CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: The Poet's Haven Author Series

One space has opened up in this year's chapbook publishing schedule, and it is also time to start filling 2013's release schedule. The Poet's Haven hereby announces an OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

The e-mail address to submit manuscripts to is listed below. Way below. You gotta read the guidelines first. Yes. READ THE GUIDELINES. When we had the open call last year, 75% of the manuscripts submitted did NOT fit the guidelines. READ THE GUIDELINES OR YOUR SUBMISSION WILL BE REJECTED!

A manuscript submission should be in either Word (DOC or DOCX) or plain TXT format. It should be presented in a normal, size 12 font, such as Arial or Times New Roman. It should be 30 to 36 pages in length. I repeat, submitted manuscripts should be 30 to 36 pages. ALTERNATE FORMATS: Have an idea for a different type of publication? The manuscript length can be changed if the publication format changes. For example, a CD with a 20 page chapbook or a 20-24 page chapbook containing full-color artwork throughout.

Content: WE PUBLISH MORE THAN JUST POETRY! We're interested in publishing artwork, photography, novellas, music, and more!

Who we're looking for: The Poet's Haven takes pride in being open to both newcomers and seasoned pros. For legal reasons, chapbook authors must be at least 18 years of age or have a parent or guardian involved in the process from submission to publication. Outside of that, we're open to everyone.

Payment: Authors receive 20% of all printed copies. That breaks down like this: If the first print run is 100 copies, 20 of them go to the author. If the first print run sells out and a second print run of 50 copies is produced, the author will receive 10 of them. If the author wants/needs to acquire additional copies, he or she can do so at a 40% discount.

Print window: Books are kept in print for 12 months. After the print window has ended, it will be made available as an e-book. Details for e-book editions are being reworked. (Hey, as impersonal as I may find tablet e-book devices to be, they're proving to be a very strong marketplace for small press publications.)

Okay, you got all that?

Send your manuscript to:
books[at]PoetsHaven.com

DEADLINE: Get your manuscript in before midnight on Saturday, March 17. Really. The submission address will automatically be deactivated at that time. PROCRASTINATION IS NOT YOUR FRIEND! GET YOUR MANUSCRIPT IN TODAY!

Become a Poet's Haven Affiliate!

As I mentioned in my last post here, The Poet's Haven has a new, full-fledged online store up and running, and we want YOU to help us sell books! The Poet's Haven Boutique offers an affiliate program, where you can earn a 5% commission for sending sales our way. This program is open to just about anyone. Commission payments will be sent via PayPal when your balance is over $5.00. You can link to any product offered in the store, and we have an assortment of banners available in different sizes.

Also, we want more product to sell! :-) If you have self-published your own book or CD and would like us to carry it in our online store, contact me. We are accepting product on a 60/40 consignment basis. When one of your items is sold, you will receive 60% of the sale price and The Poet's Haven keeps the other 40%. You will set the sale price of your product. If your book has a printed cover price on it (which it should) you may not go over that price.

Check out the new store at:
http://boutique.PoetsHaven.com

:-D

The Poet's Haven Boutique - Now Open!

At long last, Poet's Haven has an online store that works just like I want! :-)

We're offering not only Poet's Haven chapbooks, but titles from other presses and independent publications as well. (Items I've obtained to resell.) At some point in the not-too-distant future, I will begin taking in items to sell on consignment. (I'm still working out a plan for inventory storage right now.)

Oh, and this new poetry boutique also offers... (wait for it...) an AFFILIATE PROGRAM! I want your help to sell more books, and you can earn a 5% commission for doing so! You can join the program now and begin posting links on your sites, blogs, and/or social media. The next item I'm working on is adding some banner images that you can use when posting links, those should be ready in a matter of days. :-)

dollar dollar bill y'all...

The real world's been biting me in the ass for a while now. As much as I prefer to focus entirely on promoting the arts, right now I've gotta focus on the bottom line, my bank balance. I've been good about breaking even on the poetry side of things (sell X number of books to cover the entire print-run, etc.), but have neglected to include personal expenses in what needs covered. I've never worried about car repairs, gasoline and travel costs, hotels when staying out of town for poetry events, etc. etc. etc. Now, those costs have piled up to the point that they're preventing me from doing things I want to do. So my focus for now has to be on SELLING more books and SELLING some advertising. Time to finally get a full-fledged online store up and running. Time to start operating like a BUSINESS rather than a starving artist.

February's First Friday Poetry features EVA XANTHOPOULOS!

Arts in Stark and The Poet's Haven present Canton's First Friday Poetry Spectacular! February 3rd will feature the poetry of Eva Xanthopoulos!

Eva Xanthopoulos is the founder of Poehemian Poetry and the co-founder of True Colors Press. Her work has been published in se...veral anthologies and she is the author of three books; "The Artistic Muse," "Water Walker," and "The Poehemian Series." Poetry, music, and art are her muses and her life would lack color without them. She writes to inspire others -- it's safe to say that it's her life's purpose. Her official website can be found at www.theartisticmuse.com.

