Christine, here is a tip about fees for book contests. It may or may not help you, depending on whether you live in an area that has arts councils that give small grants to local artists. Many book contests have significant fees in the 25-35 dollar range, and entering those book contests can be one of the few ways to get a poetry book published, outside of vanity presses. When I lived in Minnesota, it was relatively easy to apply for small grants for artists, so for each of my three full-length poetry manuscripts and one chapbook manuscript, I applied for about $300 to fund entry into enough contests to give my book a decent chance. Several times I won none of them, but both of my first two books and my chapbook were published as a result of entering a contest whose entry was funded by those small grants. I learned that the scattershot approach was a waste of time, so after the first time, I entered fewer contests, but made sure that I entered only those that had actually published a formalist poetry book in the past.
I consider it to be a waste of time, too, to enter contests for individual poems, unless the contest is specifically geared toward formal poems of the kind I write. Do not be lured into entering contests based on liking the work of the final judge, who will probably see only a handful of the finalists' works. All of the other manuscripts will probably be screened out by students or interns whose tastes may have nothing in common with yours.
Susan
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