PUBLISHING YOUR POETRY - "The Crow's Pen"

I did it, and you can, too! THANK YOU, poet friends, for your continual encouragement. I published my first poetry book on Amazon: “Poetry for Our Time.” What an amazing feeling, to finally have the book in my hands. Below are some questions that I have received regarding publishing poetry:

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QUESTION: “Cronin, why did you sort your poems into these 5 chapters?” REPLY: Sorting hundreds of poems into is not an easy task, but one that does seem worthwhile. I’ve read anthologies and have been disappointed by lack of structure and framework. Consider categorizing your poems into some type of chapters. The poems in my book, “Poetry for Our Time,” were sorted into the following five categories:

1. The World Today – war, politics, religion, pop culture
2. Going Off The Grid – escaping into nature, technodespair
3. Our Families – estrangement from family, bonds with parents, siblings, and children
4. Modern Death – agnosticism versus mysticism
5. Modern Love – a poet’s bread and butter!

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QUESTION: “How much did it cost?” REPLY: I used Amazon’s self-publishing tool, called Create Space. The only fees that I paid were for shipping proofs. Writers should order proofs, which are essentially previews of your book, after each editing update. Editing takes a lot of work, so be prepared to clear your calendar and set some goals for yourself. There are margins to consider, spell-checking concerns, artwork to view, and so forth. Amazon does offer prepaid artwork and marketing services; however, I did not utilize them. I did read through their member resource blog pages. Research is vital to any writing project.

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QUESTION: “You stated that research is vital. Specifically, what steps did you take?” REPLY: After speaking with some friends, I came into contact with someone who had just written a successful book. I grilled him on his strategies, and he recommended Amazon, blogging, and setting goals. His first question was: “Cronin, what do you hope to accomplish by publishing this book?” The answer was clear: to make my family proud of me. There are several writers in my family, and they supported my goals. Other research included reading hundreds of pages online and reading the “For Dummies” books.

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You can easily find my book by going to Amazon and searching for “Cronin Detzz.” You can also read the intro, view the critiques on the back cover, and read a few pages of my book by clicking “look inside.” Additionally, you can also preview my book by copying & pasting to your browser: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cronin+detzz Keep writing and keep sharing!