Gina Bowen lives, breathes, and photographs the mountains of Eastern Tennessee. She spends her time writing poetry and short stories on her porch and getting lost in the woods with her pups to photograph the beautiful landscapes.
Read MoreSome parts of self-publishing are scarier than others, and sometimes we look at the task ahead of us and wonder if writing the actual book was the easy part, especially when it comes to needing skills that some people go to college just to fully understand. But it doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating.
Read MoreReading poetry is cathartic to me. Reading poetry is supposed to be raw, confessional, a love, or hate letter from the poet to the reader. It’s supposed to be messy and thought-provoking. You make a statement; you have an impact on people through your words. You’re brave enough to touch on topics nobody else will do with such ferocity, sensibility, and finesse.
Cassie Senn’s first poetry chapbook, published in 2020, takes all the above into account and delivers poetry that cuts deep. “The Changing Temperatures of Heartache” is a collection of narrative short poems; each one takes over a single page and just because of that formatting, you get the idea that you peek into the narrator’s diary. It’s an excellent example of confessional poetry that ignites discussion around love that breaks you and cures you.
Read MoreConstance is somewhat of a late starter when it comes to writing. Growing up in a regular working-class family in the Flemish coastal region of Belgium, she didn’t have access to the right support network to be able to realize her dormant literary impulses.
Read MoreTala Woods (she/her) is an English-Syrian-Irish poet based in the UK, whose work focuses on identity, culture, love and everyday life. Tala’s poetry and articles have been published by publications such as Train River Publishing, By Me Poetry, Global Comment and CHERRYBOY Magazine. Before the pandemic, she ran poetry workshops offline (and online during lockdowns) which received extremely positive and rewarding feedback. Tala is also the co-founder of The Soft Approach (@thesoftapproach), a zine that aims to tackle tough issues with a soft approach. Before the pandemic, the poet ran poetry workshops offline (and online during lockdowns) which received extremely positive and rewarding feedback. You can find her work on Instagram (@talawrites).
Read MoreJudging a book by its cover is largely discouraged, but we all do it anyway. Sometimes, we might even buy a book just because we like the way it looks on our shelves. With this in mind, it’s important that we design a good and professional-looking cover, but this can be hard to do on a budget since most professional designers charge upwards of $400. It’s widely discouraged to design a book cover yourself unless you’re a professional or, at the very least, fairly skills in the labours of art and design, and if not, that you’re willing to learn how to be.
Read MoreBook descriptions have been the enemies of writers for as long as most of us can remember. No matter what genre you’re writing or how confident you are in your manuscript, if you’re publishing, you’re probably stressed about your book’s blurb.
Read MoreFaye Alexandra Rose (she/her) is a prose writer and poet from the midlands, UK. Her work has been published by multiple magazines and has even appeared on a spoken word podcast on Spotify. She is a Magazine Editor at small leaf press and has recently graduated with a first-class degree in Creative and Professional Writing and English Literature.
Read MoreEmily Perkovich is from the Chicago-land area. She is an Art Evaluator for Persephone's Daughters, and she spends her free time in the city with her family. Her work strives to erase the stigma surrounding trauma victims and their responses.
Read MoreBoil the kettle, steep your tea and gather your thoughts. Breathe, stretch out your body on the mat before you bring it to your desk. Gather your energy, take a slow sip of your tea and start to write. Listen out for the bird call through your open window; nature’s accompaniment to this moment of creative surrender and solitude.
Read MoreNow that your book is more than just a mess of different files on your computer, it might be tempting to say that your work here is done. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There’s still a pretty big fish to fry, and it’s pretty elusive at times: how do you tell people about your book?
Read MoreYou’ve written a book, published it, and have, or are preparing to advertise it to your heart’s content. If it’s safe to do so, you might find yourself wanting to do book signings, poetry readings, and other publish events. Or maybe you want to throw an official book launch before, during, or shortly after the release of your book. Finding and booking these events can feel awfully daunting, especially since it all depends on your location. But there are some basics that apply to everyone.
Read MoreKristiana Reed is the founder and editor of Free Verse Revolution: a literary magazine. Reed took over the Free Verse Revolution WordPress blog over two years ago, from Canadian novelist Nicholas Gagnier, and in January 2021 relaunched the blog as a literary magazine. The heart of FVR lies in the sharing of work by writers and creators from all over the world, and it prides itself in the diverse voices it has shared thus far.
Read MoreSabina Leybold is a copywriter by day and poet by night. Her work has been heard at the Portland Poetry Slam and been read in Honeyfire Literary Magazine and NEW NORMAL Zine. You can find Sabina hunting for street art in Philadelphia or on Instagram at @finding.finesse.
Read MoreIf you have a chapbook completed, and you’re ready to get moving with the publishing process, there’s a lot to consider. Hopefully, we’re able to lay the options out in a way that helps you decide what path is right for you and your chapbook.
Read MoreLinda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has seven published chapbooks, and we had a little chat with her to celebrate her contribution to our Summer 2021 Anthology.
Read MoreIn our previous post, we talked about what a chapbook is and how it can help you gain the attention of readers and publishers alike. Today we will start crafting. So take out your red editing pencil, put your intellectual blue filtered glasses on, and let’s go.
Read MoreYou don’t have to have a vault filled with your poetry in order to be able to print a chapbook. You can create one with as little as thirty poems. In this series of blog posts, we will show you how. We will take you from having a pile of poems on a dusty folder on your computer, to actually having a fully-fledged poetry book in your hands. You will be surprised by what you can do with a ton of free or almost free tools on the World Wide Web. So, let’s get started.
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