Sunday, June 29, 2008
Book Manuscripts
You longtime readers of my blog know that I tend to be completely into the practical aspects of poetry editing and publishing. Mary has an insightful post about book manuscripts (and it says it's the first in a series, which I'll be keeping an eye out for). I thought I'd add my own thoughts about manuscripts. This is from my perspective of having helped to judge contests, having read many of my friends' manuscripts both pre- and post-publication, and having had just about as many friends read my manuscript (still pre-publication, of course). Here are a few points.
The things that really matter: the poems themselves and how they go together. Mary's last paragraph kindly says what I'd like to put this way: if you have a manuscript where you feel the need to "bury" weaker work, your manuscript is dead in the water. Don't waste your money. There are manuscripts running around that are front-to-back strong work and still losing dozens of contests. You need to be able to look at each poem in the manuscript and be willing to fight for its presence.
The things that matter insofar as you need to not screw them up: the title, the font, the print quality, the table of contents, etc. Just look like you know what you're doing with these, and don't look like you're desperate for attention.
The things that don't really matter a whole lot: the acknowledgments. As long as you have some reasonable publishing track record, this won't matter in a legit contest.
The things that really matter: the poems themselves and how they go together. Mary's last paragraph kindly says what I'd like to put this way: if you have a manuscript where you feel the need to "bury" weaker work, your manuscript is dead in the water. Don't waste your money. There are manuscripts running around that are front-to-back strong work and still losing dozens of contests. You need to be able to look at each poem in the manuscript and be willing to fight for its presence.
The things that matter insofar as you need to not screw them up: the title, the font, the print quality, the table of contents, etc. Just look like you know what you're doing with these, and don't look like you're desperate for attention.
The things that don't really matter a whole lot: the acknowledgments. As long as you have some reasonable publishing track record, this won't matter in a legit contest.
