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November 14, 2023 will be the 10 year anniversary of the November 14, 2013 murder of my 8 month old infant son, at BugLight Lighthouse Art Studio of Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, Maine. If you have any information about who his killer is, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

NEVER FORGET:

My Son Was Murdered, The Killer Walks Free, Your Child Could Be Next!

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FAQ: What are the most visited pages on this website and how many visits do they get?

Several years ago, I wrote an article on how to write different types of magic uses, or rather how I personally write various types of magic users within the context of my Quaraun books. Today that page is one of my top ten most visited articles. It gets 50 to 500 views/reads/hits/visits per day depending on the time of the years and has had over 200k visits total since it was published.

Amphibious Aliens: Debunking The Atwater Family's Alien Abduction Hoax with more then 30MILLION reads since 2007 and The GoldenEagle: Debunking Stephen King's World's Most Haunted Car Hoax with over tenMILLION reads since 2007 still rank as the two most visited articles on my website, but, neither of those are writing related.

Writing Medieval Servants is my most visited writing related article with over 7MILLION reads.

This website was started in 1996 and has 1 to 3 new articles (all written by me, I am the only writer on this site) published almost daily. In 2017 we crossed ten thousand articles published. As of 2023, EACH article gets MINIMUM 10 to 70 reads PER DAY, with the high traffic articles getting 500+ reads per day.

And since December 2019, my website now gets three hundred thousand to 7 million reads per month - well over ONE HUNDRED MILLION PAGE READS PER YEAR, making it not only the single most trafficked site in the State of Maine, but also one of the most visited websites in ALL OF NEW ENGLAND!

{{{HUGS}}} Thank you to all my readers for making this possible!

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 TRIGGERED! I'm a Straight Cis Woman, but I am deemed Too Gay For Old Orchard Beach, Are you too gay for the bigoted, minority harassing, white power, gay hating psychos of The Old Orchard Beach Town Hall Too? 

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Some Thoughts on Publishing Poetry & Writing Poetry As a Career

Some Thoughts on Publishing Poetry & Writing Poetry As a Career

Some Thoughts on Publishing Poetry & Writing Poetry As a Career

Answering the question:

>>>Poetry Publishing Can anyone help with where to find a current, applicable list of poetry journals online that accept new poetry from poets who are not currently teaching at a University or college? It seems most refuse to even consider poetry regardless of quality, unless you already teach at a University or have already been published by a University-affiliated publisher.

Some Thoughts on Publishing Poetry & Writing Poetry As a Career

>>>Poetry Publishing Can anyone help with where to find a current, applicable list of poetry journals online that accept new poetry from poets who are not currently teaching at a University or college? It seems most refuse to even consider poetry regardless of quality, unless you already teach at a University or have already been published by a University-affiliated publisher.

First off I am not a poet, so I don't know if any of this will apply to you or not. If it helps you, great, if it doesn't, well, maybe it'll help someone else reading this instead?

I am a short story writer, and a lot of the same magazines who accept short stories, also accept poems, which is why I'm hoping this info will be useful for you.

I would suggest too, considering writing enough poems to make a collection, and self-publishing it as a book of your collected poems on Amazon, as this seems to be a better road to take long term. However, I am aware that poem collections, like short story collections, are very difficult to sell, so this is not always the best option for everyone and may or may not be a good option for you.

I am NOT going to explore the step-by-step process of self-publishing a poetry chapbook and strategies for selling them offline, because, as I said, I am not a poet and so I know very little about the whole poetry career. There are however plenty of articles on my website regarding the step by step process of self-publishing short story chapbooks and strategies I have used both for online and offline marketing, detailing things which worked for me and things which did not work for me, so if you are looking for more info in that area, there are plenty of those already.

No, my focus here is on telling you how one of my friends, who is EXTREEMLY SUCCESSFUL in poetry, told me she does it. And when I say extremely successful, I mean she sells 300+ copies of her poetry collection books each week and makes $4k to $6k a week from those sales. It's pretty astounding, considering the average poet goes years between seeing those figures. I do however believe she is a fluke, and that a lot of her success is due to her obsessive drive and extreme passion for writing massive amounts of poems - hundreds each year.

Self-publishing a poetry chapbook collection provides a unique avenue for poets to retain complete creative control over their work while simultaneously expanding their audience reach. Unlike traditional publishing routes, self-publishing empowers poets to make decisions about every aspect of their chapbook, from the cover design to the selection and order of poems. This level of creative autonomy allows poets to express their artistic vision authentically and create a cohesive and personalized reading experience for their audience.

One of the significant advantages of self-publishing a poetry chapbook is the ability to connect with a wider audience, or at least, this is what I have found to be true of short story chapbooks. In today's digital age, poets, like short story writers, have the opportunity to distribute their chapbooks through various online platforms, reaching readers globally. With the power of social media and targeted marketing, poets can engage with poetry enthusiasts and communities who resonate with their unique style and thematic elements.

Moreover, self-publishing offers flexibility and speed in bringing the chapbook to market. This was a big deciding factor for me in switching to self publishing my short stories, because the query process takes months, whereas now I can publish days after finish the story.  Poets can navigate the publishing process at their own pace, avoiding the lengthy timelines associated with traditional publishing. This agility allows poets and short story writers to respond to current trends, experiment with different themes, and release their work promptly, capturing the attention of their audience when the inspiration is at its peak.

In essence, self-publishing a poetry chapbook collection not only grants poets the freedom to express their creativity without constraints but also empowers them to forge direct connections with a diverse audience, establishing a meaningful presence in the literary world.

Personally, I found that switching from writing one-shots for magazines to now self-publishing on Amazon and GumRoad and DriveThruRPG instead, was a better move for me personally, as I can now write-publish; write-publish; write-publish; write-publish; putting out way more content, spending far more time writing.

Previously, I would write a thing, then spend weeks/months querying that thing, then write another thing and spend weeks/months querying that one, and that's all well and good, but at best I could maybe hope for only 10 or 12 stories published each year, and that was BEST case scenario. Chances were high of me querying for months and getting only 1 or 2 things published each year. Which 1 or 2 things a year is great if those things are novels, but not good at all if those things are short stories or poems.

By switching to self-publishing, I completely cut out the time spent querying, meaning now I can publish a new short story every week or so (I end up publishing a new short about every 10 days), something I simply could not do when querying magazines.

