@Cpat92 Said
So, I finally wrote my first poetry book. I am almost done with the manuscript. I want to publish it, but I am unsure of whether or not I should self publish through Amazon (which is insanely quick apparently) or see if I can get it published through a publisher (which will probably be quite tricky). I still have to go through the proofreading and editing process before I can publish it. If things work out, it may be published before Christmas, or at least before New Year's Eve.
I am excited but also quite nervous. I'm still working on a title as well. I have one, but I don't know if it would work.
Poetry is hard to publish. Most of the big publishing companies are more critical of poetry manuscripts than they are of other types of books.
None the less, it is worth the effort to send your manuscript to a few of the big publishing companies. They typically have a layout standard that is easy to do. If they like your manuscript, you are set. If they don't like it, you can self publish. The down side is that, if you sent your manuscript today, even if accepted, you probably wont make a New Years publishing date... not enough time.
You could try to find an agent. However, they are going to cost you money... sometimes even if they don't actually push your manuscript for publication.
There used to be a magazine (or maybe it was a book...?) that supposedly helped prospective poets with all this. You can probably go on line and get all the information on (as an example) the top 5 (or 10) poetry publishing companies (their addresses & style guidelines)... then print the required number of manuscripts (probably at least two copies per company)... and for a small amount of money send off your manuscripts....
Then the waiting game begins, as they may or may not even answer you... so you need to set a time frame in your mind (how long you will wait before self publishing)... 3 to 6 months is likely a reasonable waiting period...
etc.