Poetry Book Progress Report

This morning I finished editing my poetry book!

Before you get too excited, I should probably tell you that this is the third time that I've finished editing my book.

Self-publishing makes editing a delicate process.  You want to be ruthless but not paranoid; thorough but not obsessive.  I think I've done a pretty good job self-editing.  At least, I've done a lot of trimming and re-wording, and the poems are much better for it.

The hardest part for me is objectively looking at the organization of the poems. There are two reasons for this:

1) It's hard to organize a bunch of poems.  Understatement of the year.

2) Because of Reason #1, I'm reluctant to even approach the subject of organization.  If just one poem needs to be moved - just one! - the whole book could spiral into a chaotic Vortex of Death!

No.  No, I am not being melodramatic.

Early stages of poetry organization.

Anyway, I finished editing again.  Next, I will take a final look at the organization.  >shudder<

If I'm not back in two days, you'll know what happened.

Vortex.

Self-Publishing: A Few Lessons Learned

If it's been a while since I've blogged, it's because I've had a lot going on.  Work has kept me busy, I switched to night shift a couple times, I got a stomach bug, etc, etc.  And of course, I'm working on my book!  It's been quite the process, and I thought I'd share a few things I've noticed about the self-publishing process, as I have experienced it thus far:



1.  It takes FOREVER.  However long you think it's going to take you, times it by 10.  Or 100.

2.  Being professional means making time and money commitments.  Authors these days are active on social media, so I must be as well.  Authors need professional photos, so I had some taken.  A free-lance author must market their own work, so I have been doing research.  The list goes on.

3.  Better get lots of eyes on your work and be as self-critical of your writing as possible.  You want to ensure that the best work you are capable of creating (without the wisdom and assistance of editors) ends up for sale, not just some hodge-podge that was "good enough".

4.  Know your work and what you're going for, and stick to that ruthlessly.  Be decisive, and be confident in what you're doing.  My poetry book has a theme, and it's important that all the poems in the book are related to that theme.  It's also important that all the poems are of a similar quality; you don't want a really good poem you wrote a few months ago right next to a truly awful one you wrote in high school.  I've had to take poems out, add poems in, and make edits, all in the name of consistency.

5.  Don't be shy.  Talk to people who have self-published.  Send your stuff out there.  Let people know you're Creating Art.  Completely buy into your new endeavor.



I'm still learning all these things, but those are my top five lessons so far.  I'm sure there will be more...