Now, if you want the "prestige" of saying "I was published by such and such magazine" well, then self-publishing on Amazon is not going to be an option you'll enjoy. And self publishing does come with stigmas, because a lot of people will say: "Oh, you self published? So you aren't any good then? Couldn't get it published huh?" And that's another reason you might not want to self publish.

PLUS, when you self publish you have to do everything yourself: editing, formatting, cover art, marketing; that all falls on you to either do it on your own or dish out money to hire someone to do it for you, if you want to produce a professional product that readers will actually want to pay money for. So, that would be yet another reason why to not self-publish.

I was traditionally published for a lot of years, before I switched to self publishing, so I studied how my traditionally published products were formatted and matched my self pubbed stuff to look the same, so formatting was not difficult for me. Editing was very difficult though. For that I spent five years taking every single English, writing, grammar, creative writing, literature, course at every local college (which included Harvard, as it is a local college only a 45 min drive for me, and weirdly seeing Harvard listed on my credits always gets everyone in a twist, People start acting REALLY freaky-deaky bizarre as soon as they find out you got Harvard in your college credits, because I guess it's a famous college that is hard to get into or something, but I never knew that because it's just a local college I can walk to, and EVERY college in America has "community students'' who are NOT enrolled in a degree program aka people who just walk into the college and say: "I want to take this one class, here's the cash, where do I buy the books?" and you do not have to take and pre-requisites or pass any tests in order to do this, so you can take ANY class at ANY college and you do not have to be enrolled in a degree or take any qualifying tests, and I'm always surprised how few people know this is a thing they can do.) But, anyways, I took every writing related class from every college that was within a 2 hour driving distance of me, and I spent five years doing it.

I had no degree enrollment as I was signed up for each class as a paid cash up front community student who was taking classes for personal enrichment, instead of being a degree student who had to take tons of pre qualifying tests and prerequisites. Meaning I did not have to take any useless math or science classes or electives or shit, and I was able to focus 100% of my studies on improving my grammar, and I wasn't locked in to any one college, so I could take 1 class on Monday at college A and another class on Tuesday at college B, a different class on Wednesday at college C, and so on.

I took 5 classes each semester, including summers, for five years, and amassed enough credits for FOUR PH.Ds should I ever enroll as a degree student and take the prerequisites, however, as I never went to school and never learned math or science, and I can not count or do money or read clocks or calendars, I am unable to enroll as a degree student. I have Kannar's Syndrome aka REAL and ACTUAL Autism aka Idiot Savant Syndrome, not to be confused with Aspergers or Autism Spectrum Disorders, Aspergers is NOT Autism even though it gets called "high functioning Autism" and Autism itself is NOT an ASD as the definition of an Autism Spectrum Disorder is "a disease with 3 or more of the same symptoms as Autism, but is not Autism". Kannar's Syndrome aka REAL and ACTUAL Autism aka Idiot Savant Syndrome is one of the rarest diseases in the world, with fewer than one hundred and twenty thousand people being diagnosed with it since the 1940s. Aspergers aka High Functioning Autism on the other hand affects 1 in 3 people.

If you are unfamiliar with Kannar's Syndrome aka REAL and ACTUAL Autism aka Idiot Savant Syndrome, go watch the movie RainMan, THAT is the type of Autism I have which is why I can take hundreds of writing related college classes but am unable to enroll in a degree program due to not being able to do anything NOT related to typing. If you have never seen the movie RainMan then you likely will have no clue what real and actual Autism is like as it is so rare, that most people don't even know it exists and instead think of Asperger's when they hear the word Autism, even though Aspergers is not medically related to real and actual Autism in any way, shape, or form.

I point this out, because people are often unable to repeat what I do, because very few writers are able to edit their own writing, which makes self-publishing a difficult task unless you are hiring an editor. I do not hire an editor, because I took 5 writing classes each semester for 5 years at more than a dozen colleges in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, a thing I did with the express goal of learning how to edit my own writing so that I would not have to hire an outside editor.

If you plan to self publish, you WILL need to learn pristine editing skills, becoming exceptionally well versed in college level grammar rules, otherwise you will need to hire an outside editor.

While you can do what millions of others do, and mad dash slap unedited crap on Amazon, you will end up not selling anything making self publishing a waste of your time. Editing your work is NOT an option if you want to succeed in self publishing, and that is going to require college classes if you edit it yourself, or paying money for a professional editor instead. I opted for college classes so I could edit it myself, most people opt for hiring an editor instead.

Self-publishing a poetry chapbook collection allows poets to maintain creative control over their work while reaching a wider audience. I am a HUGE supporter of this. The whole maintaining creative control aspect is why I switched to self publishing my short stories instead of sticking with traditional publishing.

Also, I would recommend asking a more detailed question over here r/selfpublish as, almost everyone there has published on Amazon or is planning to, and there are several users there whom have published poetry and could give advice specific to poem books, so you'll likely get more responses. And as you are looking to traditionally publish poems r/pubtips might be able to help. I think there are a few subs which help poets to get published, but I don't remember their names. Again, I'm not a poet so I can't help with that directly. I am a short story writer and publishing poems is similar to publishing short stories.

When I am publishing short stories in magazines, my method of finding magazines to submit to, was to drive to my local brick and mortar bookstores and then buy one of each of every short story literary magazine they had on the shelf, take them home, read them all, buy a mail subscription to every one that seemed it might be a good match for my stories.

I aim for ones that have monthly issues, because that gives me a chance of being published 12 times a year *(if a magazine likes your work, they WILL request you to submit something for each issue)*. I NEVER submit to a magazine until after I have received no fewer than twelve issues of their magazine in the mail, and I have read every story in every issue. This gives me a very good working knowledge of exact what the magazine is looking for, and it allows me to custom tailor my stories to fit what the magazine wants. boosting my chances of getting published.

