How long should a book of poetry be?

[Insolent Lad]

I've kept my poetry collections (and there are a bunch of em) somewhere around the 80 page count, with a leeway of up to 20 pages either way. Longer is simply too daunting for most readers, as there is no narrative to carry them along, as in a novel--each poem is a new bit of writing to tackle. The age of the chapbook, 40 pages or less, is past. It is not cost-effective to print them unless you're cranking them out on a mimeograph in your basement.

 

[Prince of Spires]

Too bad to hear that about Bol.com, but thank you for recommending Draft2Digital. I've heard of it before, but had forgotten all about it. I'll look into it. I will likely focus on Amazon then. I can always add my works to other platforms at a later date.

I actually learned something recently. It seems like Bol has a distribution agreement with Kobo for ebooks and they seem to resell paperbacks published wide using Amazon.

At least, I just found my book there without ever actualy submitting anything to them. So if you publish an ebook using Draft2Digital you should find it there eventually (it took a while for mine I think). And same with paperback. if you distribute that wide using Amazon you'll get there eventually. It should be noted that the delivery time is atrocious though, as in 3-4 weeks. I doubt I'll sell many...

 

[Ban]

I actually learned something recently. It seems like Bol has a distribution agreement with Kobo for ebooks and they seem to resell paperbacks published wide using Amazon.

At least, I just found my book there without ever actualy submitting anything to them. So if you publish an ebook using Draft2Digital you should find it there eventually (it took a while for mine I think). And same with paperback. if you distribute that wide using Amazon you'll get there eventually. It should be noted that the delivery time is atrocious though, as in 3-4 weeks. I doubt I'll sell many...

At the very least it will lend visibility if it ends up on Bol that way.

So you mentioned paperback. Do you have personal experience selling those? For me, selling paperbacks sounds the most fun and personally rewarding. Does Draft2Digital take care of it and can you change paper size and such if so? If i understand things right that is possible on Amazon at least. I wouldn't want to send someone a bunch of stapled a4 papers.

 

[Ban]

It is done!

The poetry collection has been made and I have received my copy. Before I told everyone where they might find it if they are so inclined, I wanted to make sure that the book looks good in real life, and I certainly think it does. I have attached a picture below so you may judge for yourself.

At 33 pages, it is no behemoth of a book, but I am proud of what I have written and I am confident people will enjoy it.

I want to thank all of you for your feedback. If poetry happens to be a field of writing you are interested in, I hope you will take a look at the product.
The link to American Amazon is here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VYBN7Z7
And the link to German Amazon (which I used) is here: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08VYBN7Z7
And UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08VYBN7Z7
There's also France, Spain, Canada and so on, but no one wants to read through a list of links. All of those countries can be found with the same links, just replace the ".something" with the relevant address. Feel free to ask for a link.



Fun thing about my copy is that it is printed in Poland. Printed in Poland, bought from Germany and arrived in the Netherlands. A truly European book.