How can I get my poetry noticed

u establish a reputation as a poet the same way u establish a reputation as a rock-band: work.

start by finding out about writers groups local to you. go along to their meetings. show ur poems & discuss them, read other people is poems & think about things they can do which u have not mastered yet.

when u have a group of poets u r comfortable with, organise poetry readings at local clubs or drinking places. university campuses & leisure centres r also useful. reading aloud to an unsympathetic audience is the best training u can get. doing ur own bookings, accounts, & publicity will also teach u more about poetry than u realise.

if u can get involved with any local arts festivals - either performing or administering - this is also first class experience.

submit ur poetry to poetry websites (ones where the poems get discusses:- ! is no good for this) & try to get published in local magazines (and then national ones when u have enough reputation).

it takes a long time to make a name for yourself, but it can be done.

Stop wandering, and start wondering. If you're going to specialize in English, master English. Hallmark does not require an English degree, but they do ask that you speak English.

Publishing collections of poetry is tough if u have not established a reputation by publishing ur individual poems in magazines. The competition is so tough that most publishers want to see ur work vetted by other editors. Buy a copy of Poet is Market & check out duotrope.com & figure out where u can send ur poems. You should aim for at least 30 to 40 percent of the collection to be published in magazines.

Some people r going to tell u to self-publish with the likes of lulu.com & iVerse.com or others. That is fine if u do not have any interest in being read by anyone outside of ur immediate circle of friends & u have the money to spend. It will be pretty tough to convince people who book poets for readings to take u seriously, & so ur book really is not going to sell, even though the self-publishing outfits will tell u ur book will be listed on Amazon, it really wo not matter because no one will buy it. So unless ur dying or not planning on sticking around in the PoBiz, u do not need to go the self-publishing route.

Your best bet is to do the work. Get established in the literary community & do it the right way. Impatience is never a writer is friend.

Buy the Poet is Market 2008. It will have listing and requirements from scores of publications.

That really is all you need. Well, except for persistance and the ability to handle rejection no matter how good you are.

Good Luck.

Get the Writers and Artists Yearbook most Waterstones, etc. have it.
It list agents, publishers, competitions and festivals that are open to poets and writers. Lots of other useful tit bits too.
Good luck

I submit mine to poetry websites for free. I receive comments. Many poets also have blogs and post their works on forums. For me it works just fine.

I write poetry myself, & have found that the only way to get ur poetry out there is to have the book published yourself, & see how it does on the sale stands.Do not do what I did, & fall for those ads that say how to get yourself published, & win so much money (?).I did that, & ended up spending gobs of money on these books that had just one of my poems in it.Then our house burned down, & I have not even got one of them books now, but I do know that everyone that fell for that game, never earned a dime! We were being exploited.
I wish u luck!

Tried the wall of the local public toilets?

Hallmark Cards in Kansas City does have a test you can take. However, without an English major or minor, there is little hope. I tried for 20 years to publish poetry. Nothing happened until I decided to turn them into song lyrics. I have published 3 songs.

if you go and free poetry contensts, then you can enter them, and ever poem i have sent in has been published. most of them let you keep the copyrites, and after you have been published a few times, type up your poems, get them ALL COPYRIGHTED!!!!, and put them in a portfolieo type thingy, and go make tons of copys, and send them into publishers.

send it to all the major publishers. Good luck