You know what panic is?
About three weeks ago the submissions to the site stopped. At first I thought it was just a lull, maybe spring break in the university creative writing classes which are the source of a lot of my poems. Maybe I need to send out more postcards soliciting poems.
I have been stringing out the poems I accepted, hoping that some new poems - anything! - would be submitted. Alas. Nothing. Last week I posted the last poem I had in the queue.
What to do? What to do? Write a poem myself? Beg for poems from friends? Dig through the rejection pile seeing if there is anything I overlooked and write a desperate email asking for forgiveness? Admit that maybe this project is a failure?
Fortunately, before I did anything stupid, I checked to see if the submission form was working properly. I sent a test message on the web site. An hour later, after obsessively checking email, I discovered it wasn't working.
A quick trip with the browser to the web mail application at my server host yielded eleven submissions that never made it through to my email program. (Twelve, if you want to count the submission that said "Ithink you guys are gay.")
Oops.
After a few hours of struggling with the computerized adversary, I finally got the emails to download to my computer. So, once again, democracy is saved. Or at least we have backed it up.
My apologies to those have been waiting for a response from me about their submissions. Those are going out today.
posted by: Charles S. Cooper
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February 22, 2007
There have been a number of changes to the format of the web site, most cosmetic but a few are substantial (details below.) I have tried to keep the look of the site "clean." I don't want to clutter it up with graphics, animation, lots of links, or lots of anything really. The poetry is most important. I don't want to distract readers away from the poems.
The "home" page has been updated with a shortened introduction and a more prominent listing of the new poems.
I added "Today's Featured Poem" to the home page. I did this because 1) a lot of people get to the home page and go no further (this way they are exposed to at least one poem); and 2) it "unburies" older poems.
I don't think I am going to updated this feature every day, more likely two or three times a week. Selecting poems is not automated yet, but when it is, poems will be selected at random. Every poem on the site will eventually be "Today's Featured Poem."
The current poem page includes all the poems published each week as well as the poems published for the preceeding three weeks. Again, this is in part because some people come to the site and just read the current poem page. (We'll show them who's boss!)
If you are returning periodically to read poems, I still maintain the poems in reverse chronological order. The newest poems are at the top of the current poem page; the oldest poems at the bottom. Clicking on "Next Poem" will take you to the next oldest poem, until you reach the first poem, gnimbley's "Why Are We in Iraq?"
The other big new feature is an RSS feed. The link to the feed document is located in the lower left of the home page. Right now the feed will just alert you whenever new poems are posted. I am considering including some or all of the new poems in the RSS feed. (If you have questions or problems with the RSS feed, send me a message using the contact form.)
I am getting close to the magic number of 50 poems. What is magic about 50 you say? That is the point when I am going to expand my publicity campaign with press releases to the established media. Right now I am just advertising through Google ads and postcards to prospective poets. But soon I will be trying to interest the mass media in our site. They will probably ignore us, but I am going to give it a shot anyway.
posted by: Charles S. Cooper
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December 14, 2006
We are starting to publish multiple poems every week. The volume of submissions can handle it. I am even able to select the better poems to publish, not just ones that aren't bad.
Next week is Christmas and I intend to publish just one poem next week. It will be Blue Flame by Stephen Haven who directs the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Ashland University. It seems appropriate to let this one stand alone.
I am pleased I am getting so many submissions from established poets.
I am also getting submissions from college students. I targeted a lot of college creative writing programs with my postcard mailings. My hope is that not only will the professors consider submitting, but that they will pass the web site along to their students.
posted by: Charles S. Cooper
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November 30, 2006
Today we published two poems, one by a returning poet and the second by a poet new to this site. I have enough poems in stock to publish multiple poems the next two weeks.
Activity at the site has increased significantly since I broke down and started buying ads on Google. Hopefully I will only have to advertise for a short period of time before the site gains some momentum. As they say, word of mouth advertising is the best.
Also, today I am sending out more postcards asking for submissions. Most of these are going to college creative writing programs. A lot of them are addressed to professors. I am not so much soliciting poems from the professors, as I am hoping they pass the web site address along to some of their students.
If anyone knows of any person or group which might be interested in submitting a poem, i.e. a local writing center or college poetry class, send me the address via the info form and I will send them a postcard. Thanks!
posted by: Charles S. Cooper
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October 26, 2006
If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed that I update this site every Thursday. This will be the pattern for the foreseeable future.
You will also notice that I have been publishing only one poem per week. I would like to publish more, but I don't have enough material. Submissions have fallen off recently after a mini-surge following the first two postcard mailings.
If you are thinking of submitting a poem, now would be a good time. I am not saying I am desperate - I still am not going to publish anything I don't like as a poem. I am actually holding back a couple of poems to ensure I will be able to publish something the next couple of weeks.
I guess I should work harder at getting the word out, huh?
Today's poem is the first openly "patriotic" poem I have published. As I expected, most of the submissions I get are "anti-war." I hope I have made it clear that I want all points of view to be expressed here. If you don't see a poem that expresses how you feel, write one and send it in.
posted by: Charles S. Cooper
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