Books by young poets, published as part of the Young Poets Mentoring Program, are for sale at creativehappiness.org/bookstore (sorry, temporarily offline, but check book titles if you know them, available on eBay). Support  your young authors. Buy their books!

Click here to read more about how if you are a Volusia County Florida poet beween 14 and 20, you may be able to have a free book published.

Are you or do you know a Volusia County resident between the ages of 14 and 20, who writes poetry? Go to the LAUREATE WEB PAGES to learn how you can get free writing lessons and even have your own book published for free.

On August 20th, 2015, Volusia County appointed its Poets Laureate, Dr. David B. Axelrod, and M. B. McLatchey. The role of the Volusia Poet Laureate is to “Promote the reading, writing, and appreciation of poetry throughout the County and in so doing, promote greater literacy, cultural activity and tourism.” A selection committee advertised open nominations, screened nominees, and recommended both poets to the County Council with the assumption that one would be appointed. Wanting to provide even more benefit to their constituents, the Council, in turn decided to make both candidates a Poet Laureate.

To the many public events and performances Dr. Axelrod already presents, he plans to fund raise for and institute a Young Poets Mentoring Program. An earlier, similar project he instituted resulted in the publication of nine chapbooks by poets, ages 16 to 24, which were the result of pairings with established poets who worked with the young poets until a manuscript was perfected.

Other plans are for a variety of new venues throughout Volusia County, as well as visits to libraries and public schools.

INTERESTED IN HAVING DR. AXELROD VISIT WITH YOUR GROUP?

Email: axelrod@poetrydoctor.org

Phone: 386-337-4567

LAUREATE NEWS

Dr. Axelrod has initiated a Young Poets Mentoring Program, in association with Kevin Campbell, who will institute a “Breaking Bad” performance venue. DANGER! in some circles, creativity may be frowned upon in public schools. Please promote poetry–appreciation, reading, writing–by inviting poets to your public and private school. Invite poets and poetry into your life.

Our program invites young poets to apply for study with established, published poets. Young poets who are accepted into the program will work to complete a body of poetry, selections from which will appear in an anthology &/or be published as a chapbook.

ARE YOU READY?

Are you ready to publish your book of poetry? The question is worth asking for poets at any level of ac-complishment, but particularly for those about to bring out their first book. One great strength in America – and any country – is the freedom to share your thoughts with others. The advent of desktop publishing has made the press ever freer. The ability to assemble and publish a book, however, does not assure that you are ready to bring out a book. You owe it to yourself and others to responsibly exercise your abilities as an author and poet and, as much as possible, aim to be professional.

It doesn’t hurt to ask yourself why you want a book. In fact, you could start by asking yourself why you write. Poetry is a venerable art form, coming to us from the earliest oral traditions of incantation and prayer, record keeping and storytelling, healing and, yes, humor. If you write for yourself, you certainly should revise for others. As soon as you write poetry you will hear that art is not for all markets. That is, a commercial writer analyzes a market and writes to sell. An artist creates from whatever inner need and, thus, may not appeal to many people.

If you want to publish a book of poetry to make lots of money, good luck. Mainstream publishers, if not professional poets themselves, will tell you that poetry doesn’t sell. If that is true, it is not for lack of poets. Throw a rock and you will hit a dog or a poet. Poets are every-where. There’s hardly a person who hasn’t written a po-em at some point, whether in the throes of love, at a time of great loss, or just on a bathroom wall. But long before Marshall McLuhan declared the printed word was dead, it was apparent that books were a hard sell.

There is an entire art of publicizing, distributing, and selling your book. If writing poetry is the song, selling it is the dance. You should take pleasure in sharing your work with others, but that might mean, simply, showing your poems to friends, sharing it in writing workshops, or learning how to perform it well publically. Just don’t expect to make yourself rich as a poet, and that is as much because of human nature as because poetry doesn’t sell.

You can do everything right – writing a truly gifted book of poetry, designing and producing a magnificent book, buying the best wine and cheese for your book party. People – fellow poets and writers and even your good friends – will gladly drink your wine and eat the cheese, but as often they will leave without buying a book. What is that about? It certainly predates any col-lapse of the economy or even antipathy for poetry. Get-ting people to part with a dollar isn’t easy, and family members are going to expect you to give them a free copy. (Make even your mother pay!)

Of course, you may have, more than just extraordinary lines of poetry, the best sales pitch ever. It doesn’t hurt to be optimistic and it certainly is good to have a marketing plan. But shed the idea that you want to publish a book – particularly of poetry – to make money. Do, however, understand that a well-produced, inexpensive book of poems is very likely to earn its money back and then some if you do things right. It is not enough to ex-ercise your right to publish. It is your responsibility to bring out the best book you can. You may be a happy amateur, but when you reach out to others with a book, why wouldn’t you want to present them with the very best you can produce?