NEW LOCATION NEW LOCATION!!!!!! The Poetry Spectacular will now take place at CABLE HALL in the Canton Cultural Center for the Arts!!! (That's the same place as the Canton Museum of Art. We're by the Pegasus sculpture.)

This show includes an open-mic and poetry slam. First place in the slam wins $50. Second place wins $30. Third place wins $20. Prize money provided by Arts in Stark.

This is an ALL-AGES/UNMODERATED event, meaning that everyone is welcome to attend and participate, but parents should be aware that there are no restrictions on language and some performances may contain adult language and content.

We will be broadcasting this event on USTREAM! (Don't worry, poets, the open-mic will not be recorded. You can still feel free to try out rough drafts during the first portion of the event.)

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/canton-s-first-friday-poetry-spectacular

Shows!

Based on the number of text messages and now phone calls I've gotten the past week, I feel that I may need to emphasize something: There is NO Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven event this month. Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven shows are now bimonthly, held every even-numbered month exclusively at Phoenix Coffee in South Euclid. The next Saturday Night show will be on February 18th. A feature announcement will be made soon.

I will be using the months that we do not have a Saturday Night show to do other types of events. Poet's Haven will be going to art festivals and staging other types of unique events, working on exposing modern poetry to the wider masses.

While I was planning something cool for this month, the series of automotive catastrophes I've dealt with recently have caused me some financial distress. As a result, I put the plans on hold for another time, when I have the financial resources (read that as "gas money") necessary to successfully pull off the larger event I was aiming for. As it is, with limited travel options, I've managed to get a significant amount of work done on the new podcast series (and even some work on material for the "Saturday Night" podcasts, too). More on that in the near future. (NOTHING is getting posted until at least five episodes are complete.)

Fortunately, there's another big event happening this month that I can direct your attention to! Stardust Poetry at Karma Cafe starts off this coming Tuesday, January 24th! Stardust Poetry will be a monthly open-mic event, held on the fourth Tuesday each month. It is semi-unmoderated, meaning adult language will be okay as long as no young children come in. (We will also do our best to warn any parents that bring kids with them.) Karma Cafe is located at 4339 Dressler Road NW, Canton, OH 44718 (behind Rooster's, the former Arabica location). Skylark will be emceeing this show. :-) See you there!

TONIGHT! First Friday Poetry Spectacular!!!

Canton's First Friday Poetry Spectacular returns tonight in a new location! The slam will be taking place at Cable Recital Hall in the Canton Cultural Center for the Arts! (That's the same place as the Canton Museum of Art, if you didn't know.) (1001 N. Market Ave. Canton, OH 44702) See you there!

2011 Chapbook Bundle Offer - FREE SHIPPING!!!

I've updated the 2011 Chapbook Bundle! Get all six books published by The Poet's Haven this year, "Getting There" by Jacob King, "Street Corner Poetry" by Andrew Tobias Line, "Seasons of Discontent: Spring & Summer" by Jeff Kosiba, "Interfaces: Drilling Deeper" by Ben Bartman, "The History of Chickpeas" by Laraine Seidl, and "A Thousand Voices: A City Shaman's Notebook" by C.M. Brooks with FREE SHIPPING! Plus, place your order by Wednesday, December 14th and the books will ship in time for X-mas!

http://www.PoetsHaven.com/bookcontents.php?section=23&page=7

Please help spread the word about this!

December 17th - Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven!

While I'm still working on the new event calendar for Poet's Haven, I wanted to get word out about December 17th's Saturday Night With The Poet's Haven show. The featured poets will be none other than ZACH ASHLEY from Ferndale, MI and Cleveland's own AUTUMN AKI! We'll also be launching C.M. Brooks' chapbook, "A Thousand Voices: A City Shaman's Notebook" and collecting donations for the Poetic Provisions Food-Drive!

This will be the last show where you can get a copy of this year's "VENDING MACHINE: Poetry for Change" anthology in exchange for a food-drive donation.

This will be the FINAL show where the open-mic is recorded for podcasting! (See my blog post from November 10th for a full explanation of what's going on with the podcasts.)


After playing around with a couple open-source event calendar programs, I finally decided to just do what everyone else is already doing and use a Google Calendar. I'm still tweaking some things, and will be adding events to it in the days ahead.

Oh, and did I mention that the Canton First Friday Poetry Slam will return in January at our new location? Did I mention that the new location is Cable Hall at the Canton Cultural Center? 8-D And did I mention that the First Friday slam is now partnered with Lake Effect Poetry? Meaning that poets competing in the First Friday slam will earn points towards qualifying for north-east Ohio's official National Poetry Slam team?


Also, keep an eye out for another big announcement regarding a new poetry open-mic series in Canton! I'm hoping to be able to make the announcement at December 17th's Poet's Haven event. :-)

See you soon!!!

NO Poetry Spectacular at December's First Friday

Due to lack of an available, suitable location, there will be NO Poetry Spectacular at December's Canton First Friday.

News will be posted when we have confirmed a location for January's poetry slam.