seeking a publisher - one

Sundog Rising!

Reflections on living the life literary by the Urban Sundog

Seeking a Publisher in the 21st Century

Part One: An Incident

I’ve written a new poetry manuscript, and I’m looking for a publisher for it.

Here’s how one day spent doing this went for me, to give those of you who may never have attempted such a thing a sense of the experience.

Sitting down with the Internet, I found three sites listing poetry publishers on the web and in paper form throughout Canada, the States, Great Britain and Australia. I went through fifty likely leads.

I think my special moment with Poetry Canada Magazine best summed up the day for me. This is the magazine that claims “Poetry Canada Magazine is Canada's Global magazine bringing you poetry, art and photography from around the world in the global promotion of poets and poetry.” If you go to their guidelines section, you are faced with this statement, which I have copied and pasted here:

Poetry Canada is no longer accepting poetry.

Thirty-two of the fifty sites were no longer active. Easily half of those thirty-two had had their web presences bought out by a service that offered to help you self publish your poetry, for a price.

Of the eighteen remaining sites, nine were the same sort of thing. Here’s how to self publish your poetry, let us help for the low, low price of …

Of the remaining nine, four took Poetry Canada Magazine’s approach to accepting submissions. In other words, they didn’t.

So five of the fifty actually published people’s poetry. That was a ten percent return on my search effort.

Of those five, one you could only access by subscribing to their site for the low, low price of forty dollars Canadian. A Month.

Of the remaining four, three were recognizable as sites that would accept and publish poetry, but they weren’t going to pay you anything for it. Plus, on all three, I checked the hit counters. One of them had received a fifth the number of hits in ten years I’ve received in less than a year and a half putting my stuff up for free on my realficone blog. The other two had both also received fewer hits in their much longer existences than I’m gathering on my own.

Which left one viable prospect. A two percent return on my search effort. I couldn’t find a hit counter on this site, but I actually enjoyed what they were doing. Plus they were open to submissions. So I spent the rest of the day’s worth of work hours putting together a contribution. They got back to me within two days. I can’t emphasize enough how unusual that is. A point I will return to later in this series.

They weren’t interested in the particular piece I had sent them, but invited me to send something else. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to follow up on that as they are a selectively post modernist site, and I don’t think I’ve really got anything else appropriate.

Certainly not the manuscript I originally set out to find a home for, and never found a single likely prospect to send it to.

All in a day’s work, seeking a publisher in the 21st Century.

For the record, the one reasonable site I found can be located at:

http://www.eratiopostmodernpoetry.com/

I recommend the site. They’re good people.

*******

REALITY FICTION UPDATE!

And what is Reality Fiction, you may well ask?

Simple. The concept of the Reality Television Series translated to the printed page. 40 characters from my backlog of generally unpublished material are gathered together to compete in a different theme each Episode, with one or two characters being eliminated each sequence until there are only two left to fight it out in the final. The winner gets a short novel of their own as the grand prize.

But somehow, things always seem to go horribly wrong ...

What’s happening now? 

Episode Twenty-Six: Superhero ran on Monday, introducing the world to Professor Evil and his strange files on serving as Psychiatrist to the Parahuman. Explaining to people why they don’t really want to rule the world, and what that skimpy outfit and those augmented breasts really mean. With a touch of danger thrown in for laughs as well, of course. Find out the results this Friday.

Continuing at: http://realficone.blogspot.ca/

REALITY FICTION TOO! EPISODES TO DATE

EPISODE TWENTY-SIX:     SUPERHERO

“The Professor Evil Sessions”

EPISODE TWENTY-FIVE:     JUNGLE ADVENTURE

“The Third Eye of the Many Legged Python”

EPISODE TWENTY-FOUR:     PULP FICTION

“The Red Moon of Pango Pango”

EPISODE TWENTY-THREE:     STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The Imp of the Reverse

EPISODE TWENTY-TWO:     FAIRY TALE

Princess NoName

EPISODE TWENTY-ONE:     THE WEDDING

Dearly, Beloved

EPISODE TWENTY:     EXISTENTIALISM

Face the Hangman

EPISODE NINETEEN:     ABDUCTION

Abduction/Apperception

EPISODE EIGHTEEN:     MELODRAMA

“Terror in Tarnation! A Thrilling Narrative in Three Acts”

EPISODE SEVENTEEN:     POETRY

“landescapes”

EPISODE SIXTEEN:     SILLY EUROPEAN SPY SPOOF (DUBBED)

“Diet Ray of the Stars!”

EPISODE FIFTEEN:     EROTIC SUPERNATURAL ROMANCE     

“The Shadow of Her Passion”

EPISODE FOURTEEN:     FLYING:

“Sky Calling”

EPISODE THIRTEEN:     SLAPSTICK:

“The Phantom of the Werewolf”

EPISODE TWELVE:     DAIRY FARMING:

“Early One Morning”

EPISODE ELEVEN:     BURROUGHS:

“Chapter Nine”

EPISODE TEN:     WEREWOLVES:

“The Silver Solution”

EPISODE NINE:     WRESTLING:

“Suckerslam XIV”

EPISODE EIGHT:     JANE AUSTEN ROMANCE:

“The Proud and the Senseless”

EPISODE SEVEN:     THE JAZZ AGE:

“The Bucky-Dusky-Ruby Red Hop!”

EPISODE SIX:     SUBMISSION:

“Re-Org”

EPISODE FIVE:     MASQUERADE:

“The Eyes Behind the Mask”

EPISODE FOUR:     SELF HELP:

“Sausage Stew for the Slightly Overweight Presents:

Some Several Suggestions Guaranteeing Success for the Mildly Neurotic”

EPISODE THREE:     NUDIST:

“If You Have To Ask ...”

EPISODE TWO:     FRENCH BEDROOM FARCE:

“Un Nuit a Fifi’s!”

EPISODE ONE:     STEAMPUNK:

“The Chase of the Purple Squid!”

A J.H.B. Original!