you need to be pushy when it comes to others reviewing your work.

A few places reviewed my work unprompted, but I also contacted a lot of places and specifically made my case for them to review my work. I also sent copies to several journals and bloggers having put out a call on Twitter.

It seems pushy, yes, but I think if you go about things in a civil way, and are not rude to people, it’s perfectly fine and actually necessary.

Be warned though – reviews take quite a long time. It was more than a year between my book being published and reviews appearing in Poetry London and Poetry Wales, for example.

In terms of publicity, it’s hit and miss between people inviting you to festivals and the like and doing the legwork yourself. Mostly you need to contact people and straight up ask to be involved in readings.

I haven’t mastered this myself to be honest – I forever seem to be missing the deadlines for festivals.

Also, when it comes to prizes you may need to be on the case and make sure your publisher enters your book for those prizes.

I made sure to do this with the Polari Prize and it paid off pretty well, so it’s definitely worth doing – don’t assume you won’t get anywhere! Salt entered my book for the Forwards without prompting, and work from it was highly commended (another incredible surprise).

To be continued...