After that I type up, print out, and mail, via the post office, actually stamped letter in an envelope, the submission to the editor of the magazine. **I NEVER deal with a magazine that ONLY accepts email submissions; due to the fact that I do not use email, so I am not even able to contact them.** Also it is my experience that most (magazine) editors PREFER to deal with actual paper submissions, they often say so, stating outright that things like *"I got to be honest here, I accepted your story because it was the only physical printed up manuscript on my desk and I just was too tired to look at my email"*

*Note: I have NEVER, nor will I, ever submitted to a digital web magazine. I deal with physical print magazines only.* Due to having Autism I am unable to do many things, email is one of those things. I also can not do things like phones, as that requires verbal speaking with my mouth, which is another thing I can not do. My disability preventing me for being able to do things like email, would seem at first to limit my options, however, it seems the reverse it true, as editors are always saying they like the fact that I have enough manners to deal with them on a one on one hand written letter personal level instead of crap shooting hundreds of copy pasted emails out to every editor at once. So, my inability to use email, seems to have contributed to my higher than average success rate in getting traditionally published.

So, I would suggest doing that: avoiding email and online submissions, instead using snail mail paper submissions. And, finding printed on paper real and actual magazines via your local bookstores instead of digital webzines.

Why?

Well, because, last I knew, fewer than 13% of literary magazines even had a website, let alone a digital edition of their magazine, and more than 80% of all literary magazines are **LOCAL SMALL PRESS** meaning they ONLY sell their magazin to local physical bookstores that are under 50 miles from the magazine headquarters. Meaning MOST of your options to publish in a magazine, can ONLY be found by you walking into your local mom and pop bookstore and buying physical print magazines.

Between 1978 and 2014 I have traditionally published more than 2,000 - yes two thousand - short stories using exactly the method I just described. Never once have I ever used email or submitted to a digital magazine.

In 2010 I started self-publishing on Amazon, and in 2014 I switched completely to self-publishing as it cuts out the querying aspect and gives me more time to do more writing. While I have tried more than a dozen different self-publishing platforms, for me personally I found Amazon, GumRoad, and DriveThruRPG to be the best ones for me. LuLu also makes the top five list for me. All of these are good for short stories and I have poet friends who find them good for poems. And before they went out of business Squidoo was number 1 and Smashwords was number 2, but Squidoo went out of business in 2013 and SmashWords went out of business just a few weeks ago in February 2023.

I have published a lot on Amazon but never poetry. Poem books are a whole different ball game than novels, novellas, or short stories, which I have published. I know nothing of the poetry field, or how to format it or market it. I know the formatting is quite different then how stories are formatted, but I'm not certain of the differences. Like how poems are usually centered only on the middle of a page whereas a story will go all the way to the edges. I don't know how you do that sort of formatting and I think it might require either using some specific software program or hiring a person to do the formatting for you. But, that's the sort of specific question you'd need to ask, "How do you format poetry for publication?" or some such question.

However, one of my best friends is a poet (Megan Grumbling) who got to do the President's inaugural poem (I forget which president; one of the Bush's I think) due to her being, at the time, the Poet Laureate of the State of Maine. This happened before I met her and I knew her for several years before I found out she had done thi; she did not mention it often, so most of her personal friend circle did not know this about her.

But, I met her in college, and she introduced me to the "art district" of Portland Maine... which I knew from being a painter, as I sell my canvas works in Portland, however, I was unaware that there was this massive poet and chapbook writer subculture in the Portland Arts District.

But she was a friend from college who writes poetry and does it as a part time job. Her full time job is being an adjunct poetry teacher at a community college. I took one of her classes to see what she taught, and over the course of the semester she went through what it was like for her to write poetry as a job.

And, this is what I was thinking might be helpful to you:

What she did was she submitted poems to poetry anthologies run by various little magazines (print magazines, not online or digital) and having local copy/print shops print up staple bound cards took cover chapbooks, which she takes with her to poetry nights at local bars, and sells to people there (with permission of the bar) after she does live readings. She said she has tried publishing on Amazon but got almost no sales at all. She said the bulk of her sales came from locals at bars, buying her books from her after live shows/readings.

For her, her goal WAS to make being a poet her full time job, and essentially she had succeeded in doing so, however most of her money came not from writing and selling poems, but rather instead from teaching her poetry courses at the college.

During one day in her class, she brought in copies of all her published books, so we could see exactly how much a poet has to write in order to make enough money from poems. It was a LOT. She had well over a hundred poetry collection books, paperback chapbooks printed up by local print shops, and each book had 30 to 50 poems in it. Each book was 25 to 75 pages long. And when she went to the poetry nights at bars, which she did 3 nights per week, she would take with her 10 to 15 copies each of no fewer than a dozen of her collections, taking with her around 150 physical books to sell, and would sell most, if not all of them. Meaning she was selling on average around 300 to 400 copies of her poem collections each week. She sells the books for $15, cash only, and I had since bought 2 of them, just to see what kind of stuff she wrote. But that means, she makes around $4k to $6k a week selling her poems, however more than a third of that goes into the printing costs of her books to sell the following week.

However she is the only poet I have ever meet who is able to live off her poetry, (and I have known several hundred poets, I live in the Greater Portland area of The Greater Boston area, where hundreds of poets and short story authors hang out, swap chapbooks, and I hang out with them) and according to her, it's pretty impossible to make money off poetry sales online, via places like Amazon. And all of the local poets I have talked to agree that Amazon and every other online publishing site is pretty shitty for gaining sales with poetry. But they also all agreed that if you want to actually sell poetry, you need to be heavily active in the offline poetry reading community, doing weekly readings at bars on poetry nights and selling physical chapbooks to drunks in said bars. And drunks buy a LOT of books.

Like I said, I am not someone who reads or writes poetry, so I know nothing about it from first hand personal experience and I only know the information I just shared from being told it by local poets who swear it works for them. I am however a short story writer who deals predominantly with local printed chap books and offline sales and THIS is the bulk of my income. So I do know that what she is saying works, because I do the exact same thing, selling physical printed chap book short stories at local carnivals, state fairs, craft fairs, festivals, and conventions, something I have been doing since the 1970s, and only recently stopped doing because the covid pandemic shut down most large events. I can expect to sell several HUNDRED copies of my paperback chapbooks EACH WEEK at local events. And since 1978, I have sold more than TEN MILLION copies of my books, with the bulk of those sales going to tourists on the beach at Old Orchard Beach, Maine, where I have permits to sell my books out of the trunk of my car.

Do consider cover art

When embarking on the journey of self-publishing a poetry (or short story) chapbook, one crucial aspect that should not be overlooked is the creation of a visually captivating cover design that effectively conveys the essence of your poems. A well-crafted cover serves as the initial gateway to entice potential readers and pique their curiosity about your poetic collection. It acts as a visual representation of the emotions, themes, and aesthetic atmosphere that awaits within the pages of your chapbook.

