I have been writing poetry for years now, probably around six years. Of course, that my writing has improved throughout the years– and will hopefully continue to get better with experience.

It got to a point where I wanted to do something with all those poems buried in the pages of my journal or taking up space on my laptop. I have tried sending manuscripts to publishing houses, well or maybe just one publishing house. I don’t think they ever got back to me. It also said that they usually responded in around six months. Six months sounded like a very long time for someone as impulsive as I am.

In every single Creative Writing class or workshop I have taken during my college years, the professors always introduce the class by saying, “as you know, it is very hard to become a successful writer and live of your writing.” As you can imagine, that is not a very inspiring or motivating phrase for someone who is trying to navigate the world of literature as an emerging writer. I think, it is partly because of this, that I was scared of trying too hard. I thought, why try if either way I won’t make it? I know it sounds like a very pessimistic thought, but it is truly what society teaches us. Everyone around us seems to be screaming, you won’t make it as an artist– even those involved in the industry. They also tell you that no publishing house will take you seriously without an agent.

That last thought is what led me to self-publishing. I will confess that I was very skeptical about self-publishing. It is hard to be one of thousands of emerging writers fighting for a place on the virtual Amazon bookshelf. Most people, and I was one of them, often believe the misconception that self-publishing means that you don’t believe in your work strongly enough to approach an agent. Well, I see it the opposite way. I think self-publishing is betting on yourself. Self-publishing means trusting your craft enough to take the first step.

Recently, I found out that Rupi Kaur, one of the famous contemporary poets, was self-published at first. She self-published her first poetry book at twenty-one. Do you want to know why she self-published? Because she was tired of receiving rejection letters from literary magazines. And now, she lives of her writing. Her poetry, I would say, is more commercial rather than literary. It has a strong focus on the emotion behind rather than the how it is being said.

The First Manuscript

After doing enough research, I began my self-publishing journey. My first step was to re-read all of my poems and decide which ones where worth publishing. I think this is a very dynamic process. I am sure that if I classified my poems again as “should published” or “forget it,” my opinion would be very different now. But at that time, I chose around 114 poems– the ones that are today part of my book.

Once I gathered all of the good poems, I began revising them. The revision process can be as minimal as correcting a typo or as extensive as rewriting the entire poem. I recognize that for this part, it can very beneficial to have an editor. However, if you can’t afford to hire a freelance editor, you can always count on your friends. I shared the poems with my closest friends and asked them for feedback. There are a lot of things, mainly typos, that we ignore while reading our own work. It is easy to know what you meant to say and even perhaps you memorized a couple poems after so much revision, so you don’t follow what’s on the page as closely. I will say that this part helped me a lot! One advantage that publishing through Amazon KDP has is that you can always go back and edit the manuscript as many times as you would like.

Coming Up With A Title

In my opinion, the hardest part was coming up with a title. I always struggle to find titles for my poems, so I expected to take some time to find the perfect title for my book.

I don’t know how but it came to me out of nowhere. It was like one of those realizations that you have in the shower or driving around town. I don’t remember exactly when it happened. I have always been intrigued by butterflies as a symbol. I loved knowing that they grew into a beautiful being. I loved the fact that they started on the ground and then grew wings– it was the perfect metaphor. In fact, I have written a poem about this exact process; the poem that is now on the back cover of my book. Then, I have decided, my book would be titled Metamorphosis.

Throughout the period of time in which I wrote most of these poems, I experienced a lot of personal growth. The idea of human metamorphosis captured exactly how I have felt about my own life. Then, I decided to have two sections: Crawling and Flying.

For that reason, the first section of my book has a lot of poems dealing with heartbreak. While in the second part, the reader can feel the power of self-love.

I would say that if you are struggling to come up with titles, think of everything you love. You can brainstorm from your favorite subjects and topics to talk about and the emotions that represent you the most to the place where you ground most of your metaphors. For instance, most of my metaphors come from nature and art. Another piece of advice is to read your manuscript as many times as necessary until you find a common theme in most of your pieces.

Creating a Cover

In my case, one of my friends (@mldigitalbeauty) helped me design the cover. I told her the title of the book and sent her some cover ideas, and she came up with the PERFECT cover for my book. I would recommend that if you have any friend that is good at art, you ask for their help. It can an amazing experience for both of you.

I personally wanted my cover to be illustrated rather than an already-existing photograph. Even though I love art, I am not good with digital art at all. But if you are, you should definitely download some Apps and start playing around– maybe you come up with a cover idea you love!

The last resource I would recommend is finding website with not-copyrighted pictures. I often use Unsplash if I ever need pictures that I can distribute freely.

I really hope that this helps you understand the self-publishing process more clearly as well as inspire you to share your writing!