A glimpse into the world of poetry publishing: 6 interviews with poets published by Indigo Dreams

by Teika:

Having been involved in the world of poetry as a publisher for many years, it’s a real delight to put on an “author hat” for a change! Tomorrow, my debut poetry pamphlet, Russian Doll, will be published by Indigo Dreams Publishing. And, thanks to the organizational drive of fellow IDP poets, Claire Booker and Terry Quinn, on the evening of Thursday 25th March, myself, Terry, Claire, Oak Ayling, Victoria Bennett and Isabelle Kenyon will be reading from our pamphlets via Zoom. But before that exciting event, I thought it would be good to talk to my fellow poets about their publishing experience in the hope that it will give a valuable insight into writing routines, getting poetry published, and putting together a first collection. And if you’re interested in attending the event, pop over to Facebook to register your interest, or email either Claire or Terry at: [email protected] / [email protected]

Over to you, poets!

Oak Ayling

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Oak (she/her). I was born the third of three sisters and raised largely on the beaches of Cornwall, UK. I have an unhealthy appreciation for fresh pasta, golden retrievers, sad music and time-travel. Some of my favourite poets include Clint Smith, Steve Scafidi, Shea Stripling and Chris Porterfield.

2. How long have you been writing poetry, and do you have a writing routine?

The first time I remember writing a poem was when I was about eight years old and I remember writing a little poetry for my own entertainment in my teens but I really didn’t start writing seriously until I was in my mid-twenties.

I wouldn’t say I had a routine per se, essentially I bottle up my thoughts and experiences until they spill over the edge of the void into poetry. Sometimes that looks like me just putting pen to scraps of paper and letting it flow straight out, other times I have to sit quietly and listen to the feeling, deciphering what it means to say.

3. What made you decide to submit your pamphlet to Indigo Dreams Publishing? And what’s the publishing process been like?

I decided to submit to Indigo Dreams largely because of the positive experiences I had had submitting to Ronnie and Dawn on previous occasions for competitions and collections etc. On top of which the quality of poetry being published there was definitely another reason I sent With Love from the Curator to IDP, it was obvious to me that this was a publisher that was serious about poetry and open to unusual content.

4. Do you have any tips for poets who are putting together their first pamphlet?

I like to consider the body of the pamphlet as an arc, I think placement of poems within the collection is quite important. I don’t necessarily mean that the poems should flow seamlessly or chronologically, this can work but it can also undermine the poems as individuals, it’s always good to have a couple of poems which snap at the reader a little. That’s the kind of collection I like to read at least, one where you can step back and see a journey from the first page to the last, but also one that can jolt you from one moment to the next. I think that’s the most important component, some may not agree, but if you are confident in the poems you’ve written, you need to think about how you can best serve them as a whole.

5. Please tell us a bit about your pamphlet and where we can buy it from.

With Love from the Curator is a bit of an odd duck, it’s simultaneously a tour of various museums, and of someone else’s life, and of my life, and maybe parts of yours too. It’s a story of all the things we love kept safe and secret inside of us; the archived moments and memories, the people and places, kept under glass in our minds, and the story of all of us desperately trying to keep those things alive. The book is currently available from Waterstones, Book Depository and Indigo Dreams Publishing, but is expected to become available elsewhere within the next few months.

Victoria Bennett

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I am a writer, poet and founder of Wild Women Press. I’ve have spent the last 21 years curating platforms for women to share stories and actions for positive change, including the global #WildWomanWeb movement and #WildWomanGamer.  

I hold an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University (2002). Previous awards include the Northern Debut Award for non-fiction (2020), the Mother’s Milk Writing Prize (2017), The Writing Platform Digital Literature Bursary (2015), Northern Promise Award for Poetry  (2002), and the Waterhouse Award for Poetry (2002). 

My latest poetry pamphlet, To Start The Year From Its Quiet Centre is published by Indigo Dreams Publishing Ltd. I am currently working on All My Wild Mothers, a nature memoir that examines motherhood, loss, and the ancient art of wortcunning. This work- in-progress was long-listed for the Nan Shepherd Prize (2019) and the Penguin WriteNow Programme (2020). I am also currently developing an extended project, Human Geographies – an XR memoir project exploring narratives of absence and how literature can collaborate with immersive, digital spaces to share our grief stories. This work is supported through a DYCP award from the Arts Council of England.

I live with a rebellious body, caused by a collision of unruly genes resulting in genetic haemochromatosis and hypermobile Ehlers Danlos syndrome. I live in rural Cumbria with my husband and son, for whom I am also a full-time carer and home-educator. When I am not juggling home-ed, freelance creative projects, research, study and chronic illness, I can be found howling with the Wild Women, my creative tribe. 