Now, her books were VERY plain.

• One was a cream colour with the line drawing of a log cabin. 
• One was pink with the line drawing of a wild flower. 
• One was yellow with the line drawing of a forest. 

They were very simple, but they were very effectivve and they reflected the simplicity and themes of her poems.

The one with the log cabin cover, featured a lot of poems about the mountain men of Maine, so the cover reflected this topic.

The one with the flower, contained lots of poems about children playing in fields in Maine, so again, on theme to the poems inside.

The forest cover art, contained poems about her childhood growing up in the deep forest of upstate Maine and again reflected what would be found inside.

Her skill at matching her cover art to her collections, I do believe, had a big impact on her sales.

By investing time and effort in designing an eye-catching cover, you engage potential readers on a deeper level, enticing them to explore the artistic world you've crafted. The cover design should harmonize with the tone and content of your poetry, evoking the emotions and themes that lie at the core of your work. Whether through symbolic imagery, delicate illustrations, or compelling typography, the cover should resonate with your target audience and offer a glimpse into the captivating journey your poetry undertakes.

Remember, the cover is your poetic ambassador, both online and on physical bookshelves. In the digital realm, it competes for attention amidst numerous other book covers, while in physical bookstores, it beckons passersby to pause and reach out for further exploration. A well-designed cover not only increases the chances of attracting potential readers but also demonstrates your commitment to professionalism and artistic integrity.

In essence, the creation of a visually appealing cover design plays a pivotal role in self-publishing a poetry chapbook, serving as a gateway to captivate readers and communicate the essence of your poetic artistry. It is an opportunity to showcase your creativity, entice curiosity, and leave a lasting impression that invites readers to embark on a profound and emotive journey through the pages of your poetry collection.

So when she was telling me about how she makes way more sales via chapbooks to local offline tourists from the Portland cruise ships who head to the underground (physically underground, under the sidewalks below Portland's city streets) poetry bars, I was just nodding my head and going "Yep, that makes sense, because I get far more local sales of my chapbook short stories in much the same way".

I will point out that the bars in Portland, Maine are frequented by Stephen King himself, and having him as a very, very, very local celebrity does contribute to why so many writers and poets flock to Portland bars and do poetry nights and buy each other's books, mostly in some vain hope of running into Stephen King, which almost never happens (because he moved to Florida in 1991 and it's actually his grandkids NOT him who live in Bangor), but happens often enough that these bars draw huge crowds, hundreds of wannabe poets and writers, who get drunk and buy each other's books… soooo… if you don't live in the Greater Portland area (which includes Bangor) of Maine, where there is an abnormally high concentration of writers hanging out in large groups, then, this offline method of selling chapbooks at bars, might not work, as it does seem to be a very specific to this region of Maine phenomenon.

According to the poets I have talked to, nearly 100% of their sales are to other poets, with it just being a community of poets buying poetry collections from each other, as a way to support each other… and… it appears that the mainstream general public is not the people buying the poem books, but rather that it is just poets selling to other poets. Again, this is similar to my own experiences with short stories.

Engaging in networking with fellow poets and actively participating in open mic nights or literary events can significantly broaden your reach as a poet and open doors to potential offline sales opportunities. The poetry community thrives on connection and collaboration, and by establishing relationships with other poets, you not only expand your support network but also gain access to their audiences. Through these connections, you can cross-promote each other's work, share recommendations, and mutually amplify your reach within the poetry community.

Open mic nights and literary events serve as vital platforms for showcasing your poetic talent and building a personal connection with a live audience. By taking the stage, you have the opportunity to captivate listeners with your words, emotions, and unique delivery. These events attract poetry enthusiasts, fellow artists, and potential readers who appreciate the power of spoken word and the intimate experience of hearing poetry performed. Engaging with them in this setting creates a memorable impression, sparking curiosity and driving interest in your poetry chapbooks.

Networking with other poets and participating in literary events also exposes you to offline sales opportunities. At these events, you can display and sell your chapbooks directly to an engaged audience who appreciates your poetry. Meeting readers in person allows for personal interactions, the chance to share insights about your work, and even sign copies, creating a more meaningful connection. Word-of-mouth recommendations often stem from these face-to-face interactions, leading to increased interest and potential sales beyond the event itself.

Furthermore, participating in open mic nights and literary events can lead to invitations to other venues, such as poetry festivals, book fairs, or workshops. These platforms enable you to further expand your reach, connect with a broader audience, and establish your presence within the poetry community. Additionally, being an active participant in the literary scene builds credibility and increases your visibility among publishers, literary organizations, and potential collaborators.

Networking with other poets and participating in open mic nights or literary events is essential for expanding your reach, generating offline sales opportunities, and establishing a solid presence in the poetry community. By building relationships, captivating live audiences, and leveraging personal interactions, you create a pathway for growth, collaboration, and the ongoing promotion of your poetry chapbooks.

Network, network, network... offline MORE then online!

Discovering the ideal local outlets to sell your poetry chapbooks is a vital step that can greatly enhance your visibility as a poet and foster meaningful connections with poetry enthusiasts within your community. These outlets serve as valuable platforms where your work can be showcased and appreciated by a receptive audience. Whether it's an independent bookstore, a coffee shop, an art gallery, or even local pubs hosting poetry nights, each outlet provides a unique opportunity to display and promote your chapbooks.

By selecting the right local outlets, you increase your chances of reaching poetry lovers who actively seek out literary works and support local artists. These outlets often cultivate a dedicated following of individuals who appreciate the written word and have a genuine interest in discovering new voices and artistic expressions. By positioning your chapbooks in these spaces, you tap into a ready-made audience that is more likely to engage with and purchase your work.

Furthermore, local outlets offer the advantage of fostering a sense of community engagement. They provide a physical presence for your poetry and allow for personal interactions with potential readers. Attendees at bookstores, coffee shops, and art galleries often relish the opportunity to meet and converse with local authors, creating a more intimate and memorable experience. These interactions can lead to valuable connections, word-of-mouth recommendations, and even collaborative opportunities with other artists in your community.

