I thought to myself that if I was to publish a book full of poems that it would be best to publish a chapbook. What’s a chapbook? A chapbook, which has been produced for hundreds of years, is a shorter book comprising only 50 pages or fewer. Many poets publish their first books, being chapbooks to display their work.
The other reasons I decided to publish a chapbook are:
It’s Less Costly
Since there are only a certain amount of pages… the way I see chapbooks is that it’s the same way a mixtape is of music to albums. There’s a small amount of time towards publishing a chapbook versus publishing a full-blown book, so to speak.
I Wanted to Dip My Foot in The Waters First
I didn’t want to go full in when publishing an actual full-fledged book, for me I wanted to see what the process was, get an idea how a book is published, plus I had to take into consideration the cover page, spine, and back cover which are all important factors, and trust me I’ve learned a lot with the process. I had no clue what bleeding is on a page or what exactly a spine was, so it was an eye opener. So when I’m ready to publish a full-fledged book of poems, then I’m ready.
Quicker Results
With less amount of writing to do means less time to write the manuscript. I know some people may look down on that, but what I mean by this is basically what I’ve stated earlier, I wanted to dip my foot first, see what the process is of how publishing a book works and then work on any improvements that are needed when publishing a book that needs more time at hand.
It’s Suitable For Self-Publishing
Even though I still think that it’s vital to find a publisher, self-publishing for me was the best decision I’ve made, and I’ll continue to go this route. Here, I can afford to put a little of money into this because it’s a cheaper route to go. For me, it makes no sense to find a publisher for them to put in all the work, get no royalties just to conduct a 40 page chapbook, it just makes no sense. Plus, there’s more creative freedom, which I’ll explain further on the reasons I went into the direction of self-publishing.
Do you notice that the word lover is not plural and more so singular?
This is because it’s not about two people, it’s about oneself and how one is managing through life while finding themselves and loving themselves.
The pool reflects anxiety and how to cope with it while keeping your head above water. The theme will be ethereal, something magical, something special, all while one realizes that these are temporary floods at hand.
I’ll just start off by saying that this is my first book. It’s a chapbook, so there won’t be a lot of pages. The maximum number of pages there will be is 43 to 44 pages with the sum of 18 poems. I say that range because I’m publishing this on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and there’s an extra page on Barnes & Noble.
The season of last summer was bittersweet for me — things just came and went. My birthday falls in July… another year of life that’s worth celebrating, meanwhile my Uncle’s in the hospital fighting for his with Cancer. Even while I took the week off to celebrate my birthday, it was hard to ignore the fact that this may be it for my Uncle; I didn’t know when, I just knew it would come, and four days after my birthday, he passed away. It seemed to be the finale of that week with my birthday.
Death puts things into perspective. Last year, especially during the summer, I was trying to find myself creative wise. I attempted to practice playing the keyboards (still an ongoing process), painted, sketched, began doing pottery, started singing again, and writing short stories that eventually turned into poetry.
Growing up, I was always fond of poetry. I just didn’t know how to write it. It gets a bad rap for being a snobby form of creative writing, with the stereotype of having to bring a dictionary to look up fancy words hard to pronounce and intimidate many. Also, there’s that stereotype of having to rhyme per sentence and paragraph, which is beyond false. Some of the best and most notable poets barely rhymed in their poems (Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, etc.). The misconception of feeling out of place for the reader, creates the imposter syndrome not appealing to the general crowd. However, through trauma, I finally got it.
All these pent-up frustrations of why I made it feel as if I couldn’t breathe. Anxiety’s a bitch for real. There were times where I felt like I couldn’t breathe, over hyperventilating, other times it was just pure worrying. I’d worry about when and where I would have the seizure. Would it be at work? At home? While I’m out for a run, or worst event full of people? A concert, the movies, crossing the street? What about at the groceries? It was no longer me being afraid of the nocturnal seizures that I’ve had before. All thoughts let to my demise. Just trying to navigate this change in my life has been an uphill battle. Most days are good. I release the frustrations through journaling, being outdoors, going for a run, laughing, spending time with family and friends, and just being creative, but I felt mad and sad.
So, with the evolution of my writing, I journaled. The journaling inspired me to write short stories… specifically horror themed stories, in which led to writing poems. I know that’s an ironic order— from horror short stories to poems, but this was the case I couldn’t control the journey.
I didn’t want to just start off by the struggles of being black, because we all know that struggle. Despite it, I wanted to state the message of the struggles of mental health, having an invisible disability, being a woman while being black. It was a message that we’re human and we struggle too.
I’m 90 percent finished with this book. I have the cover-page; I’ve reedited the manuscript while cutting down several poems (from 30 to 18 poems). The colour theme of the cover page will be purple, which is the colour to bring awareness on Epilepsy.
Creatively, there’s joy in expressing the trauma. Overall, my life has not been an easy journey besides this condition, but I’ve always pushed forward. Poems are not about fancy words and rhyming per sentence and paragraph, it’s about painting words to a canvas creating a mental picture, in formation to any aesthetic you want in whatever rhythm you’d like.
I’m not even sure how good the poems are, but this risk is something I need to do for myself to feed into my goal of publishing a book, in my own terms and creative control. I’m not expecting this to sell a million copies (although the money would help and I’d welcome it greatly), but I hope it reaches someone who’s struggling with whatever. Because that’s the whole point:
The writer connecting with the reader.
The name of my book: The Lover’s Pool (Out June 14th)
I never knew the importance of the measurements of a book until now. There’s so many intricate details when coming with not only the order of pages, but the measurements of the front and back cover, the book spine, and my poems being placed correctly.
What is a book spine?
So with my research in many articles on Google, a book spine is the outside edge of a book that you’d see at a library or bookstore — that usually carries the title of the book. The spine allows the book to open and close, and measures the number of pages there are and the sizing of the front and back cover. This is one of the most important factor when putting together your book.
PDF vs. Word
Since Amazon is my main publishing site, pdf is my best friend! When know how to process everything and exporting it from word to pdf… that’s when magic happens. For me I have a MacBook Air, therefore the Microsoft word is not compatible with the software. In November, when I was putting things into place with my poems, I was going back and forth with my phone, editing and converting my work back and forth. My android supports Microsoft, which was easier to upload everything on Amazon KDP as opposed to my laptop. But then I discovered Google Docs, and that makes a ton of difference, making my life easier and stress free.
Kindle Was Another Challenge
Not only will I be selling my book as Paperback, but also through Kindle. I thought that uploading everything through Kindle word would be easier then publishing a physical book, but I was wrong. All of my poems kept cramming together, looking like some amateur work, even though I am new to the self-publishing world. I still want my work to be clean and concise. Then I discovered Kindle Create. You can download it on your phone or computer. Just make sure you’re on the legit app.
Each day as I’m processing my work, I’m learning something new. It’s been 5 months of waiting… with twists and turns around the corner. I did state that the finishing touch would be to have a great book cover, and that this would be the last project of my work. One thing that I’ve learned from that was that I had to do things on my own terms… not depending on anyone else. I’ve had a great network of people giving good advice, but when coming to finding an artist… that’s been tough. But there are things are progressing closer and closer.
Hammer Style Girl 