Published!

Today’s the day, my mum’s birthday and publication day for my first chapbook of poetry! I never thought I’d do it, but never say never. Having received enough rejections from literary agents for several lifetimes, it would have seemed like pure masochism to submit my poems to a publisher. We’re only constructed to take so much punishment. So, I did it myself. Quick, simple and completely painless. Except for the cover which is always a pain.

The poems are new but the themes are old. The usual, but mainly about water, what it says on the tin. Here’s what it looks like

31qss6GcakL._SX355_BO1,204,203,200_

and if you’d like to get your very own copy here are some amazon links

Link co.uk https://tinyurl.com/y2et7dcr
Link .com https://tinyurl.com/y5ueldrq
Link Australia https://tinyurl.com/yykla7nm
Link Canada https://tinyurl.com/yxu5azlk
Link India https://tinyurl.com/yy6qvle5

Published by

Jane Dougherty

I used to do lots of things I didn't much enjoy. Now I am officially a writer. It's what I always wanted to be.

155 thoughts on “Published!”

    1. Thanks Liz! It was easier than I’d feared. A chapbook is nowhere near as complicated as a novel, and it isn’t supposed to be a ‘book’ with all the tra la la. Dead simple.

      Reply

  4. Congratulations and thank you! I look forward to reading. I am reading in gasps at the moment due to having the kids at home but I will get there 😊

    Reply

      6. It’s quite impersonal as a process. You just get it together and upload it. You don’t even have to tell anyone, and because there are so many millions of books available on amazon, no one will know it’s there unless you tell them.

  7. Congratulations Jane. Well done! Just bought a copy. It is a Kindle one as I am blind, and in Kindle I can get Voice Over app to read it to me 😊. Good luck with it.

    Reply

      2. A paperback is always better for poetry, I think. I didn’t intend to have a kindle version at all, but couldn’t see how to get a paperback version without passing via kindle.

  9. Oh Jane. Your poems are some of the most beautiful ones I have ever read. I have readavfew, and they went deep into my heart. You have such an affinitycwith nature, and all the emotions that go with it. And you have put into words so skillfully the feelings that I never could have in the way that you have done. Your poems made me cry, in a goid way, as they touched such deep places inside me. I will readbthem all soon. I cannot for the life of me understand why no one would publish you. Shame on them. Well, I am FLAD to read your poems. Do some more chapbooks if you can 😊

    Reply

    1. Now you’re making me cry! Your comment alone makes it all worth while. It’s reward enough, and I really mean that 🙂
      I should have the next one out before Christmas now I know how to do it.

      Reply

  10. Reblogged this on and commented:
    I have just downloaded Jane’s book onto Kindle, and these are some ofbthe most beautiful poems I have ever read, they go deep into the heart. So wonderful. Well done Jane 😊

    Reply

  12. Well done Jane. I’ll be sure to check it out. I’m going through a similar journey myself. After wasting a year trying to get agents and publishers interested in my first novel, I’ve finally decided to go indie. Wish me luck

    Reply

    1. Thank you! I feel as though I’ve produced something worthwhile. From deciding that I was going to do it to actually pressing ‘submit’ took only a few days. Painless and rapid compared with submitting to agents 🙂

      Reply

      1. I know what a painful process submitting to agents is — not personally (yet) but I keep hearing abut it. I’m so glad that you had a more positive experience with plan B!

      2. I can understand why poetry presses are extremely cautious about who they publish and want to see evidence that the poet already has a certain success with magazine publications. They don’t make much money out of it and can’t risk making a loss!
        Publishing houses don’t have the same excuse. It’s not a question of losing money. After all, if a book is any good it will sell with some basic promotion. They want to make lots of money, and they’d rather pay some author who is bound to make them lots of money a huge advance rather than pay modest sums to authors who will get modest promotion and maybe make them thousands rather than hundreds of thousands. They’re not interested in having an image of promoting great writing, just of hauling in big bucks.

    1. Thank you 🙂 I said the same for a long time, then I started to read what other people were publishing and decided that objectively, mine were just as good as many of them.

      Reply

      2. A month! They must use the boat that takes the scenic route around the Horn of Africa and through the North West Passage via the China Seas and Patagonia…
        I think it’s printed in Poland. Thanks for ordering it though. It means a lot to me 🙂

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  32. What wonderful news, JD. I WILL be purchasing as soon as I’m done congratulating you. Your title grabbed my eye, it being a line in a poem I published a while back, which you can read here, if interested: https://eggsovertokyo.blogspot.com/2015/04/red-as-bell.html
    Good luck. I’m looking forward to the read & will post a photo of me, smiling, holding up my copy as soon as it arrives.

    Here, wear these laurels. You deserve.

    Reply

    1. Aw, that’s lovely of you, Ron 🙂 I write a lot of poems, usually as a bit of light relief when doing other writing. I respond to prompts for the same reason, bang them out, post them and go back to what I was doing. But I’ve been keeping back poems that I’ve thought deserved a bit more than the wham bam thank you mam treatment. I hope you like them.

      Reply

  35. Hello, I’m Markie. I’ve just created a writing blog (The South Paw Poet) and am just familiarizing with WordPress.
    Congratulations on your publication!
    I too self-published through Amazon in 2019, after trying for a year to get someone to pick my book up. The only drawback is that they don’t market these books for us- but it is a tremendous accomplishment, and looks great on future queries!

    Reply

      1. Aw, thank you! It’s southpawpoet.org. Yesterday was my first time on the word press app, I’m having trouble linking my page to it.

      2. I found a SouthPawPoet, a Spanish girl living in Ireland. Carmen, I think, and the blog is a few years old. Is there a problem with having the same name as an existing blog maybe?

      3. Well I added ‘the’ to mine. The South Paw Poet. 🤷‍♀️
        I try to be diligent about jotting down my passwords, but I’m having trouble with the login/ password to connect my page with to the WordPress app. I’ll work on it more today, dealing my stepdaughter’s online school right now. I appreciate you taking an interest! If nothing else I’d love for you to Google it and see what you think! I’m also unable so far to figure out how to enable people to follow or subscribe to my page. I thought that would be the easiest part!

      4. I can’t remember now, but if you look through settings that should ask you who you want to see the blog and how you want them to interact, like, comment etc. I’ll see if I can find you with a google search.

      6. Oh no. Well thank you so much for taking an interest and trying to help! I’ll keep working on it as I’m able, for sure.

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  43. Never heard of a “chapbook” before. Thanks for the education. What’s funny about the Amazon LookInside is that it’s just the covers and the title page, nothing inside. Which seems appropriate, given the length.

    Reply
  45. Pingback: Published! – 2.4Money Loveall records

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