Identifying and partnering with the right local outlets to sell your poetry chapbooks is instrumental in gaining visibility, connecting with poetry enthusiasts, and establishing a strong presence within your community. By strategically placing your work in these outlets, you increase your chances of reaching an interested audience, fostering community support, and building meaningful relationships with fellow artists and readers alike. I am just such a huge supporter of getting your paperback print editions into every local outlet as you possibly can. You really do need to be your own biggest screaming fanboy/girl if you want to sell your work, and no where can you do that better then offline giftshops and events.

Exploring collaborative opportunities with local coffee shops, art galleries, and independent bookstores can unlock unique avenues for poets to showcase and sell their poetry chapbooks. These establishments, known for their vibrant and artistic atmospheres, offer the perfect setting to captivate and engage with potential readers. Coffee shops, with their cozy ambiance and loyal patrons, create a warm and inviting space where readers can leisurely browse through poetry collections while sipping their favorite brew.

Art galleries, on the other hand, provide an immersive visual experience, allowing poetry chapbooks to complement and be inspired by the exhibited artwork. By aligning your chapbooks with the themes and aesthetics of the gallery, you create a harmonious union of visual and literary arts that attracts art enthusiasts and literary-minded individuals alike. Independent bookstores, known for their curated selections and personalized customer service, provide a haven for book lovers seeking unique and niche works. Collaborating with these stores allows poets to tap into a dedicated community of literary enthusiasts who actively support local authors. By strategically placing your chapbooks in these establishments, you not only gain visibility but also cultivate a connection with readers who appreciate the charm of physical books and the experience of browsing through a curated collection.

Collaborative partnerships with local coffee shops, art galleries, and independent bookstores offer poets a platform to exhibit their chapbooks, creating an immersive experience for readers while nurturing a sense of community and support for local literary talent.

Organize Your Own Events

But what if you can't find one in your area? Well, organize one! I used to do this at local libraries for short story writers (pre-2013 when I became crippled and could not host such things anymore).

When aiming to promote your poetry chapbook and establish connections with potential readers, one effective strategy worth considering is organizing a poetry reading or author event at a local bookstore. Such events provide a valuable opportunity to engage with a live audience, share your poetic vision, and create a memorable experience that resonates with attendees.

By hosting a poetry reading or author event, you bring your words to life, infusing them with your unique voice and interpretation. This personal connection allows your audience to experience your poetry in an intimate and authentic way, forging a deeper appreciation for your work. Additionally, these events enable you to showcase not only the poems from your chapbook but also your performance skills as a poet, leaving a lasting impression on attendees.

Local bookstores, known for their literary ambiance and supportive communities, serve as ideal venues for such events. They attract book enthusiasts and poetry lovers, providing a receptive audience eager to discover new voices and engage with local artists. Collaborating with a bookstore not only amplifies your visibility but also taps into an existing network of readers who appreciate and actively seek out literary experiences.

Moreover, organizing a poetry reading or author event fosters meaningful connections and dialogue with your audience. Attendees have the opportunity to engage with you directly, ask questions, share their thoughts, and even purchase signed copies of your chapbook. This interaction cultivates a sense of community and creates loyal readers who feel connected to both your poetry and your journey as a writer.

Considering the organization of a poetry reading or author event at a local bookstore presents an impactful way to promote your chapbook, captivate potential readers, and cultivate lasting connections. By sharing your poetry in a live setting, you forge a deeper bond with your audience, leaving an indelible impression that extends beyond the pages of your chapbook.

Consider Social Media

Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter offer poets valuable tools to establish a strong online presence and direct traffic towards their offline sales outlets. By leveraging these platforms, poets can engage with a wider audience, share snippets of their poetry, and provide insights into their creative process. Through targeted content and strategic use of hashtags, poets can attract followers who share a passion for literature. By showcasing their poetry and promoting upcoming events or sales, poets can drive interested readers to their physical outlets, generating real-world connections and book sales. However, I am not good at using social media and know little about it, so you'll have to ask someone else how to go about doing this aspect of things.

Get Your Book of Amazon!

The primary reason for having your books available online, especially on Amazon, is to gain reviews. I'm not good in this area at all. More then half my books are NOT available on Amazon, so if people who buy them offline at events wanted to leave a review they are left with no options to do so. I'm just plan bad at marketing and I know it. But this is why my poet friend says she makes sure all her poem books are also on Amazon, even though she gets very few sales from Amazon and does not focus her primary marketing towards generating Amazon sales. Remember to collect feedback and reviews from readers who purchased your poetry chapbook at local outlets, as positive reviews can generate word-of-mouth recommendations and boost sales.

While Amazon and Goodreads may not be the most lucrative platforms for directly selling poetry chapbooks, they hold significant value as avenues for collecting reviews from readers who purchased your books at open mic nights and other live events. By listing your book on these platforms, you create an opportunity to gather valuable feedback and testimonials that can contribute to the growth and success of your poetry chapbook.

Amazon and Goodreads have large communities of avid readers who actively engage in reviewing and rating books. By encouraging readers who have purchased your chapbook at local outlets or live events to leave reviews on these platforms, you not only gather valuable insights into how your work is resonating with readers but also enhance your book's online presence. Positive reviews can generate word-of-mouth recommendations, increasing the visibility and credibility of your poetry chapbook among a wider audience.

Even if your primary focus for selling poetry chapbooks lies in offline outlets such as open mic nights and local bookstores, having your book listed on Amazon can serve as a supplementary marketing tool. It provides a centralized platform where interested readers can learn more about your work, discover your author profile, and access additional information about upcoming events or collaborations. This can contribute to establishing your author brand and expanding your reach beyond physical locations.

Additionally, Goodreads, being a dedicated platform for book lovers, offers a space for poets to connect with a community of passionate readers. By listing your chapbook on Goodreads, you gain visibility among a targeted audience who actively seek out and discuss books. Engaging with this community by participating in discussions, joining book clubs, or sharing updates can foster connections and generate further interest in your poetry chapbook.

While Amazon and Goodreads may not serve as primary sales outlets for poetry chapbooks, they play a crucial role in gathering reviews, boosting credibility, and extending your reach as a poet. Leveraging these platforms allows you to harness the power of online communities and establish a digital presence that complements your offline selling efforts, ultimately contributing to the success of your poetry chapbook.

