I wonder if I might trouble you and ask the question...What if any is the normal or expected length of a manuscript for a book of poems? Does one simply decide how many poems one wishes to submit irrespective of how many pages (Landscape 2 pages to A4 or 6x9)this takes up or does one go by number of pages?

Any suggestions please.

Many thanks
Felmagre

Most of the single-author collections of poetry on my shelves have 50-70 poems in them, if you count it at one poem per page. (That's not including the Collected/Selected compilations) If the book has more pages than that, it seems to be because most of the poems run onto a second page.
Good luck with it!
Emma

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to write a reply, and count the pages in your collection. Certainly, I too counted mine. As well as checking out those in my local library. I came across a surprising number of poetry books with as many as 200-300 pages in them, hence the question. My own manuscript could well amount to 200-250 poems some of which will cover more than one page. As such I wondered what I should limit the manuscript too. Indeed, it is a thought that depending on responce the book receives If I limit the number of poems in it then I shall have enough- if needed- for a second one. Rather like not putting all the 'eggs'.... I suppose.

Appreciate any further thoughts on the subject.

Many thanks

You could limit the magazine to themed poems if it's not a "collected works" job - any poetry editor will tend to do that anyway.

Good luck!

A
xxx

Yes, I had wondered about dividing it up into themesd bits, rather like chapters in a book. I thought I might do this using illustrations i.e illustrated poem then poems from that themes, then illustrated poem and so on. I was, however unsure how many poems I should include as there seems to be so many different lenght poetry books around. Ah well! May just go for a round 100 and see how it goes.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to reply, it truly is appreciated.