Karen Holmes, Kelsay Books, Poetry Collections

My friend, Karen Holmes, is a terrific poet. Her poetry collection Untying the Knot, will be published next year by Kelsay Books.

This is an excerpt from an interview with Karen Kelsay of Kelsay Books. I post this to reiterate what I tell my students and to guide you to read this post:

 Have you ever had to turn down a chapbook manuscript you loved? Maybe because it wasn't right for your press, or any other reason?

Yes, there have been a few I really thought were well written and clever, but they just didn't follow the guidelines closely enough. I absolutely hate to do layout work on experimental poetry. The lines need to be justified to the left and in a traditional manner. I will let a few slip by if they look like they won’t be too much trouble, but I will refuse the manuscript if it is filled with crazy lines going all over the place.

I am in process of putting together a poetry manuscript that I hope will be complete before too long. My chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then was published by Finishing Line Press in 2009, the same year my husband passed away. That book is a bitter-sweet reminder.

photo by Michelle Keller

I enjoyed working with Leah Maines editor, and Kevin Maines at Finishing Line. I hope the publishing of my next book will go as well. 

Poets can run into some nightmares with publishers. A friend had her book accepted, but the press failed and after holding her manuscript a long time, the book was never published. Writers must research, carefully, and still one never knows what might happen. 

A novelist, Nancy O., published her book in the U.K. That company went out of business and stopped sending her checks, but the book continued to be listed on Amazon.com. She could not reach anyone to ask if her book was still selling and if so, why was she not receiving any revenue.

With self-publishing and print on demand (POD) becoming easier, some poets are doing their own thing. Some of our greatest poets, like Walt Whitman and T.S. Elliot, paid to publish an early book. The first book is often used to build a name for the poet if he has not already done so.

I believe that Karen Holmes has made a perfect match with her poetry and Kelsay Books.

With winter looming and the cold days that keep us inside, this is a good time to sort poems and to arrange short stories to see what I have and what might be worth sharing with others. Would you, my readers, have any interest in collections of my poems and stories?