My first book of poetry, Level Watch, came out this fall with June Road Press, an independent micropress that currently publishes two books of poetry each fall. During the five years of submitting my manuscript, it sometimes felt like there were only two narratives about the path to publication: “Debut Poet’s Overnight Success!” or “After Years of Rejection, Roaring Success!” I know not everyone’s publication journey fits neatly into one or the other, but these were the stories I most often heard—likely because they are extremes and therefore memorable. Easy, breezy success versus fighting tooth and nail for success.
On the surface, my path to publication might seem to fit the “After Years of Rejection . . .” trajectory (“Roaring Success” part still TBD), but I feel uncomfortable claiming that narrative—something about the oversimplification makes me feel disingenuous. In the spirit of transparency and in case it helps you during the expensive, tedious, and existential process of sending out your debut poetry collection, I want to share the hard numbers from those five years as well as some practical lessons I learned along the way.