First Report of the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute

The Poetry Foundation produces "Poetry Magazine" whose submission policy is the most restrictive in the business relative to previous publication, considering any posting on the internet not protected by a password to be previously published regardless of whether it was intended as a personal archive or not. Moreover, under the best of circumstances, they are one of the 3 most difficult markets to break into.

In point of fact, I've had dozens of poems rejected by them over the years and I dropped my 4 years subscription to them because I only saw about 1/2 dozen Poems appearing there over the years that I considered to be anything more than low quality Verse and nothing that I felt rose to the level of Poetry (I recently renewed my subscription about the time that my of my personal archive at Shadow Poetry was dissolved, so I've already sent them 3 poems for their consideration)

Despite their flaws they are still one of the most prestigious markets out there, (and one of the highest paying as well)

As for the Poetry Foundation itself, which is financed by a grant, they do have a number of prestigious members, do give a few Awards yearly, and maintain an extensive file catalog of Poets and their works and they do have a Forum that contains interesting discussions but which is only open to members for posting but otherwise seem far less active than the Poetry Society of America both in their interaction with the public and in the number and quality of Awards they offer.

All the above is just my opinion of course, but I think i"ve got the facts pretty much correct.

Jim Hoye

Hi Polenth,

I'm curious as to who some of the places might be. I know that some people here delete some of their works when they plan to submit them for publication, but "Poetry Magazine" is the only venue I know of that actually posts it as a criterea and the only one I know of that considers personal webpages, (which are paid for by the Poet) as being published. (it's been important to me as I had 120 poems posted on that web page and they represented a significant portion of my entire Poetic output).

JRH

JRH

Many places feel that if it's "Google-able" it's published.

As I understand it, anything that appeared online, in any form or venue, is considered published. This includes work that appeared in your own site or blog. Why would that be any different?

All that may be true, but that doesn't make it right. Publication should be distributed, and paid for, even if only in copies. Any Poem posted only for one's own use and for the benefit of select friends (With no remuneration of any kind), should NOT be considered as PUBLISHED.

Moreover, such practice takes it outside the scope of personal intention and dependent on the security practices of the site which allowed them to post, (which may, in fact, have changed in time).

That may sound like sour grapes based on the limitations of someone born before the computer changed things, (and it is) ,but there are some of us out there for whom that transition is more than a little bit difficult, for various reasons, (like being out of touch with current fads and trends), but it's what I and others like me have to contend with on a regular basis, (regardless of the quality of the work we produce).

JRH

kdnxdr said:

"the proposed settlement of the Authors Guild’s lawsuit against Google Books,​

a settlement that some in the literary community praised for its potential to make out-of-print and
orphaned works available to new generations and to bring new income sources to some writers,
and that others condemned for having excluded independent and literary publishers and for its​

potential to create an electronic monopoly"

Out of my own ignorance, and because I'm not truely a literary person, which I ashamedly admit, I wasn't aware of the above cited lawsuit involving the Authors Guild and Google, my bad. What really got my attention though was the last statement that "others condemned for having excluded independent and literary publishers for its potential to create an electronic monopoly". I guess my question is: Does that mean because of the supposed exclusion of independent and literary publishers, do we need to consider this fact(?) as we seek out publishing entities for our work? Am I just asking a dumb question?

Click to expand...

It may be a dumb question, but I'm so dumb I do not even understand what the question actually is.

However, the editing/publishing world is a very scary place and seems almost daunting for a poet/writer wannabe. It seems that unless a person is academically involved, the editing/publishing network is a steel cage that you have to find the magic passage to get into. The question was meant to ask, is this yet another hurdle when we begin to choose the path to finding an editor/publisher? No. Just submit. Go to duotrope read the poetry mags and submit to places that you think will like your style. If they reject you submit to another and another, and in the meantime keep writing and submitting. There is no magic. No secret number or hurdle. Take nothing personally and just keep on. You do not need an uncle or to know "the code", just don't be afraid to be rejected. I've come to love the ones that reject me and keep sending to them until they accept something. There is one now that I send 4 poems to every time they reject me; sooner or later one will stick and then another and another and someone will think you have an uncle.