2. How long have you been writing poetry, and do you have a writing routine?

I have been writing since I was 6 years old but I don’t think I had a writing routine then! The combined demands of being a carer, full-time home educator, self-employed, and chronic illness, it can be quite difficult to have a routine, but I do have a desk in the corner of my bedroom and a comfy chair and usually, at least once in the day, I will get a chance to sit and write for a couple of hours, mostly in the late afternoon. I always have a cup of tea with me.

3. What made you decide to submit your pamphlet to Indigo Dreams Publishing? And what’s the publishing process been like?

A lot of people said how lovely Dawn and Ronnie were to work with, and it felt like the right place to send these poems to. Turns out everything others said about them was true, and they have been really gentle, respectful and encouraging editors to work with.

4. Do you have any tips for poets who are putting together their first pamphlet?

I started writing these poems in 2016, just after my mother died. I submitted the final pamphlet to Indigo in 2019. During that time, I redrafted and left them to cook several times. When I felt like there was a whole body of poetry, I asked Wendy Pratt if she would take me on as a mentor. This was such a positive experience and helped me to really tighten the whole thing and feel really confident about it before I sent it off. My advice is don’t be in too much of a hurry, send when it feels ready. Time won’t run out and neither will opportunities. There was a break of 14 years between my poetry pamphlets!

5. Please tell us a bit about your pamphlet and where we can buy it from.

To Start The Year From Its Quiet Centre is an invitation for readers to share the private and intimate moments of dying. A sequence of poems written about caring for my mother at end-of-life, and the grief that followed her death, it is a love-letter, and a leave-taking, and a personal meditation on loss and love. My mother died from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. When it came to writing the poems in To Start The Year From Its Quiet Centre, I wanted to try and write about what this year of caregiving had been like — the quiet hours of waiting, the restructuring of life around the inevitable, the physical demands of cancer on the patient and carer, and finally, about the letting go, not just of my mother, but also of the role of caregiver.  It is my hope that, through this invitation, I can offer a quiet moment to others who might share this experience.

“…controlled, spare and with the particular magic of inviting the reader in right-up-close. An agonisingly beautiful, closely observed and compassionate love letter and leave-taking for a much loved mother.” (Deborah Alma — Poet, Editor & Founder of The Poetry Pharmacy)

You can order signed copies directly by emailing [email protected]  £7 including 2nd class PP (UK only). £2 from each book ordered directly is donated to the Mesothelioma UK charity.

Claire Booker

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I retrained as a medical herbalist after a career in press and public relations in London. I now live in Brighton, returning full circle to where I came many years ago as a student to Sussex University.

2. How long have you been writing poetry, and do you have a writing routine?

I started writing poetry in primary school, but then fell in love with theatre, and spend most of my time writing plays. But I never completely stopped with poetry. Often at the big moments in life, I’d sit and write a poem. About ten years ago, I started writing poetry more consistently, and my first pamphlet was published four years ago.

I tend to write in the morning when my brain feels freshest. I sometimes get ideas or phrases in the early hours and try and memorise them and write them down when I get up. I have an app on my phone that lets me write ideas down when I’m out on a walk. Before that, it used to be scraps of paper all over the place! I write when I’m inspired, surprised or intrigued by an experience. It’s a way of finding out what I really think.

3. What made you decide to submit your pamphlet to Indigo Dreams Publishing? And what’s the publishing process been like?

I first submitted to the Indigo Dreams Collection competition and was short-listed. I reapplied with a pamphlet, which was accepted. The publishing process was delightful. I felt supported, but not pressured, throughout.

4. Do you have any tips for poets who are putting together their first pamphlet?

If you can, try and build a track-record of individual poems appearing in literary magazines. Not only is this likely to appeal to potential publishers, it means you’ve really worked the poems into their best possible state. When you feel you have perhaps 12 poems which seem to talk to each other in some way, then put them together, and think about writing more new poems that fit with them. Check out publishers to see what kind of poetry they publish, and approach one or two that appear to share your interests. You will probably be rejected a few times before finding a publisher that’s right for your work. It can feel painful, but if you persevere, your work will find its home.

5. Please tell us a bit about your pamphlet and where we can buy it from.

The Bone That Sang is my second poetry book. It contains 29 pages of poetry, and is available from Indigo Dreams Publishing, Amazon, or direct from me at [email protected]. Many of the poems are about social or emotional injustice, whilst some are more personal, remembering loved-ones or love-affairs, and there are a number of poems about nature and issues that threaten the planet. Reviews so far have been good. “Booker is a modern day Scheherazade, weaving tales that pull you in and transfix.” London Grip. “Wry, compassionate observations on human life,” Emma Lee’s blog. “Finely crafted poems. A terrific pamphlet.” The High Window.