ORDER FORM

Please send me the following books:

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TOTAL FOR BOOKS (free shipping)                     $______

Name________________________________________

Address______________________________________

City__________________________________________

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Review Copy Policy: Copies of these texts are available for consideration for class use, literary reviews &/or possible personal appearances by their authors. Please designate the organization for which you are reviewing:

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Make Checks payable to: 3WS, World Wide Writers Services.

1104 Jacaranda Avenue, Daytona Beach, Florida 32118

Phone: 386-492-2409/

Alternately, you can email this form to axelrodthepoet@yahoo.com and make your payment to that email address using Paypal.

Writers Ink Press

Abella, Olga | Agostino, Paul | Allen, David |  Axelrod, Daniel E. | Byrnes, Fred | Cavanaugh, Joseph | Cowley, Lisa |dePazzi, Ellen|DiGenarro, Adriana | Fisher, Adam | Guilbert, Anthony | Kidde, Kaye | Kotch, Beverly | Levine, Mara | Levine, Marvin |Marinelli, William J. | Nuzzo-Morgan, Tammy | Opyr, Linda | Pels, Daniel J. | Paleos, Kaliope |Susan Pilewski | Stever, Edward |Stock, Thomas | Teller, Gayl | Usatch, Sonia | Wallace, George | Wentling, Trish |Wicker, Sandy |

 

	Watching the Wind. Abella, Olga. BINDING: perfect bound, 76 pgs. ISBN13: 978-0-925062-55-3 PRICE: $20.
	Engagements and Disengagements: New Poems.Agostino, Paul. BINDING: perfect bound, 128 pgs. ISBN13: 978-0-925062-14-7 ISBN: 0-925062-14-6 PRICE: $15.
	The Story So Far. Allen, David. BINDING: perfect bound, 124 pgs. ISBN: 0-925062-48-0 PRICE: $20.
	History Doesn’t Kill Me. Axelrod, Daniel. Binding: stapled, 24 pgs.  ISBN 0-925062-05-x (Out of Print)
	Dreams. Axelrod, Daniel E. BINDING: stapled, 24 pgs. ISBN: 0-925062-05-7 PRICE: $6.
	Staircase Wisdom. Axelrod, Daniel E. BINDING: perfect bound, 54 pgs. ISBN 0-925062-12-x ISBN13: 978-0-925062-12-3 PRICE: $10
	1969 and Other Poems. Byrnes, Fred. BINDING: perfect bound, 48 pgs. ISBN13 978-0-925062-58-8 PRICE: $20.
	Poetry Jam with Toast and Tea. Cavanaugh, Joseph. BINDING: perfect bound, 88 pgs. ISBN: 978-0-925062-46-9 (book sold with CD) PRICE: $20. –
	Poetry Jam: Music and Poems. Cavanaugh, Joseph.ISBN: 978-0-925062-47-5 (CD only) PRICE: $10.
	Noah’s Dove. Cowley, Lisa. BINDING: perfect bound, 44 pgs. ISBN13: 978-0-925062-41-3 ISBN: 0-925062-41-3 PRICE: $10.
	David Burliuk: His Long Island and His World. de’ Pazzi, Ellen. BINDING: perfect bound, 218 pgs. ISBN13: 978-0-925062-25-3 ISBN: 0-925062-25-1 COLLECTOR’S PRICE: $40.
	Peripheral Vision. DiGennaro, Adriana. BINDING: perfect bound, 58 pgs. ISBN13: 978-0-925062-23-9 ISBN: 0-925062-23-5 PRICE: $15.
	Rooms, Airy Rooms. Fisher, Adam D. BINDING: perfect bound, 36 pgs. (Issued as a Behrman House Poetry Edition together with Cross-Cultural Communication)ISBN cloth: 0-89304-760-0 ISBN paper: 0-89304-761-9 (Out of Print)
	Enough to Stop the Heart. Fisher, Adam D. BINDING: perfect bound, 80 pgs. ISBN13: 978-0-925062-54-5 PRICE: $20.
	Drift. Guilbert (né Norton), Anthony. BINDING: stapled, 24 pgs. ISBN: 0-9606222-11 (Out of Print)
	This Longing: Words for the Body, Words for the Soul.Guilbert, Anthony BINDING: perfect bound, 60 pgs. ISBN 0-925062-56-1 PRICE: $15.
	Early Sky. Kidde, Kaye. BINDING: perfect bound, 82 pgs. ISBN13: 978-0-925062-24-6 ISBN: 0-925062-24-3 PRICE: $15.
	The Poems of Augie Prime. Wallace, George. BINDING: perfect bound, 60 pgs. ISBN: 0-925062-19-7 PRICE: $12
	Pruning. Wentling, Trish. BINDING: stapled, 32 pgs. ISBN: 978-0-925062-56-7 PRICE: $10