How I Wrote and Published a Poetry Book: Book Outline

In addition, I’ve been obsessed with the concept called “human nature,” “the human condition,” a universal trait we all share: the bias, the fallacy, evolutionary biology, and psychology features in the human condition that for most of human history are an adaptive survival mechanism: fear, fight or flight, empathy, nausea. 

Thus, my curiosity to read widely and better understand this condition and nature of mine, I also wanted to share what I learn with others through art. I chose poetry as a form of art to express these ideas. For this book, I chose the subject of love, and given how nuanced and relatable it is, poetry was the ideal art to communicate my message.

After many trials and errors in my research, I devised an outline to write and publish a poetry book. When coming up with a book idea, one fundamental question is simply what it’s about.

What is the book about?

I had a glimmer of an idea of what I wanted to write. I knew I wanted to write and publish a book, which led to what message I was most interested in sharing and what genre would carry this message. It was easier to start with what I already have archived and identify what those are. I have compiled a decade’s worth of poetry, short stories, lyrics, and essays here. Then, I reflected and chose a poetry collection of romantic love poems because I felt more comfortable exploring these themes. 

It was settled! I am writing about romantic love, a subject everyone can relate to, and poetry is the form to deliver it. When coming up with what to write about, I recommend you scour through all of your archived materials; whether physical or digital, there are gems you can transform into a writing piece and share with the world.

What is the overarching Narrative or Theme?

There are several ways to present the structure of a book from the narrative, subject, or theme. Given my poems were of different periods, stages, points of view, and accounts, I organized them by an overarching theme. It was obvious the book was about romantic love. Still trying to figure out how to organize it. I learned much later after several rewrites. 

After communicating with an editor, she suggested I divide the collection into sub-themes. Aha! Of course, the book will encompass the most common tropes in the human experience of the facets of love:

• Pining
• Being in love
• Heartbreak
• Love of life (adventure, passions, living)
• The power of love it has over us

All the work you’ve written or ideas you thought of lately have a shared theme that needs to be manifested into reality!

How many poems are in this collection

A poetry book contains more than 30 pages or more than 30 poems; anything less or shorter is a chapbook. I researched the average page or poem count for poetry books on Amazon? To my surprise, most of them wrote or exceeded 100 poems, with page counts exceeding some 200 pages. With some additional research, I discerned several patterns. These books have short poems of less than 10 lines. Each poem is on a new page as some authors accompany their poems with illustrations on one side, giving the illusion of a book filled with many words with a high page count. 

Regarding poetry, word count is less crucial than prose genres like fantasy or romance. Poetry is not prose; poetry is choosing the best words and arranging them in the most effective way to convey the essence of the message. I know each of my poems will vary in length based on the different poetic forms, whether it is Formal Verse with its fixed number of lines, Free Verse where I can play with a variety of elements, or a Ballad to tell a story without the line constraints while adhering to poetic language rules. 

So, with some back and forth with my editor, I moved forward with 64 poems, and with future poetry book projects—I found 60 poems to be my perfect balance of length and variety for the reader. 

You don’t have to follow my formula, and you may come out with fewer poems, but by writing long narratives or many short poems, you can find your voice and style as you practice.

What sources of inspiration and research

There are sources of inspiration from your own life you can glean from, and it requires a bit of courage to explore those depths. Also, second-hand observations, your philosophy on the topic, movies and TV shows with romantic scenes, the thrill of adventure, poems, books, music, and other mediums you have not considered are just as relevant. 

I would curate a film list on Amazon Prime Video or Netflix and, with Spotify, a playlist of songs to help draw out those memories and emotions as I write the book. 

Regarding sources of inspiration, my method when reading for inspiration is twofold: one for entertainment and the second for analysis. In the first reading pass, I immerse myself in the beauty and creative quality of timeless poetic literature such as the works of William Shakespeare. 

Second, I analyze a poem by identifying the author’s biography and message in how they use figurative language and repetition of sounds. Throughout the book writing, I would read and digest and learn something new each time I revisited an inspirational poem and explore the author behind it by visiting their history and under what conditions they were living that produced a timeless piece of art.

