Lesson 3: The Business Side of Things
In this lesson you'll learn how to submit and sell your work, along with other helpful business tips.
Formatting Your Poems
Read the writer’s guidelines carefully and format your poems as instructed. This will vary from publisher to publisher, and if you don’t follow the guidelines you’ll look unprofessional and your work may not even be considered. If the writer’s guidelines don’t specify how you should format your work, here are some general rules to follow.
- All submissions should be typewritten with no clerical errors. Proofread your work, then proofread it again.
- Unless it is an intrinsic part of the poem to do otherwise, align your words with the left side of the page.
- Use plain white paper. Fancy stationary or colored paper does not make your work stand out, but instead takes attention away from your poems. It also appears unprofessional.
- Use a common font, such as Times New Roman, Courier, or Arial. Use 12- or 14-point font.
- Use only one side of the paper. Do not print on the back.
- Pages should be neat and clean, free from wrinkles and smudges.
- Put only one poem per page. If submitting very short poetry, such as haiku, it is sometimes acceptable to include more than one poem per page, but if in doubt, stick with one.
- Include your name, address, and telephone number on each page. Include an email address if you have one.
- Next, put the title of the poem. If a single poem is more than one page long, put the title at the top of each page of the poem (below your name and address).
- If a single poem is more than one page long, number the pages of the poem. For instance, if a poem is three pages long, number the pages like this: Page 1 of 3, Page 2 of 3, Page 3 of 3. Put the page numbers below the title of the poem on each page. If you are submitting several poems at once but all are only one page long, do not number the pages.
A few other things to consider when submitting your work:
- Adhere to the publication’s writer’s guidelines about how many poems to submit. If the guidelines say no more than five, don’t send six, no matter how good they are.
- Do not fold poems individually unless instructed in the writer’s guidelines. Most editors find it annoying and time-consuming to have to unfold multiple sheets of paper one at a time.
- Put what you consider to be your best work at the top of the stack. If editors don’t like the first poem they read, they may quit reading before getting through all of them.
Submitting work through email
Many publishers do not accept email submissions. If a publisher does accept them, read and follow their writer’s guidelines. Usually they will ask for poems to be included in the body of the email. Many people do not like to open attachments due to the threat of computer viruses.
You should be aware that when text is cut and pasted into the body of an email, sometimes the format of that text is changed. For example, if some of the lines of your poem are aligned at the right side of the page rather than the left, this may not come through in your email. Submitting work by email can save you a lot of money in postage, but because of this issue, I recommend only doing it if a publisher prefers to receive submissions in this way.
Optional Assignment Four
Format your poems according to the guidelines provided by your chosen publications or, if not specified, according to the general guidelines given here.
