Coaching
You’ve spent years developing your voice, learning the craft of writing poems. You’ve probably always pictured yourself as a well-published poet. But how do you get from here to there? The path to actually publishing your poetry feels like hacking your way through a jungle with a dull machete.
You might leave an MFA program or a poetry course thinking, I’ve got something publishable here. But you quickly find that the steps toward that goal aren’t nearly as intuitive as they’re made out to be.
Whether you’re working on building a portfolio of reputable journal publications, assembling a chapbook, or composing a full-length collection, the frustrating truth is that there isn’t much out there to help you cross the finish line and get published.
Go from writing to PUBLISHING poetry with 1:1 support
“I worked hard on the poems and then publishing just happened.” Subtext: I am that brilliant.
(No, they’re not.)
“It took years … you’ll just have to endure years of rejection like I did.”
(Also not true.)
Established poets make it seem easy … or impossible.
Maybe you’ve even had some publishing success. You think I’m on a roll, finally! … until it gets mysteriously harder.
Your desire to be published is not just a matter of fulfilling your personal dreams of holding your book in your hands, as important as that is.
Publishing matters. Publishing is what opens doors to other opportunities like residencies, grants, awards, teaching positions, and conference invites.
Let’s be honest.
There’s a no-man’s land between writing and publishing poetry.
No, you aren’t imagining this gap.
Most poetry publishing advice out there is vague almost to the point of gaslighting: “Send out as many submissions as you can, as often as possible, and eventually you’ll get published. That’s what I did!” “Just spread the poems out on the floor and you’ll see how they fit together.”
Advice like that not only doesn’t help, it actually makes you feel that the problem is you, that you’re failing, or that publishing is “just about luck” or “arbitrary.”
(It’s not.)
It’s a miracle any poet keeps at it.
It’s not you. Confusion about how to get published is the norm.
Do you keep circling back to your stack of poems, saying things like ...
I’m not sure …
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what publishers are looking for
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which poems to include, and how much variation is OK
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how to structure a book, how to order the poems so it hangs together
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where to send my work, what kind of press is right for my poetry
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if it’s really ready
I worry that …
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my work isn’t what I think it is
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some of the poems aren’t “good enough” or will feel unfinished in hindsight
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my submission will seem amateurish or disjointed to publishers
Underneath that all, you may secretly worry that ... my poetry isn't compelling enough to be published. (Ouch.)
Wouldn't you rather ...?
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Feel confident your work is ready for publication
Have confidence in your decision about which poems to include and what to leave out -
Be clear about whether you have a chapbook or a full-length collection
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See how the poems fit into a structure—and how that structure impacts the power of the manuscript
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Reduce the time between writing and publishing
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Identify ideal publishers and start building an audience for your poetry
that will increase your chances of receiving those acceptance letters?
Wouldn't it be nice to know—for sure—that you haven’t skipped any crucial steps?
You absolutely can have that level of confidence in the work you send out to publishers.
Get Published Poetry Coaching
Chart a path to publication with custom support.
Identify your work’s unique qualities and thematic strengths. Our work together starts with getting a clear perspective on what’s most essential about your poetry, your voice, and about where it fits in the publishing landscape.
1
Identify Your Zone of Unique Genius
Receive expert guidance in shaping your manuscript through a process that strengthens what’s already brilliant in your work, fills in the gaps, and brings everything together in a more powerful whole.
2
Shape Your Work
to Stand Out
We’ll develop a concrete, strategic publishing plan, identifying and targeting publishers who are looking for work like yours.
3
Make a Plan to Get Published
After studying with you, that’s when I started getting published.
“Our conversations illuminated blind spots and gave me ideas that are in service of the work [of this book]. The work is about allowing it to grow, asking: What does the writing want to say? Working with you fundamentally changed how well I can think about my own work.”
Stefanie Kirby
author of Fruitful, winner of the Driftwood Prize
It made publication possible…
“I took your poetry manuscript course when I was trying so hard to figure out how to order the sequences in my book I|I. I loved your practical advice, and it really made publication possible for me. Thank you!”
Katherine Indermaur
author of I|I, selected by Kazim Ali, 2022 Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize + winner of the Colorado Book Award in Poetry
One-on-One Coaching with Radha Includes
90-minute sessions every other week for 3 months.
A Clear Process
and customized action plan to meet your publishing goals.
Private Client Workspace
for feedback on your work and access to session notes, tools, and recorded instructions to support you.
Timely Feedback
to keep you moving between coaching sessions.
Turnkey Tools and Templates
for finalizing and publishing your work.
Plus
Access to the Complete Manuscript Course—a comprehensive, 22-lesson guide to assembling chapbooks and full-length collections.
Complimentary Poet to Poet membership group access—a private community of accomplished poets helping each other get published.
You receive three months of one-on-one coaching with me for $3750.
Really, publishing is not about pure talent.
What separates poets who get published from writers who give up? It comes down to having:
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Clear focus on finalizing the work so that it becomes a powerful whole.
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Certainty about where their work fits in the publishing landscape.
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A concrete plan for getting published.
Above all else, published poets have confidence–and that confidence isn’t acquired in a vacuum. Confidence comes from doing the work—yes—but also from having feedback and guidance in the process.
More than ever, we need your poetry.
Longing for public accomplishment shouldn’t be something poets feel bad about. Wanting to see your work in the world is not naive or egotistical. Readers you’ve never met are waiting for your poetry.
If only I’d had the clarity I have now earlier!
I’m Radha Marcum.
I’m the author of two award-winning poetry collections—Bloodline (New Mexico Book Award, 2018) and Pine Soot Tendon Bone (Washington Prize, 2023).
Along the way to getting those books out, I kept a presence in journals like FIELD, West Branch, Pleiades, Gulf Coast, Bennington Review, Notre Dame Review, and Poetry Northwest—and the list keeps growing.
Honestly, it took longer than I wanted to reach that first big publishing milestone. But the process taught me a lot. My second book took just three years from the time I started drafting poems to when the manuscript was accepted for publication.
During the time I was writing my first collection, I was simultaneously working professionally in publishing and marketing, getting to know how publishing really works.
My first book was a finalist for prizes, including the FIELD Poetry Prize, the Alice James Beatrice Hawley Award, the Akron Poetry Prize, and the Persea Books Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Prize.
I’ve taught poetry and manuscript development part-time at colleges, community writing programs, conferences, and privately for 20+ years. Since 2017, I’ve mentored writers working to publish in journals, or on poetry or hybrid-genre manuscripts. In 2021, I launched Poet to Poet, a newsletter and private community, and in 2023 I launched the Complete Manuscript Course.
“Support that fills you with ideas.
“This [manuscript class] was one of the best and most helpful classes I have taken. It was well organized, with helpful details and great examples. Filled me with ideas and spurred me on.”
Sue
poet, aspiring book author
From a stack of poems … to a collection.
“I know how to read a manuscript like a collection. I have a concrete way to think about how my poems relate to one another. Our one to one conversation was really helpful because it illuminated blind spots.”
Stefanie Kirby
published poet and author of a chapbook