For my book, I watched several films like Pride & Prejudice, a playlist of love songs. I read several books I kept referencing for inspiration:

• Love Poems by Barnes & Noble
• Pocket Book of Romantic Poetry by Barnes & Noble
• Love Poem Collection: The Greatest Love Poems and Love Quotes of All Times

Also, I drew additional sources of inspiration from famous love stories in mythology, fiction, and history, such as Venus and Adonis, Love’s Labor’s Lost, and more. As for additional research, I sought aid from the website LitCharts where they have not just literature guides but also poetry guides. Also, the Philosophy of Love, how famous philosophers throughout history perceived love, helped inform the ideas I injected into the poetry collection.

How will I arrange the collection?

Even though I intended to section the poems by sub-themes, some recommendations made by my editor was putting your strongest poem first for every section, and that’s a great idea. Still, in the end, I chose to alphabetically organize the poems by title for each section. I did my best to make sure every poem was the best version I could make for release. 

Extras

The extras include book and poem titles, poetic forms, symbolisms, and allusions to help relate and give depth to each poem in the collection. A good title is difficult to come by when you write a book. It’s usually something where I write a simple title, for instance, Romantic Love Poems. Toward the end of my editing collaboration, I will have a final title that emulates the collection. The opening poem, The Cool and Warmth of Hearts, inspired my first book title. 

Poetic forms are tricky as they vary from writer to writer with their comfort level; when I wrote my first book, I wanted to experiment with all the tools under the sun in figurative language and repetition of sounds to where almost 70% of The Cool and Warmth of Hearts poems are composed in Free Verse. 

There is nothing inherently wrong with that issue. However, I wish I should have mastered the craft of writing poetry well enough before breaking the rules too soon; this is common among many published poems where I see a variety of Free Verse, and they appear to have line breaks, enjambments, and end-stopped done haphazardly than with intention. Stephen Fry shares a similar sentiment in chapter three of his book The Ode Less Travelled:

“The poet who writes ‘free’ verse is like Robinson Crusoe on his desert island: he must do all his cooking, laundry, and darning for himself. This manly independence produces something original and impressive in a few exceptional cases. Still, more often, the result is squalor—dirty sheets on the unmade bed and empty bottles on the unswept floor.” Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled

Symbolism has the power to convey more meaning without deliberate explanation. As far back as humans’ first cave paintings or road signs, symbolism has captured the essence of what we all understand with an image or metaphor we use to describe concepts such as “heart = soul” or “star = hope.” 

Allusions in poetry are one of my favorite techniques to add Easter eggs. Still, they must be intentionally inserted in the right context without conceiting. When readers see it, they think, I know what that is! And when we relate, we’re paying respect for the art that culture has created under the banner of humanity. 

The Gist

• The first step in bringing a book to life is thinking through what the book is designed to be about, the message you wish to convey, and what genre can deliver that message.
• Second, once you have the idea, it helps to identify the book’s overarching narrative or theme that will communicate its message. By breaking it down, you can see how each story, poem, and element contributes to the whole, including sub-themes that bridge it.
• Suppose you want to produce a poetry book. In that case, it must be more than what is found in a chapbook by doubling it: 30 pages or 25 poems. Usually, if you plan to compete in the marketplace, find out the range authors are putting out and find a balance for your message to the reader without forcing your hand.
• The biggest curse of writer’s block needs more knowledge or inspiration on the topic. Although you can work from experiences and second-hand accounts, a deliberate list of sources guiding you throughout your book writing will have lasting appeal.
• Although the arrangement is a matter of preference, it is paramount that you stay within the narrative or theme; otherwise, you will lose your readers. If you just want to publish a general anthology, then make that explicitly clear for the audience and what overarching theme these poems are hoping to share
• The last but just as critical bit—the extras: title, poetic forms, symbolism, and allusions help add depth and better create a resonance that helps readers connect to one of humanity’s enduring forms of arts