Tips for Getting Published Poetry

The type and style of poetry you write usually determines the type of publishing companies that will be interested in your work.  Magazines, journals, book publishers, and writing competitions are a few of the choices available to poets striving to publish work.

• There are many choices available for you to submit your work for publication.  The choices include magazines, literary journals, poetry contests, open-licensed, and poetry book publishers.


• Consider submitting your poetry to a writing contest.  Many publications have contests that award winners by publishing their poem in an issue.  Authors can even earn royalties from the sale of the publication. 


• There are self-publishing outlets that publish poetry at a cost to the author.  This is a way for writers to obtain a hardcopy of their work in a published book form.


• The Poetry Foundation publishes Poetry magazine, a highly commended publication started in 1912.  Editors accept submissions all year round, but the large volume of submissions means that work has to stand out from the crowd.


• Prepare for rejection because it is almost guaranteed that the first submission of poetry will not be published.  Consider each submission to be a learning experience for new and better methods to submit your sample work. 


• Look into online or local publishing options where you may have a greater chance of becoming published.  Posting some of your work in these publications helps you get your prose and your name into the poetry writing community.