To Publish A Book Of Poetry
It Can Be Done But You Have to Watch Out For Certain Problems
Introduction
I am currently working on self-publishing my most ambitious collection yet. It will probably be called "The Art Of The Glittering Fox" because it is a collection of Angie Livingstone's amazing art, accompanied by my words.
This is probably the final story in the collection:
I have published a story on how to self-publish on Amazon here:
Some Unexpected Problems That I Have Encountered For The First Time
This is an effectively co-written book between Angie and me, so that means I need to publicly announce that, although Amazon allows only one author plus collaborators.
On the cover, I put our names together, but then Amazon tells me there is a discrepancy between the details and the cover, but allows me to keep both of us on there. The cover options are not that flexible, with annoying colour bands running across and the inability to add text wherever you want.
We may have to design our cover without using the Amazon Templates, although in the past they have met my needs.
The other problem with this is that the emphasis is on the artwork, but the accompanying text can range from one to four pages.
The art should always appear on the left-hand page in a physical book, unless the art and text fit on a single page (but that is not the case in this publication).
When I looked through, there were a number where the art was on the right-hand side and an unrelated poem on the left. This can be rectified by inserting a blank page, but that can knock out stories further down the book, so you need to correct them one at a time.
I have gone through and sorted that problem, and think I can add a few more stories, knowing that if they are two-page ones, they will not cause any issues, but I will have to go through them page by page when I am ready to publish.
This does not affect ebooks, but sometimes page bleed can be unpredictable and differ between devices.
Conclusion
When we sort the cover issues, the book will be ready to be published in hardback format.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you found some of this helpful.
The music is "Book of Saturday" by King Crimson.
About the Creator
Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred
A Weaver of Tales and Poetry
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By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 5 months ago in Writers
Comments (7)
It's a bunch of trial and error when you publish poems. I found it addictive, though
Sounds like it will be a great collection, Mike. Thanks for sharing the problems you've come across on Amazon while working on it!
A smart backstage pass into the self-publishing hustle—art, logistics, and persistence in beautiful tandem.
It's such a process but a worthwhile one! How exciting that these poems have turned into a true collaboration. Wonderful news!
Way to go, Mike. This is helpful.
I did find this helpful. Especially knowing that Amazon allows only one author plus the collaborators. The colour band issue, running across and not being allowed to add text wherever you want. It does look like you need to use something else other than Amazon templates to design your cover. It was interesting to get the information on how the layout would look. The art appearing on the left hand page in the physical book. But only if the text and the art can fit on a single page. Which wouldn't be the case for yours, that's thoughtful of you to include in this piece. Needing to do the arranging for the art and the text sounds tedious, but it's good to know that they have to be done one at a time. Otherwise the art would have unrelated text and can knock out stories further down the book. But then you gave the solution of the blank page. This was helpful, it opened my mind to the possibly things we could encounter, especially because I've never done anything like this before. Nice work Mike and thank you, good luck! 🤗❤️
I'm so glad you managed to fix that. So excited for your book hehehe