My Review of Deaf Republic up at Barrelhouse, Blooms and Studies in Pink, and Let’s Talk About What Makes a Dream Press

Pink Dogwood

Almost the End of Poetry Month!

Trying to enjoy spring in between doctor and dentist appointments, running around taking pictures of different flowering trees (right now crushing on pink dogwood, lilacs, and crabapple.) I’m also trying to write more and I’m trying to do a really close revision of my two manuscripts before I sent them out again. I’m going to talk a little later about how to think about finding your dream press, something I’ve been thinking about a lot…

My Review of Deaf Republic up at Barrelhouse

So happy that Barrelhouse has my review of Ilya Kaminsky’s new book from Graywolf Press, Deaf Republic, today. I was really taken by Kaminsky’s framing of disability as an act of resistance. I really highly recommend this book, and I love Barrelhouse too, so happy to work with them.

Study in Pinks

Talking About What Makes a Press Your Dream Press

I posted this on Twitter, and then on Facebook, because I am genuinely interested in other writers’ answers, whether you’ve published one book or twenty!
I’ve been married happily for almost 25 years (in July.) So I’m not looking for a dream partner, I’m looking for a #dreampress.
What does your dream press look like? Mine looks like this: pays royalties, does some PR for you, helps get your book reviewed and puts it up for awards.
What qualities does your dream press have? Does the press help you place poems after they take your manuscript in high-profile journals? Get blurbs for you instead of making you beg for them? How many author copies does it give you? Does it give you input on the cover?
Answer e-mails promptly? Helps you set up a book tour? Helps promote you on social media? Has great distribution in bookstores? Has careful editors? Tell me more about your dream press in the comments!

I’d love to see this in public conversation, because my perception is that most poets (and even fiction writers) are so excited to get a book published, they don’t think about what kind of press they want to work with and send to every contest and open submissions. Does the press represent poets of color, women, people with disabilities? That’s something I look at now more than I used to. 

On Twitter and Facebook, several people praised their presses and others said “whatever press publishes me” and others talked about their priorities for a press. It’s not like there are infinite numbers of poetry presses, so it isn’t that hard to research and find out something about the press before we send out these days. I recommend at least looking at a couple of books they have produced. Do you enjoy the style of work? How are the books presented? What do the covers look like? How are they formatted? How are they distributed? How does the press support their authors? All of these things make a difference.

I’m thinking hard about this as I send out manuscripts for what will be my sixth and seventh books. I feel like at this point I need to think hard about what presses are a good fit for my work and would be great partners in the process. If this means I send out a little less than I used to, that’s okay. I’m hoping to find the perfect partner for each book.

So please, jump in! What makes working with a publisher a pleasure? What things are absolutely non-negotiable?