Love Poems To Girls Who Don't Text Back

"Love Poem to Girls Who Don’t Text Back" is the debut poetry book from the rising author Dreion Allen. That’s me actually. I wrote it.

It’s so far been one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. That being so I wanted to talk about it a bit for the people who've never heard of it. After all what parent doesn’t love to gush about their child?

The Why

Let’s start with why I even wrote it in the first place. The reason is twofold. I wanted to officially establish myself as a published author, and I had all these feelings I wanted to share with the world. I think one of the best and worst aspects about being an artist is that we have all these emotions that we want to express and they’re so rarely received. It’s an everlasting battle to create something that will resonate with someone so they will understand or at least acknowledge how we felt at some moment in our life. This book is my way of doing that.

Why Poetry?

I’m a writer, unfortunately. Words are my art. They’re the only way I know how to convey my inner world. I think poetry is a good way to use words express emotion and bridge the gap to understanding on another. Poetry is a very vulnerable art, and I wanted to be very vulnerable with my first project.

The Process

My process was like that of any other first time publishing author, chaotic. Full disclosure this isn’t a tutorial, full overview, or anything of the like. I’m just relaying my personal experience. Maybe once the book picks up in sales, I’ll give you all the “How I Became a Bestselling Author” article (We’re manifesting this outcome!).

Writing the poems was both the simplest, and most difficult part of the process. A great deal of them already existed in some form: a few words jotted down, an idea lodged in my brain, a feeling trapped within my chest. Even the overarching theme of romance that defines the book was already settled upon. I just needed to sit down and focus on completing the individual poems, and selecting the best among them. I gave myself the deadline of finishing the selection list before 2023, so I spent all November and December writing and narrowing the list.

In the new year came the bane of all writers, revision. Something about glancing over your work again and again for correction not content is mind numbing. I quickly learned the importance of having an editor and proofreader. I chose the stubborn way, and paid for it. I’ll let you all in on a secret. I’ve proofread my book multiple times, had it beta read by two other people, and still, there’s a single error I didn’t catch until after publication (Page 40 in both the eBook and paperback. See if you can find it.) Such is the life of a writer though.

With the content portion of the project done I had to figure out how to make this an actual physical book. So I did what any great writer would do; I did a google search. I was flooded with information on publishing, marketing, and design. I learned that I could either self-publish, or enlist the aid of a publishing company. I shopped around for publishing companies that may have wanted a hand in the project’s creation, and found only one that offered hybrid services that I liked. I would create the content and they would assist in every other aspect. Two weeks of waiting and anxiety only to receive a rejection email. That made the decision to self-publish so much simpler. It wasn’t the rejection, but the waiting for someone else to see worth in my vision that I didn’t like. I find in life you must invest and believe in both yourself and your vision even when no one else does.

With that decided next came finding someone to handle the design decisions regarding the book. I needed someone to make the physical book as alluring as I knew the words within were (stroking the old ego a bit never hurt). Another skillful google search led me to the site Reedsy.

I was familiar with the name from their YouTube writing advice channel, but was pleasantly surprised to see the wide array of services they offered for writers: a book editing program, writing advice blog posts, writing exercises, and plenty more. What I found most useful was their service that matched writers with professionals in fields needed for a book’s completion. It was here I found my cover illustrator, and interior designer.

Natalia Junqueira was at the top of my shortlist of posted professionals that I wanted to collaborate with on this project. After seeing her work, and getting a reasonable quote I knew she was the one. I was fortunate to have someone who so clearly understood my vision and built upon it to make it a reality. She was fantastic at every step of the process, and the result is amazing. I mean look at this breathtaking cover spread!

She also designed the eBook version of the book, but I’m head over heels for the physical version. I know parents shouldn’t have favorites, but we do.

What Next?

What came next was the actual publication of the book: joining Amazon’s direct publishing program, submitting the book content, ordering my author copies, etc. All boring things you certainly don’t want me to go into detail about. Next is marketing! If you’re a first-time publishing author no one is going to know about your book until you tell them! I had friends, family, and social media followers anticipating the release, but consider this post me expanding my audience. So, if you’ve read this far the marketing is working!

Listen I know the ideal way to market is to build the audience and anticipation first then drop the product, but it’s just not my way. If I had waited for an audience, or for some publishing company I wouldn’t have made this fantastic, heartfelt, beautiful, and now available book.

"Love Poems to Girls Who Don’t Text Back" is out now on Amazon, and Kindle.