Poetry has many uses. It can be used to explain emotions, convey feelings, and even make political statements. For many people who take pleasure in writing poetry, their verse is strictly for their eyes only, however, for others, poetry is something to be shared.
With the constant growth of the online poetry community, it is becoming easier than ever before to get your poetry seen by a significant number of people. But what if your social media presence or poetry blog has already become successful? What’s the next step?
Lots of poets dream of having their work published either on a prestigious poetry website online or even in a print poetry magazine or poetry book.
Having your work featured alongside that of other emerging artists as well as successful ones can not only help you boost your public profile as a poet, but also increase your confidence in your writing.
For those who are successful in having their poetry featured on a poetry website, there is an added bonus of online feedback from other poetry lovers within the community. Many poetry websites offer a comment or rating feature where users can leave praise or criticism to offer advice and encouragement to poets on their work.
So, if you’re a keen poet looking for places to submit your work, or you’re aiming high and want to become a published writer, Superprof has sought out many of the paths you can take in order to achieve your goal.
Submit Poems to Poetry Websites
The online poetry community is thriving; a great choice of poetry websites for lovers of poetry to enjoy poems and find inspiration for their own writing – and a large choice of poetry websites means that there is a big demand for new material.
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There are many types of poetry websites on the internet. Some feature work from unpublished poets exclusively, while others mix collections from well-known poets with poetry and prose from up-and-coming artists.
Likewise, the standards upheld by each organisation can differ quite a lot. While some set out strict submission guidelines and only publish the most exceptional work, other websites are more relaxed about the submissions they receive.
Making sure that you follow all submission guidelines to a tee is crucial if you want to give yourself the best possible chance of having your work accepted, so don’t be afraid to double or triple-check that you’ve put your application together correctly.
Alternatively, you could try and approach publishers to see whether they will accept your manuscript. Note that this can be quite a difficult route to go down, particularly if you’ve no previously published work, and as a result, many poets prefer to have a small collection of published works in journals or magazines before approaching a publisher, but ultimately the choice is yours.
Here are a few websites which accept online poetry submissions:
- Hello Poetry
Originally created as a simple space for poetry lovers to be able to enjoy all kinds of verse, Hello Poetry has become one of the most well-known poetry websites out there!
If you’re an active poet, you’ll have probably heard of Hello Poetry (also known as HePo) before – but did you know that you can submit work to them?
Rather than asking for submissions, Hello Poetry instead asks users to ‘request an invite’ to join HePo as an author and be able to post poems – this approach has been adopted in order to ensure that the writing community which represents Hello Poetry remains small and preserves the brand and simplicity of the site.
To request an invite, simply visit their website, click the ‘request an invite’ button and enter your poem along with your contact details. Once your poem has been moderated, you will be informed as to whether you have been accepted by the writing community. If successful, you will be able to post content as well as comment and offer constructive criticism on other people’s poems.
- Poem Hunter
Poem Hunter is more relaxed when it comes to accepting poetry submissions from its users. All you need to do in order to be eligible to submit your work to Poem Hunter is to be a member of the website – you can become a member simply by creating an online account.
Once you have successfully created your free Poem Hunter account, you will have access to the member area of the website as well as be able to add other users as friends, comment on poems and contact other users.
To be able to submit poetry to the poetry site, you must first create a poet account. This can be done by clicking the ‘Manage Your Poems’ button on the Poem Hunter homepage. Once your poet account has been created, you will be able to post work under your poet name (which may be different from your real name).
The beauty of Poem Hunter is its inclusivity.
With no limit to the number of poems you can submit, and no selection process, users are free to share their work as they wish.
What’s more, Poem Hunter is 100% free to use! No to worry about paying any kind of subscription or membership fee.
- AllPoetry
AllPoetry is another website which values accessibility and encouragement in the world of poetry.
By simply creating a free account, users are not only able to submit their own poetry, but they can also add author notes, specify the type of comments of criticism they would like to receive, and add tags to each poem to make it easier for other users to find on the site.
All Poetry offers far more than practice and exposure for writers, too.
In addition to the online sharing service, you will also have the opportunity to have your work reviewed by expert poets!
The website is also littered with hints and tips on getting the most out of your creativity. For instance, beginner poets are advised to focus on their descriptions, rather than rigidly sticking to a rhyme scheme.
As the ‘largest poetry community’, AllPoetry hosts hundred of smaller writing and criticism groups, as well as allows users to set up and run their own poetry competitions on the site!
AllPoetry is free to use, with an optional paid membership that rewards users with ‘points’ which can be used on various aspects of the site.
Enter Creative Writing Competitions
Another option for those looking to have their work featured in publications and on the websites of respected poetry organisations is to enter their poems into competitions.
There is an endless number of competitions which can be found online, each with a different prize package.
Although the top prizes for poetry competitions are usually cash sums and publication, there are usually also prizes for runners-up in the form of publication in a certain literary magazine or competition anthology.
So, even if your work isn’t in the top three, you could still be in with a chance of having it featured in popular literary journals and gaining exposure as a poet!
