Finally February: A Feature for Women in Horror Month, Proofs from Poetry, and a Little About Royalties for Poets
- At February 01, 2020
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
- 0
Finally February! And a Feature for “Women in Horror” Month!
OK, January is over and can I say, “Finally!” Deaths in the family, volcanos, earthquakes, Australia on fire, Coronovirus, Impeachments – oh and the gloomiest (by rain levels and lack of light) month on record in Seattle. I’m ready for February.
And February is “Women in Horror” month and I’ve been featured – with an interview and some of my horror poems – on Colleen Anderson blog. Check it out here! I bet some of you don’t even think of me as a “horror” writer – but look, I really am!
Proofs from Poetry – Look for the April Issue!
My last week was brightened by getting my proofs for two poems in Poetry Magazine – which means it’s really happening and that acceptance wasn’t just a dream – and the news the poems would be in their April issue. Since that’s National Poetry Month AND my birthday month, it couldn’t seem like better timing. I sent my first submission to Poetry when I was 19 years old, and I have my own archive of Poetry back issues going back at least ten years. Now I’ll get to actually be in the archive! So it’s been a goal for more than twenty years.
A Little Talk About Royalties and Poetry
Another thing that cheered me up was getting a royalty check from Two Sylvias Press to deposit in my bank account. If you are a poet, even if you sell a lot of books, you might not always have a publisher who is good about getting you your royalties – not because those publishers are corrupt, but they tend to be poets, and poets tend not to be good at things like “keeping track of books sold” and things like that. I feel really lucky when I get my checks, especially when they are for more than it costs to buy lunch. Anyway, if you can discreetly check on a publisher before you do a book with them – a good way is to ask another author with the press if they’ve ever received a royalty check – that’s probably good. I mean, none of us poets are doing it for the money – but if you’re like me, you appreciate getting feedback on how your books sold in a royalty statement, and a little tangible evidence with money is even better.
I once told a friend, years ago, than royalty contracts did not matter with poetry books. So many poets just feel lucky to have their books published! I’m not so sure, after five books, that I’d say the same thing. Read that royalty contract, see how often you can expect to receive royalties and royalty statements, what rate you’ll get, etc. Don’t make it the most important thing in your decision, but consider it among other things – like distribution, quality of books, aesthetics of book covers and fonts – that help you decide which publisher to go with. Some publishers pay royalties with copies – which was always just fine with me – the most important thing was that someone, somewhere was keeping track of how many copies each book sold. It’s getting feedback on that stuff that helps tell you what you can do better. You wouldn’t expect a football quarterback to get better without feedback from a coach, videos, stats, etc, right? It’s the same with poets! (See? I even got some Superbowl into this blog post – LOL.)