So, near as I can tell, selling poetry on Amazon or anywhere else online, is almost impossible, though Amazon is far better then other places, but, also, it seems that selling offline only works if you happen to live in some sort of art district where abnormally large groups of poets hang out and buy each other's work. And you probably shouldn't expect the general public to buy your poem books.

In any case, from what every poet I've talked to says, submitting to magazines is usually a waste of time if you are looking to do this as a career, and it's better to focus on offline chapbook collection sales instead.

So, yeah, I don't know if this is actually helpful to you or not. I don't know what places to look for to submit poems to, and this info here is just about the only thing I know at all about poetry.

Hopefully something here helps you out. Good luck with your project!

Sorry, I couldn't be more help.

---

Update: July 6, 2023

I'm getting messages about Atwaters flipping out over the RainMan movie post I mentioned the other day. I don't know what they are talking about, but they seem to have movies mixed up or something.

I'm sorry, no... I don't think they have a clue what the RainMan movie is... they SERIOUSLY are mixing it up with something else, I don't know what... this is the RainMan movie... THIS is REAL and ACTUAL Autism, not to be confused with Aspergers which has no medical connection to Autism whatsoever... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH6S0wKKGBM

THIS is what I have, and the Atwaters'd know that, had they ever met me in person and talked to me face to face because THIS is also EXACTLY how I talk and act... don't be fooled by the fact that I can think and type, because thinking and typing does NOT translate into how I act or talk...

THIS is REAL AND ACTUAL Autism https://youtu.be/G4Hwsz1sQmc

THIS is what I have, and they'd know that, had they ever met me in person and talked to me face to face because THIS is also EXACTLY how I talk and act... don't be fooled by the fact that I can think and type, because thinking and typing does NOT translate into how I act or talk.

And THIS is why no one can say nothing or do nothing near me, because I REMEMBER EVERYTHING word for word, line for line... even without the camera running 24/7... THIS is REAL and ACTUAL Autism, not to be confused with Aspergers which has no medical connection to Autism whatsoever... https://youtu.be/gN2ZP-q_qpc

THIS is what I have, THIS is how I talk and act and what I do... THIS is why I can not go out in public without a caretaker with me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioMspoSNgmw

the fact that these people who are gossiping about me and spreading rumours about me, do not know that THIS is what I am like, just proves even more that these people don't actually know me... which yet again, leads me to ask, what is their motive? Also who are they? I don't know a single one of these people... yes the Atwaters are relatives, but they are not people I ever met before, other then the group of 400+ of them that attack my farm every year on September 19th because that day means something to them, for some reason... they show up with assault rifles and shoot up every house on my street, beat people up, rape all my female neighbours -the most recent rape gang attack happened at my 27 High Street Biddeford apartment February 2019, when they also did $230k in damages to the building, totaled my Volvo (which I since had rebuilt and is now back on the road), sent 7 people to the hospital, annd left 27 families homeless due to the apartment building being condemned because of the damages. , and I've no clue who they are except they call themselves "The Davids and Lucys and Halls" they claim to be my uncle David's kids and grandkids,, but I have no way to confirm if they are who they say they are ot not. They are always led by a blond woman named Yvonne and her blond brother Shem, at least that's the names they say for themselves. But those are the only Atwaters I know and the Old Orchard Beach Police are scared shitless of them. I know this because every year when the Atwaters arrive we call the police, the police send 10 or 12 officers over, then the police throw their hands up in the air, say they do not have either the man power or weapon resources to deal with it and leave.

Old Orchard Beach Police Officer Will Watson, said during the 1996 Atwater attack on my farm: "You don't understand, these people form a small army, we are not equipped to deal with a situation like this; the state police aren't even equipped to deal with this. You don't need to police, you need the coast guards, or the marines, call the justice department, maybe they can pool their resources and get enough people here to help, but I doubt it; The Scottish Traveller Crime Family is four hundred people strong, there aren't even that many police officers in the entire state of Maine, there's nothing we can do, our hands are tied, there's just too many of them"

THOSE are the pepole who are right now contacting my followers on FaceBook, right now running around offline locally in Biddeford... THOSE people, are the Atwaters who are doing this weird thing of making strange claims of things I've said or done, things that I'm not physically able too say or do at all. But why? What is their motive? I don't know. I do know that Davd himself sent me a hand written letter in the mail, stating he and his crew are angry that I sent the FBI to their compound in Paylyra, Maine... but the thing is, I DIDD NOT send the FBI over there and I don't know what my Uncle David is even talking about.

The FBI has been here too. A LOT. Six different FBI agents have been to the Biddeford apartment more then a dozen times each just since 2021, and it's usually to ask questions about some bomb that they said they found at the White House in Washington DC. They keep showing me pictures of it and asking if it looks like the bomb that blew up my house October 16, 2006. It does not. The bomb that blew up my house was a yellow grease fryer with brough corn cobs painted all over it, and the bombs in the pictures the FBI keep bring over are like long silver metal sewer pipes. They don't look the same at all. But the agents said they have evidence they were made by the same person. Well, in March 2017 the FBI arrested my uncle Paul Martal for the bomb that blew up my house, and also the bomb that blew up my doctor's clinic on Saco Ave in February 2003, and 4 more bombs in Boston March 2013. Apparently my uncle Paul Martel built a lot of bombs over a lot of years and the one that blew up my house in 2006 was one of his early test bombs... but anyways, the FBI agents who been coming over the past few months said they had video footage of my uncle David's wife, sister, and 23 of his grandkids in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, they said they had stolen some woman's speaking pulpit, Nancy something, I think her last name began with a P? They said one of my cousins (they called her Yvonne, but I don't know any cousin named Yvonne... I have more then six hundred first cousins and more then two thousand second and third cousins (most of my Atwater relatives are FLDS polygamists with 5 to 15 wives each, so they father a LOT of kids) but I've only met ten of my cousins (Uncle Brucies 6 kids and Aunt Barbara's 4 kids)and so, there are six hundred cousins whom I have never met before, so I could have a dozen or more cousins named Yvonne and not know it!) and her son took it to Florida and that her son went to prison, and they are looking for the rest of David's crew who helped him steal the Nancy's woman's pulpit. They said the bomb they showed me pictures of was in her office and they think it was my uncle David's 23 grandkids who were down there who did it.