If you’re also wondering about where to submit poetry for money, entering a poetry contest can give you a shot at topping up your bank balance with competition winnings.
Here are two prestigious competitions which offer the publication as a prize for runners-up:
- Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award
Probably the most well-known poetry competition for teen poets, there are prizes for the top 100 poems entered into the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. The top 15 poems are published in a print anthology which is distributed to schools and poetry lovers, and the 85 commended poets will have their poems published in an online competition anthology, as well as have their names featured in the competition’s print anthology.
- National Poetry Competition
Widely regarded as the UK’s most prestigious poetry competition, the first prize for this contest is £5000. There are ten winning poems in total, the three top prizes, and seven commendations.
Of these winners, the top three winning pieces are published in print in The Poetry Review, while the remaining seven are featured on the website of the Poetry Society.
Where to Submit Poetry for Publication
If you’ve been submitting your poetry to online communities for a while and would like to see your work featured in literary magazines or anthologies, you can also submit poems to organisations which publish their collections in print.
Here are just some of the organisations which publish submissions from readers:
- Spark: A Creative Anthology
Spark: A Creative Anthology is a quarterly magazine which accepts submissions of poetry, short stories, flash fiction and creative non-fiction. In this journal, the work of newly emerging writers appears alongside that of well-seasoned ones, who should view Spark as a great way to gain the experience in being published.
What’s more, you will even get paid for your work if it is accepted! This is because Spark buys the right to be able to publish and distribute your work as they wish.
Paperback editions of Spark: A Creative Anthology can be purchased directly from the publisher or on Amazon.
- The Poetry Review
You can submit work to one of the more prestigious publications of poetry, The Poetry Review by the Poetry Society. If you are submitting work from the UK, you must submit a typed version of your poem by post.
You can make up to six submissions for each magazine, however, all works must be previously unpublished.
- Rust and Moth
This literary journal dedicated to poetry is published both online and in print on a quarterly basis. You can submit up to three poems at a time, and you must include a brief description of yourself along with your work.
It should be noted that these are just three examples of poetry magazines that accept submissions, and if you are not successful, there are many others to be found online.
Self-Publishing Poetry
Sometimes, you need to make things happen for yourself. Self-publishing and poetry have a long history together, with many poets having had experience with self-publishing at some stage throughout their careers, such as:
- Edgar Allan Poe;
- Margaret Atwood; and
- Virginia Woolf.
There are also more recent examples of poets, such as Rupi Kaur, whose poetry you can read, who have been successful self-published poets.
If it’s an avenue you’re considering, then the first thing to do is to prepare your manuscript or best poems for publication. This means reading, proofing and editing your work until it’s ready to be seen by the world.
At this stage, it may help to bring in a trusted third party to look over your work and provide honest feedback on where poems may be improved, or what they enjoyed about the work. Equally, hiring a freelance proofreader or editor to conduct a poetry review for any formatting or spelling errors can also be extremely helpful.
If you’re looking for a third party to provide input, you could also reach out to sites such as Superprof, which have a range of English tutors with poetry specialisms, who would be happy to offer pointers on where the work could be improved, or suggest other literary devices that could be incorporated into a poem.
Once your new poems are ready for publication, then it’s a case of choosing how to get your poetry published. You could opt to create an e-book, in which case you should check whether the book’s formatting complies with common e-book formats, such as Kindle or iPad. You’ll also have to decide which online retailer is right for you, so research is crucial.
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Another option is to go down the print-on-demand (POD) route. This involves paying a company to store an electronic copy of your book, and then they print that book for you. Although this route is usually more expensive than just publishing an e-book, some people prefer to have a physical copy or copies of their poetry book in their hands.
Regardless of which method you choose, always give consideration to your budget when self-publishing and make sure that you don’t overspend.
Publishing a Chapbook – How Many Poems Should Be In A Chapbook?
A chapbook is a term you may encounter in the world of poetry. Essentially, a chapbook contains a collection of poems that focus on a particular theme. What’s more, chapbooks tend to be quite short in length, and usually have no more than 30 pages.
Chapbooks are a great tool for poets as they can help prepare poets for the process of writing and publishing a longer manuscript, and chapbooks can also be used as a way to reach out to an audience, build your name, and show potential publishers your talent.
Once you’ve decided you’d like to put together a chapbook, the question becomes which poems should you include, and how many? When selecting your poems, think about whether the poems gel well together in terms of your theme or concept, and try to only include your best pieces in the chapbook – after all, you’re looking to impress and appeal to new readers!
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This means that you should also try to start off your chapbook with a bang, and have your best poem, or at least one of your very best, right at the start of the chapbook. This will give your reader the most favourable impression of your poetry and hopefully entice them to keep reading.
After that, feel free to mix and match the order of where your poems fall – leaving all your least impressive works until right at the very end may leave the reader feeling underwhelmed once they’re finished, so having the correct order of poems is key.
When it comes to how many poems should feature in a chapbook, the ultimate number will depend on the length of your poems and your own preference, but as a general guide, aim for a poem a page. This would give you around 20-25 poems for your chapbook.
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