I joined the forum because as a member pointed out, no publishers are interested in publishing poetry. (which is one of my main interests) I hope that members would be interested enough to comment and advise me on how to improve my poetry and many of you have been good enough to do that. In fact there is a great deal of interest in poetry. Poems on the Tube etc., hundreds of competitions and Book Fairs where poetry plays a big part. Yet publishers would tell you there is no interest in poetry? My other interest is Stories for Children and I have to say I have been a bit disappointed that there has almost been no interest at all in commenting on them. I try to justify joining the forum by posting comments on other people's work which I hope will be encouraging to them as it has been to me. Feedback is all important and you often have to pay money to get it. Could the members of the forum please encourage each other by making positive encouraging comments on each others work?
...yes, because it's true... you must remember that the interest they refer to is in buying it!... not writing it, or reading it for free online, or ripping off the unwary with scam competitions where everybody wins... ...so, when is the last time you bought a regular-priced hard cover book of poetry by someone you never heard of?... and how many of such books are on your own bookshelves?...
I always hated poetry in high school and asked myself why people wrote it. Then I'd get an idea about something and write a poem and subsequently feel like a hypocrite. I do have to agree with mammamaia though; I don't know of many people who just pick up anthologies of poetry to read for the fun of it. It's not got a market like thrillers or romance novels. That isn't to say that it's of any lesser quality; it's just a statement of pure and simple fact - as I see it, and as many people see it.
I have to agree with this aswell. Whilst I will read poetry on this site, and on many other writing websites, the only published poetry I have ever read (offline) has been at school.
Coming late to the table, she also asked that we encourage members to read and comment on all genres. Her's is children's which is a specility. I have recently posted a couple of stories that after a week only had a few 93-5) views and no comments after a week, yet the ones above and below it had 10-20 views, 3-5 comments. Why is this? Why should I post if there isn't any feedback? I have revieved a whole bunch of stuff for others. Any help here at all? I'll do some children's fr poempedler.
I would think members here are mostly aspirering writers. I haven't met any children lately who are interested in writing (Most children I know hate reading). It means that many of the members here are probably adolescence, teenagers, and adults who probably arn't as interested in childrens novels as other works. I persoannally never liked child literature. When I was eight I was reading I, Robot and the Ender's Game. If someone asked me to review it I would out of simple curtosy. On my own initiative I probably would not. I do agree about poetry though. The poetry I ever see published these days is old stuff from a hudnred years ago. The interest in poetry just isn't as big anymore. People would rather read an epic novel or a short story. I never much liked poetry. I never found it an effective or clear way to tell a story. I always thought poetry was better to explain emotion or feeling, but never a story (Unless its like Beowulf or something).
My experience in submitting my novels is that there are several magazines that publish poems. I wouldn't buy a book but I enjoy reading some of it. It's not a persuit. I write a little of it, but I do use it to tell a story, like older poets did.
Well...the poetry thing is definitely true. However, I have friends who have published poetry books so it is doable. Just really hard. Mammamia is right - buying books by unknown poets is...well...just not happening. Phurst's comment is right about the demographic of this site as well. However, I love children's books. I have to pick up Narnia at least once a year and I can almost recite Seuss' works by heart. The problem isn't just the genre it's the reviewing in general. Poetry is short so it definitely gets the most attention. Second, probably the forums and games. Then fantasy, horror, sci-fi. Romance, crime/thriller, general come next. And finally, children's books and novels. But don't get discouraged because something sits derelict for a week (or forever). I've had stories posted here that no one reviewed, at least not without specifically asking someone to take a look at it. Hence, my shameless plug of a signature But the people on here are really great! I joined because I wanted to improve as a writer and help others improve as well. I found a great community of online aspiring authors (as mentioned above) who sit in a boat similar to my own.
Reading ten or more pages of text, marking it up, and typing out detailed opinions and advice on it is, let's face it, well beyond what most of us have time to do. I'm a full-time student that also works part-time, and I barely have time to read and critique poetry, let alone something longer. I can't even think of a way that you could get people to comment on longer works. You need to have friends that will read it as you write it in order to get opinions during construction, i guess. It's a shame, but I don't think it's a problem the administration here can solve.
