2 Pens & Lint Chapbook Publishing

Wouldn’t it be nice to sell your own collection of poetry when you step off the stage at an open mic? Wouldn’t it be nice to see a set of your poems in print? Well, publishing a chapbook through 2 Pens & Lint would be a great way to achieve that goal of pushing your poetry career to the next level.

I am a poet myself and I notice that many of us post our poems on social media websites because it's inexpensive and also because we can get direct feedback from a large audience. However, these are poems that we are essentially giving away for free seeing as how we receive no pay for posting these poems. I feel that poets that are serious about the craft realize that at some point they may need to pay bills with money made from their talent for writing. One of the main problems in poetry/spoken word is that we don’t value our own work many times therefore we give away our poetry for free while others benefit from our works whether through ads on websites or from admission paid to see us read at open mics. However, if we value our own poetry and our dedication to the craft then we must also understand that we should have something to show for our work and dedication. Publishing and releasing a chapbook is a great way for a poet to benefit from their dedication to the craft. Also, people who pay for your poetry are more likely to give you an honest opinion because they’ve now invested both money and time into your poetry.

At 2 Pens & Lint we publish chapbooks for poets interested in seeing their work in print. We charge the poet $250 (two payments of $125). In return, we edit, format, and print 100 copies of the poet's chapbook. We suggest that the poet sell their chapbook at $5.00 per copy. This equals out to a $500 return from a $250 investment.

How Would I Sell My Chapbook

Some of you may be asking "how would I sell my chapbook?" There are many ways to sell 100 hundred copies but two very simple ways are through open mics and the internet. Anytime you perform at an open mic just take a few copies of your chapbook to sell during or after the open mic. Also, in order to sell through the internet we help each poet by setting up a personal page for them here on our website. The personal webpage always includes a bio of the poet, a few poems from the chapbook, an interview with the poet, and a PayPal button that allows people to purchase the chapbook online. Because it's on our website we generate traffic to your page and help with advertising and promoting your chapbook.

My Experience

I began writing poetry at age14 back home in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Though I wrote almost every day, I had trouble getting published. My brother and I mailed manuscripts of my poetry books to publishers across the nation only to receive rejection letters from the few who did respond. However, that rejection did not diminish my desire for writing. Eventually, I decided that I should print and sell my own books. I was only 15 or 16 at this time, so I had no job and no money. Fortunately, my brother was willing to invest in a computer and printer so that I could publish my own poetry. When I finished high school, I’d sold over 200 copies of my first book entitled Content. Selling those copies in 1999 changed my life because it put a little extra cash in my pocket, but most importantly, it exposed a new set of people to my poetry. Many of those people still support my poetry today.

If you're interested in publishing a chapbook through 2 Pens & Lint or if you have any questions about our chapbook publishing please e-mail me at ckpb02@gmail.com or feel free to contact us at contact@twopensandlint.com.

Christopher K. P. Brown

Founder of 2 Pens & Lint