This is all confusing to me because the FBI was saying super crazy shit like that Donald Trump was president, which made me question if they were real FBI agents, but nope apparently Donald Trump really was president! How crazy is that? I don't have a TV or read newspapers so I don't know about politic shit. Politics is dull boring crap because it is jus nothing but people fighting with each other over stupid stuff that isn't important, while people are being hurt and no politician ever does a damned thing to help people, so, I don't know who the Nancy woman was, but apparently she worked for President Trump or something. It's just all too confusing for me and I zoned out and didn't listen to half of it, so I don't know what exactly it is that my uncle David's crew did down in Washington DC January 6, 2021, but whatever it is, it involved stealing some Nacy woman's pulpit and a pipe bomb, and the FBI agents were here for a good 5 hours asking me tons of questions about it and I had no clue what the fuck they was talking about. It was all very weird.

But, anyways, The FBI started showing up asking all sort of questions about David's crew on January 15, 2021, and I know nothing about David's group at all, so I had no answers to any of the FBI's questions other then "I don't know", "I don't know", "I don't know", "I don't know", "I don't know", "I don't know", and a lot more "I don't know".

February 14, 2021 I get a handwritten letter in the mail from David himself, all upset because he claims I sent the FBI to the compound in Palmyra/Bangor, Maine. I haven't got a clue what he is even talking about. I didn't send the FBI anywhere, I didn't even know David was in Maine at all, last I knew he was in Wyomin!

Then October 21, 2021, FBI agents show up again. There was a Fed Ex truck parked in front of our Biddeford apartment. It had been their a few weeks, broken down, taking up 3 parking spaces in front of the front porch. Never thought anything of it, figured Fed ex driver would be back to have it towed, but it sat their from Sept 2021 to November 2021... well, on October 21, 2021, I was out in my driveway repainting my Volvo, parked beside the Fed Ex truck, when the back door rolls open and four FBI agents climb out, and tell me, that they suspect a relative of my son's murderer (he was murdered November 14, 2013) had just moved into our building and that's why they had set up surveillance in the supposedly broken down Fed Ex truck. They ask me, can I hold off on painting the mural on my car, and can I instead, pull my car up into the back yard where it can not be seen from the road, where it can only be seen from 7 windows of the 3 upstairs apartments in our building. Then they give me a message to paint on the roof, hood, and trunk of my car... the one which detailed info about the November 14, 2013 murder of my son, but with the date of the April 10, 2015 attack on my farm, ending with a request for witnesses to call the FBI hotline phone number.

They then pointed out several other trucks parked in the area, on Cutts St, Harvey, Bradberry, Western Ave, and said there were agents in every one of them and if I needed to, I could walk up to any one of those trucks and ask for help or hand them info.

Within 10 hours Porch bitch showed up for the first time.

The next day a homeless man showed up, claiming his mother often bragged to having crippled me at the college... 2 weeks later he showed up dead on the train tracks behind our apartment building, and every day from November 21, 2021 to May 17, 2022 porch bitch showed up chanting his name.

September 19, 2021 was the BIGGEST and MOST DESTRUCTIVE attack to ever hit my Old Orchard Beach Farm... FBI asked me to mention NONE of the details online, so, no details have been released to the public at all.

What info was allowed to be made public, was that, all the 50foot tall cedar hedge trees across the front of my land were cut down, the infamous backhoe from 2013 returned, cut a road through my yard, attacked BOTH my neighbors to either side of me by digging up BOTH their septic tanks and cutting off their water supply from the city water, and made a MASSIVE attempt to locate my murdered son's grave by digging up ALL THREE of our yards... mine at 146, and both my neighbors at 144 and 148.

They made a monumentally HUGE attempt to find and destroy my murdered son's grave.

Why?

While it is known who owns the backhoe, he claims, same as he did in 2013 when it drove over my house, that it was stolen... many, many, many MILLIONS in damages were done to the 3 properties attacked, dozens of graves, some of them Native American from the 1600s's were dug up... and... MANY MILLIONS in heroin were shoved under my big pink motorhome, in an attempt to frame me for being in possession of fentanyl.

And... a member of my family was murdered....who, has not yet been released... nor has how they died been released.

THAT, is the ONLY info that has been allowed to be released to the public... but that info is only a tiny fraction of what was done during the September 19, 2021 attack on my farm on Portland Ave.

The FBI has put my uncle David's family, specifically his grandchildren, as their #1 suspects in this 2021 attack.

And the huge slander smear campaign on Twitter, FaceBook, and spread across more then 300 user accounts on Reddit, started November 21, 2021, and the FBI believes that porch bitch is the scape goat for David's grandkids...

...the FBI pointed out that the shoot out with the Connecticut drug gang in 1982, that happened on my farm, was between David, Brucie, and the drg gang. The FBI believes this whole thing has something to do with something the Atwaters did with the Connecticut drug gang back in 1968, BEFORE I WAS EVEN BORN!!!

The FBI also said they believe that David's grandkids are the ones behind the weird slander defamation smear campaign going on online, slandering my name everywhere, because according to the FBI the dead guy from 2021, went to church with one of Ben's friends who is one of David's grandkids friends.

And I'm just sitting here confused out of my mind, because I've never had anything to do with David, his relatives, any drug dealers, or any of this other stuff, and I can't figure out why they are trying to drag me into it... but, the FBI says that David somehow got it into his head that I was the one who "ratted him out" (what the fuck? ratted him out for what? what does that even mean?) but the FBI says they think it was ACTUALLY David's sister Barbara who ratted him out, but that she did it using my name so that she wouldn't take the blame for ratting him out.

And when I asked why the heck would she use MY name? The FBI said, they think she picked me because of my Autism. They said, that she spends an inordinate amount of time at local karaoke bars, spreading huge amounts of lies and gossip about me, with her girlfriend "crackhead Cammilla" (whoever the hell that is) and that, she's been dong it in bars around Old Orchard, Biddeford, and Kennebunk, Maine for well over fifteen years now!... they said she started doing it around the same time her husband Paul Martel blew up my house with a bomb, and they suspect that she started doing it, to try to take attention away from her husband (who is now in prison for building said bomb)... the FBI said they have a lot of surveillance footage of her calling me "a worthless brain dead retard" and stating that no one would miss me if I was gone. The FBI said she was unaware that I was in 2 Stephen King movies (which I'm not... but people are saying I am because of that illegal guerilla filming method of how Stephen King movies were filmed) and had written a bestselling novel that had sold ten million copies, so she was unaware how famous I was or that, by trying to pin the drug stuff on me, that they would end up making it VERY EASY to track everyone involved, simple because I was so VERY famous online.

