How much money have you spent so far submitting your chapbook, larger collection and/or individual poems to contests and competitions? Who is sitting in judgment of your poetry? How long will you wait for the gatekeepers of university publishing to invite you into the fold? And meanwhile, let me guess, you've been printing out little bundles of poems for your family and friends — your own personal fan club who would love to have your collection, whether you win any prizes or not.

Yes, I have been there. I finally decided to publish my poetry collection myself, and make it the template for the Worldwind Books Poetry Series. This will be a service for poets with collections of 80-100 pages who are willing to pay for manuscript preparation and production services.

Your book will be professionally designed and published as part of the Worldwind Books Poetry Series, under contract to Amador Publishers, LLC. Your package will incude ISBN and Library of Congress numbers, copyright to the author, national availability through Amazon.com, Ingram's distribution and at AmadorBooks.com, with generous royalties on wholesale and retail sales, and a low author's price for you regardless of how many books you order, any time.

There is no fee to be considered for a Worldwind Books Poetry Series contract. Only send work that you feel is sufficiently polished for publication. I may suggest/require material to be added or removed from the book for the sake of the page count (96 to 104 pages total), and recommend changes to do with sequence and formatting, but I do not intend to edit your poems.

Step 1 - Query: Send by e-mail or snail mail 10-20 pages of poetry with a short cover note and your completed Questionnaire/Query form.
Snail-Mail Queries: Mail to Amador Publishers, LLC, 611 Delamar NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107. Include an SASE for my reply. Do not send your only copy, submissions will not be returned.
E-Mail Queries: Send to Zelda Gatuskin with "Poetry by " and your full name in the subject line (Example: Poetry by Zelda Gatuskin). Your documents should be in .DOC format and named Your_Name_Form and Your_Name_Poetry. (Example: Zelda_Gatuskin_Form.doc) Note: I recognize that your technical ability has nothing to do with your talent as a poet, but if your attachments crash my computer I can't promise not to hold it against you. If in doubt, please use snail mail.

Step 2: If we think that your poetry is suitable for the series and this method of publishing will fill your needs, I will provide you with additional details of the publishing contracts available and instructions for sending the entire manuscript. You are under no obligation to proceed, and Amador Publishers, LLC is under no obligation to offer a publishing contract after seeing the full ms.

Step 3: You will either be offered a publishing plan and author agreement or provided with a short, constructive critique to support you in your writing. Our goal is to encourage and empower all writers. We're a small operation and must be highly selective, but in spirit we embrace all sincere creative efforts.

What will my poetry book look like?
Worldwind Books Poetry Series specifications: 6"x9" trade paperback, perfect binding, black ink interior with up to 10 pages b/w art, two paper choices, full color cover. The cover will be designed from a standard format, but colors, artwork and font styles are flexible so that each book has a unique look. The optimal number of total pages is 96-104, to allow room for printing on the spine.

But Who's Counting? wins 2010 New Mexico Book Award for poetry book!
We must be doing something right!

How much will my book cost?
All titles in the Worldwind Books Poetry Series will retail for $14.95. The price will be printed on the back of the book with the barcode.

How much will I have to pay for publishing services?
The base price for a publishing package is $1,080.00. The author's initial book order will be added to this. An initial book order of 30 books will be $120.00; an initial book order of 120 books will be $420.00. Thereafter, authors will pay $5.00/book plus shipping for any quantity. [New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax will be added to all purchases for NM residents. Authors are not paid royalties on their own purchases.]

Who decides if my work "is suitable" for Worldwind Books?
Right now it is me, Zelda Gatuskin, your humble, overworked owner/editor of Amador Publishers, LLC and Worldwind Books. I want the poetry series to represent a diversity of styles, subjects and voices. As the series grows I will be reaching out to the poets who are accepted for publication to assist in evaluating submissions. In this way, I hope to build a strong identity for Worldwind Books Poetry and maintain consistently high standards, so that every poet will be proud to be affiliated with the series.

Is it going to be obvious that I paid to publish my book?
First of all, your book will not be self-published. You will have a professionally published book, a formal Author Agreement with Amador Publishers, LLC, and national distribution. All of our books, including imprint titles, are marketed on the top level Amador Publishers web site, www.amadorbooks.com. This site exists to help authors; the general reading public will not be directed here for book sales.

How should I prepare my poetry document?
Poems should be single-spaced in 12 pt. standard font style (don't get fancy), minimum 1.5" margins, page numbers upper right; author name upper left. Accepted file formats: .doc, .wpd, .txt, .pdf. When preparing complete manuscript, include a title page, table of contents, any previous publication credits, short author bio, and optional dedication, intro, preface, afterword as desired. Include separately hard copies of any artwork you have in mind for interior or cover, with credits and status of permissions or copyrights.

How long should I wait for you to reply to my query or submission?
If you provide an e-mail address or stamped return postcard, I will notify you of receipt of your material within a couple of days. Allow 6-8 weeks for a complete response. Return to this web page periodically for updates on response times.

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