Tiny Write by Lulu_D, November 23 2024

i don't have much experience with poetry books, but i did recently self-publish a novella so i think i can speak to the publishing part (if you decide to go the self-publishing route rather than traditionally publishing, which i recommend for your first time publishing). 

i think the best option for self-publishing is to use a print on demand company, which are basically just companies that print your book whenever a copy is ordered online. you should do some research on the different companies out there (reedsy was really helpful for me for this) and then decide which company fits your needs the best. the companies can differ on page quality, image quality, cost, distribution, etc. it all really depends on how much you're willing to pay/what you want out of a company. i personally chose ingram spark because it fit my needs—the cost was decent, quality was good, and was really helpful in the actual distribution of my book. a lot of people say ingram spark's website is confusing and not user-friendly, but i didn't have very many problems with it. 

i also recommend getting an isbn. this is super easy, you basically just have to go to the government website and fill out some basic paperwork about yourself/your work, and wait a few days/weeks for them to accept it. be patient with this—government offices are notoriously slow. i also got a library of congress control number, which basically allows you to put your book in libraries. this isn't required, but i thought it was just an added bonus. 

poetry books will differ from longer fiction, so i'm not actually sure if the self-publishing process is different, but i think it should be relatively the same as it was for me. but remember google is always available, and it's super helpful! 

for your other questions—i think the length you chose (40 poems) is perfect/standard for a book of poetry, but honestly the genre varies so much that it's sort of up to you. my advice for this would be to make sure the poems relate in some way or follow a similar theme, just for the book to be coherent. as for picking a title, a lot of the poets i've seen have taken a line from a poem or a title of a poem as the title of the overall book, especially if the line encapsulates what your book's main message is. 

i hope this was helpful, and please reach out if you need any help/advice with self-publishing!! :)