May 1, 2024
Updated December 5, 2025

Hey, folks!

With National Poetry Writing Month at an end, I thought now would be the perfect time to look at next steps after writing a poetry collection. But then I realized those steps apply much more broadly – so whether you’ve finished a collection through NaPoWriMo, have written a picture book that came to you in the night a couple months ago, or have realized any other writing possibility, this is for you.

And make sure to check out the links at the end of the post for extra tips!

December 2025: You can now download my Self-Publishing Checklist for Novels and Poetry from my Resources page! It has additional things to consider, and goes beyond the writing and editing stages.

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First of all, if you’re here because you’ve written a book, whether poetry or otherwise, congratulations! That achievement is no small feat, regardless of how large it is. I’m being genuine when I say I’m proud of you.

But what should you do now? You have the poetry or story, and you have an urge to get it out into the world.

Don’t worry. I’ve got you.

This post covers an incomplete series of steps I recommend taking. Depending on you, your project, and the process that makes most sense for both, these steps might be in different orders, some may not happen at all, and some not listed here may get inserted. What I hope, though, is that this list gives you a place to start and things to consider.

So without further ado:

Step 1: Take a break

Yep, you read that right. After each step of this process, starting once you’re done writing, it’s important to take a step back from your work. I suggest at least two weeks, but the process will be different for every person and every schedule.

When you’re in the throes of writing, you (and I use “you” in the royal sense – I’m in that mix myself) know exactly what you’re trying to get at, even when you don’t know how to say it. And when you’re in that mindset, it’s easy to overlook how a reader might not understand what you’re saying, at least not in the way you’re intending them to.

But when you come back to your work with a fresh eye, you can catch those potential misunderstandings, or missing pieces of vital information, or phrases that aren’t quite as logical or poignant as you thought, or any other number of possibilities. Breaks ultimately help your work!

Step 2: Self-edit

Once you’re done your break, it’s important to self-edit. Even if you’re not an editor, and even if you don’t particularly enjoy this part of the process, it’s best for you, the work, and any professionals you may hire or work with if you do it.

What if you’re posting to social media with no intention of publishing? Gifting the poems or story as a present meant to be kept private? Still self-edit. Your readers will appreciate it in the long run, and maybe most importantly in this context, it’ll provide you with extra peace of mind.

You are your best editor this early in the game. You know what you’re trying to say; you know the vibe you want to give off; you know what sounds genuinely you; you know your style. If you spend time working on all of that, making sure it’s to your liking and ensuring it’s something readers will hopefully enjoy, it helps shape your work into something cohesive. And when you have something cohesive, the feedback you’ll get from editors and beta readers will be more constructive and helpful, because they’ll catch things you didn’t notice, rather than point out what you could have dealt with on your own from the start.

Do as many self-editing rounds as you feel are necessary. But remember, it won’t be perfect, and that’s ok.

And don’t forget to take breaks between each round of editing!

Step 3: Get alpha and/or beta readers

For more on alpha and beta readers, check out this blog post.

Alpha and beta readers act as additional eyes, catching things you weren’t able to see, and helping you decipher what’s not working with things you did notice but didn’t know how to fix. Their feedback will help smooth out elements even further, and may provide new ideas that can really elevate your work.

Note that after getting feedback (whether that be one or multiple rounds), more self-editing will need to occur.

Step 4: Hire an editor

If you’re posting your poems to social media, or giving your story as a gift, perhaps you don’t feel you need a professional editor. That’s ok! You can skip this step.

If you’re going the traditional publishing route, it’s pretty much up to you if you want to hire an editor before querying or submitting. But know it’s not necessary, so long as you’ve done the other steps as thoroughly as you can.

If you’re self-publishing, having a professional editor (or multiple!) can go a long way.

Once you and your alpha/beta readers have done all you can, a developmental editor can come in and catch issues (or grey areas) that are lingering in the manuscript. Having those self-editing and reader passes allows for an editor to really focus on the meat of the work, getting to what would have otherwise been buried beneath unedited layers.

What a developmental editor checks for are bigger areas like the structure of the poems or story, big-picture imagery and messages, the logic of the content as a whole, progression of the plot, character arcs, etc. Basically, the bones of the whole operation. We’re trained to spot things the average reader may not be able to articulate but could very well notice regardless. We’re also trained to think of things you may not have, which could bring your manuscript to the next level.

A line and copy editor will then step in (sometimes the same editor as you used for developmental, sometimes different, and sometimes one for each line and copy editing) and make sure the content sounds good and feels consistent, and is accurate and error-free.

Finally, a proofreader will make sure everything has been caught and corrected as needed.

For poetry collections, you can also hire someone to help make sure the poems are organized in a way that works for the overall story or vibe you want to convey. This can be done at any stage, though I generally suggest around copy editing – that way, smaller and sometimes more meaningful connections can be made between poems that could have been overlooked earlier on. (I.e. through lines that weren’t there before, through imagery that has since been heightened at line-level, etc.)

And make sure to contact an editor sooner than you think!

Step 5: One last read-through

Make sure you go through your work one last time before sending it off anywhere – to recipients, to an agent, to the interwebs, etc. Just to triple check everything is in order.

Step 6: Follow the publication path you’ve chosen

(No GIF seemed worthy of this section. Sorry, friends.)

I’ve made step 6 broad for a reason: How you choose to get your work out to the public (or to select few) dictates how you move forward. But in general:

Social media: Choose your branding/style, and post in the way that makes sense for your goals and target audience. More goes into this, but I’m less an SEO person and more a printed-word person.

Personal gift: Maybe you’ll design a cover on Canva. Maybe you’ll print it on fancy paper through a local printer. Maybe you’ll use a company that can print off a few copies for family and friends. There are plenty of options available!

Traditional publishing: With full-blown manuscripts, you’ll likely want to find an agent. Some publishing houses take unagented submissions, but there are fewer and fewer doing so, especially when it comes to stories – poetry seems to have more luck, but even then, it’s not much. Starting with a full-blown book generally requires representation. Do some research and see what agents represent your kind of work and follow their or their agency’s submission guidelines, and/or look for houses with submission openings. And of course, for magazines and journals, follow those individual guidelines. Best of luck!

Self-publishing: I suggest making a checklist of tasks you’ll need to complete for this one, and how you’ll want to go about each task. (You can use the one I’ve created as your guideline.) Self-publishing can be very rewarding, but it does involve more prep than the other options. For instance, you’ll need to look at formatters, cover artists, getting ISBNs (that process varies by country), marketing tactics, registering business names, etc. This is all good to look into before your book is fully edited, so you know what steps you’ll need to take and when, in part for those you hire and in part for your ideal publication date.

Step 7: Write the next one

Why not? 😊

See also…

Looking for more info? Here are some posts that may help:

Self-editing

– Writing and Editing Resources
– Editing Adverbs
– Hyphens, Em Dashes, En Dashes, and Ellipses
– Tips for Proofreading
– Questions to Ask Beta Readers

Working with professional editors

– Types of Editing 2.0
– What Do Poetry Editors Do?
– Do I Need to Hire a Professional Editor?

Publishing

– Which Is Better: Traditional Publishing or Self-Publishing?
– Querying a Book

More posts are available that could be of extra assistance; go ahead and search through the blog for what you need!

Leave questions and comments below, or send me a message. Feel free to email me with questions if you’re not quite yet looking for a quote! (Email listed on contact page.)