They said The Atwaters were unaware of how famous I was, until in 2021, when a bunch of Stephen King fans who live in York County, Maine, made an issue about the fact that I, The Gypsy witch from The Thinner movie, was being harassed big time... and it was at that point that David's grandkids realized they had not only opened a can of worms, they had stomped on a fucking hornet's nest of angry Stephen King fans.

They said Stephen King fans quickly recognized that I was the severely retarded mute autistic girl whom Stephen King wrote DOZENS of stories about (did he? I don't know; I've never read a Stephen King book or watched a Stephen King movie... he's just one of my neighbours, I don't know anything about his work; I don't understand why is Stephen King so obsessed with me and my Gypsy family and my supposedly haunted car, that isn't haunted but no one ever listens to me, because they all say Stephen King told them it was haunted... and now, the FBI agents are saying he has made over a dozen books and movies about retarded mute autistic girls who are all based off of me! What the hell? Why is he doing this?

I don't like that Stephen King uses me as the basis of his characters, I don't like it at all; I never gave him permission to write about me, he never had permission to film Thinner on my farm either, I'm still mad about that too.... but now they are telling me that he is just super obsessed with my severe levels of Autism and that he has been obsessively writing weird ass horror shit that brands me as some kind of crazed mute psychopath with demon powers because I have Autism?

What the fuck? It never ends with Stephen King does it?! He just finds one way to slander and defame me after another and I'm so sick of it. Who the hell is this guy that he thinks he can get away with this stuff? You know what the FBI said... they said that EVERY major big time violent attack on me, my cars, my family, my farm... EVERY ONE OF THEM... coincides with the release date of a Stephen King book.

The FBI thinks Stephen King has some psycho fan who knows Stephen King is basing stuff off my life and is deliberately harassing my family JUST TO SEE how long it takes Stephen King to publish a book about what the harasser did to my family this time!

What the fuck!

You know writing books about my Autism and branding me as demon powered because of my autism is ablest shit, harassing a disabled person, right?

The FBI said that was why they sealed up all the police reports and got everything listed as classified, because they said they don't want Stephen King reading any more news reports about the harassment of my family and profiting off the murders and trauma ad suffering my family is going through any more! ).... and that Stephen King fans were outraged that some with low functioning Autism, that was so severely disabling as my Autism is, were outraged, that I was being harassed on mega extreme levels.

The FBI said once Stephen King's fans realized who I was and what was going on, that the FBI hotline has been FLOODED with calls coming in from ALL OVER THE PLANET... tens of thousands of calls each month... which have lead to DOZENS of arrests of a LOT of people connected to this Connecticut drug gang.

And they said THIS is why David believes I ratted him out... even though I did not. They said so many Stephen King fans have been calling the FBI phone number on my car and FaceBook and website, that they were able to gather up a LOT of evidence against a LOT of Atwaters... and that is why the Atwaters have gone mega hyper smear campaign, because the Atwaters believe it was ME who called the FBI..

...but the fact remains, as always... I am looking for the murderer of my son, and I have no interest in the Atwaters or their drug dealing hoodlum friends. I just want to know who murdered my son, that's the reason the FBI hotline number is there.

But... apparently, the Atwaters thought the FBI phone number was there to turn them in... which is weird, because it clearly states if you have information about the murder of my son... why would the Atwaters think it was about them, unless they were the ones who murdered my son?

I am just baffled and confused by the people around Biddeford and Old Orchard who tell me in person and the people online on FaceBook and Twitter who tell me online, that they are being contacted by Atwaters telling them things I supposedly said or did, and it's never anything I am even capable of saying or doing, but besides that who are these Atwaters who are doing this, why are they ding it, why do they think I should know them when I don't know the Atwaters at all, and why do they think they know me, and where are they sourcing this freaked out weird ass info they claim is about me, but it isn't about me, and why are they attributing it to me? It just seems like they have me mixed up with someone else, especially since they are saying they get emails from me but I don't use email, I never have, I don't even know how to use email, so I looks like someone is pretending to be me to get them worked up, but who or why, I don't know... but also whoever it is seems to be unaware I have Autism, seems to be just as unaware of my Autism as the Atwaters also clearly are unaware.

This whole thing is all just so very strange and I don't understand any of it. They are so disruptive of my life, and I can't figure out what the motive behind any of it is.

It's very frustrating not knowing who these people are or why they are doing the stuff they are doing.

---

What do you want to become? 
What did you do today to step closer to that goal?
Whatever you do, be your best at it!
And remember to have yourself a great and wonderfully glorious day!

~EK
EelKat.com
pinterest.com/eelkat/

By EelKat Wendy C Allen

If you ever made fun of or had any part in the destruction of my farm, and the illegal selling of half of my land to Colliard, you shall lose your land.

If you ever made fun of or had any part in my being homeless since 2006 - YES, I AM still homeless in 2023, you shall become homeless.

If you ever made fun of or had any part in the backhoe driving over my house, you shall lose your house.

If you ever made fun of or had any part in my car being cut in half, you shall lose your car.

If you ever made fun of or had any part in my becoming crippled, you shall lose your health.

If you ever made fun of or had any part in the murder of my son, your child shall die an equally horrible death.

Evil men go out of their way to try to drive a person to suicide.

Are you an evil man?

Are you sure you're not?

How many people have YOUR hate filled words killed?

Next time you go to do a mean thing to a fellow human, stop and really think about the consequences of your actions.

Did you ever notice how every one has a story to tell about me, yet not one of them ever speaks the truth?

What lies has YOUR gossiping tongue spread about me?

Did you know...

October 16, 2006, bomb blew up my house because of YOUR lies.

August 8, 2013, the house which replaced the one the bomb blew up, was driven over by a backhoe.

November 14, 2013, my 8 month old infant son was murdered because of your lies.

November 14, 2013, I was beaten up, paralized for 5 months, spent 18 weeks relearning to walk, I'm now crippled for the rest of my life, because of YOUR lies.

Are you proud of what you have done?

Enjoy your eternity in Hell. You earned it. You've certainly worked hard for it.

~EelKat

If you have any information about any of these events, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322