Isabelle Kenyon

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Hello! My name is Isabelle Kenyon and I’m a poet and fiction writer based in Manchester. I am a keen bachata and salsa dancer and an animal lover. I’m an extroverted introvert…

2. How long have you been writing poetry, and do you have a writing routine?

I have been writing poetry since about 14, encouraged by a poet, my Granny Olga (Aryamati) at the time. My writing routine tends to be to write in front of the TV when it’s quite late in the evening and I feel relaxed! I’m currently writing a novel so I’m writing 100 words a day.

3. What made you decide to submit your pamphlet to Indigo Dreams Publishing? And what’s the publishing process been like?

Submitting my pamphlet to Indigo Dreams Publishing was a long process because I didn’t think I stood a chance with my dream publisher so submitted it to a few publishers before that point and actually had two acceptances which I later rejected based on lack of contracts, lack of any pay for the author – all things which I believe are fundamentally wrong and should not be accepted by poets. The publishing process has been fairly straightforward because the editing process was up to me to submit in final form and the cover was pre-designed for the pamphlet series by the fantastic Jane Burn.

4. Do you have any tips for poets who are putting together their first pamphlet?

I always say that I love a story arc in the pamphlet so that we have a movement or a progression from the first poem to the last poem! I also say make sure you get a few poems published in literary journals, otherwise you’re probably not yet ready to release the pamphlet because you need to build up an audience for your work first.

5. Please tell us a bit about your pamphlet and where we can buy it from.

Growing Pains is an accumulation of the feelings I went through going into adulthood, moving very far away from home, struggling with loneliness and the processing of a sexual assault. I always say it features some “cheeky capitalism” poems, highlighting that what we place emphasis on is ultimately unimportant, against what should really be important to us, which is our relationships with family and loved ones. You can buy a signed copy through myself here https://www.flyonthewallpress.co.uk/product-page/growing-pains-by-isabelle-kenyon  or through Indigo dreams publishing here:  https://www.indigodreams.co.uk/isabelle-kenyon/4594877493

Or Waterstones here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/growing-pains/isabelle-kenyon/9781912876310

Terry Quinn

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born in Birmingham in 1951 and was a police cadet, plain clothed Security at Butlins,  switchboard operator at a Maternity Hospital, postman and night casualty porter at Bournemouth Hospital where I discovered that the equipment used in the hospital fascinated me so I managed to get the qualifications to go to Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) in 1987 and took a degree in Medical Electronics before a career in Medical Engineering took me around NHS hospitals with a break in the Middle East for experience and rectification of my bank balance.

I had returned to writing poetry as a result of The End of The Affair in 1999. And after the angst realized that this is now what I wanted to do. Electronics was turning into exchanging black boxes not solving problems.

I retired from Lancashire Teaching Hospital in 2012 after settling in Preston in 1995. I thought of retirement as a sideways move into writing poetry. I have three previous collections, two of which were published by Indigo Dream Publishing. I now help organize poetry events in the north west of England, enjoy walking and am still waiting to be signed as a professional footballer.

2. How long have you been writing poetry, and do you have a writing routine?

I did write poetry in my early 20s and got a few poems published but it soon became clear that I would never make a career out of writing (or football). When I was working I was able to write in the evenings and Sunday. Since retiring I have treated the writing of poetry as another career and work 5 mornings a week from 8-30 to 11 am. I don’t believe in waiting for inspiration.

3. What made you decide to submit your pamphlet to Indigo Dreams Publishing? And what’s the publishing process been like?

I had been published in Purple Patch (“a national treasure”, The Guardian, 2007) magazines from 2004 and had always liked Geoff Stevens and his approach to poetry. Especially his Gossip Column – there’s nothing like it now. When he died in 2012 IDP started the Geoff Stevens Memorial Poetry Prize and I entered it and won. (Julie Maclean from Australia was the other winner.)

4. Do you have any tips for poets who are putting together their first pamphlet?

The wide range of poets and the subjects they write about in pamphlets mean that I can’t give an exact answer to this question. However I’ve always like the following guidance from Helena Nelson of HappenStance poetry (for the Do’s see the HappenStance website) for sending off poems in general:

Don’t: Present your poems in italic or bold font.
Don’t: Centre all your poems.
Don’t: Offer to pay for publication of your poems.
Don’t: Expect too much if your track record of publications is all local to where you live—you need to penetrate a wide geographical area if possible.
Don’t: Present poems that include tipp-x, deletions or spelling mistakes.
Don’t: Send more poems than the submission guidelines invite.
Don’t: Tell the publisher by what date you would like her to reply to your submission.
Don’t: Put © Millie Mathiesson at the end of each poem. It will drive the publisher NUTS. a) He or she has no possible interest in stealing your poem. b) You automatically own copyright of your work and do not need to assert it in a publication submission.
Don’t: Telephone the publisher to follow up your submission. If you make them feel pressurised, you will alienate them.
Don’t: Brood about rejection. What the hell! Just think hard about your options. Use your intelligence. Keep sending to magazines. Good magazines. Keep writing poems.
Don’t: Send self-bound copies of your poems, pamphlets or books. Send things in the usual submission format of loose leaf pages, each with the poem & your name and address.
Don’t: Assume that publishing your poetry is the only way to prove you write good poems. It’s not.

5. Please tell us a bit about your pamphlet and where we can buy it from.

I wanted to write a sequence of poems that drew together the concerns I feel about our world now. I felt this could be best achieved though the voice of a single character who could blend today’s facts and tomorrow’s fictions with objective authority but touches of his own humanity.

To do that I used JC Dunne, a fictitious historian who realizes that he can no longer use traditional academic disciplines to explain how the third world war came about. In his search for answers, Dunne reflects on his own life examining underlying trends that led to the world breaking down.

It can be purchased online from Indigo Dreams Publishing at: www.indigodreams.co.uk/tqnotes/4595124140 or from major stockists including Waterstones.

Teika Marija Smits

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m an ex-research scientist, former teacher and mother-of-two. Until the end of last year, I ran the small, indie press, Mother’s Milk Books, but am now an Editor-at-Large at Valley Press, alongside being a freelance editor and writing coach (as well, of course, as managing this site with my husband!). I’m also a writer of poetry and prose in a variety of genres, and in any spare moments I like to create art.

2. How long have you been writing poetry, and do you have a writing routine?

The other day on Twitter I said that I’d been writing since I was a teenager, but I think it may have been even earlier than that because I can remember making up rhyming poems about my family when in middle school. The only word I could find to rhyme with my mum’s name Ludmila, was ‘Polyfilla’ – not the greatest rhyming pair to have ever graced a poem!

Nowadays I write a little every day; I find that it really helps to keep the momentum up with whatever writing project I’m currently working on. I’d love to have a routine which involved a good uninterrupted stretch of 3 or 4 hours per day for writing, but realistically, with the demands of family life and freelance work, I inevitably end up writing in whatever slivers of time are available to me.

3. What made you decide to submit your pamphlet to Indigo Dreams Publishing? And what’s the publishing process been like?

I came to find out about IDP because many of my friends in the poetry community had been published by them and said that Dawn and Ronnie were lovely people. Also, when you’re involved in the indie publishing world you tend to really notice presses who win awards and have a buzz about them. The word ‘innovative’ is bandied around a lot in the publishing industry, and for some reason it always puts me in mind of huge publishing corporations investing in coders and software designers who’ll be sure to increase book sales through canny website design, metadata and all kinds of other technological wizardry (though ignoring the authors themselves…). But IDP (who won the title of Most Innovative Publisher in the 2017 Saboteur Awards) are not a huge corporation who puts data (and profit) before their authors. Indeed, I’ve found them to be innovative in a wholly different and refreshing way – in that they aim to make the publishing experience to be one of pleasure, not pressure. And, really, the whole process of publishing my pamphlet, Russian Doll, was a pleasure, and I’m really happy with how it came out. Oh, and Dawn and Ronnie really are lovely people!

Also, looking back to my submission to their open call for pamphlets back in September 2019… well, I didn’t think I stood much chance, frankly. So I was utterly delighted when I (eventually) found the email telling me that I was one of the chosen poets. (Google, for all its technological cleverness, randomly decided to put this important email into my spam folder!)

4. Do you have any tips for poets who are putting together their first pamphlet?

I’d definitely urge poets to take their time when drawing together a first pamphlet because, as a debut, people will always consider it as your first ‘real’ piece of writing, and  you want to be really proud of how a strong a collection it is. Take your time over the process, enjoy it. Look for themes and maybe a narrative arc, which can help to keep the reader turning the pages. Also, read the debut pamphlets of other poets – see what works and doesn’t work. And when you think you’ve put together the perfect series of poems, take some time away from the manuscript. It’s always surprisingly helpful to review one’s own work with a little distance – you’ll notice obvious omissions or weak poems when you do some re-reading – to the point that you may well be very glad that you didn’t submit it before it was really ready. Lastly, I’d recommend having a read of this insightful and in-depth post by Roy Marshall, as well as getting hold of a copy of Helena Nelson’s How Not To Write Poetry (essential reading).

5. Please tell us a bit about your pamphlet and where we can buy it from.

My poems are about growing up and growing into oneself; about what it’s like to be a school girl, to lose a parent, to become a woman, to become a mother. Quite often, my poetry and fiction reference Greek mythology, folklore and fairy tales, science and science fiction because these are the things that I love and that feed my mind and soul.

Russian Doll can be bought direct from the publisher here, or if you’d like a signed copy, feel free to email me on: [email protected]