Q&A for How to Publish a Poem

You can create a blog and post your poems there. If they catch someone's attention, your blog will became more and more popular, and then you can start making money.

Publish your poem the same way you would any other thought. If your poem is too long to fit in one tweet, number each post so your followers can read it in order.

Think of commonly used phrases, or idioms. Some poems' titles are literally the first line of the poem, such as "Hope Is the Thing With Feathers" by Emily Dickinson.

If you deal with a reputable publisher, you don't need to worry about theft. To be extra safe, keep a copy of your poem. You can mail a copy to yourself, or sign and notarize it.

Look for "Submit" links on the websites of major publications like Tin House, or if you're a new poet, on smaller ones like Vita Brevis Literature Magazine.

Read several issues of the magazine to gain insight into their preferences. Then, if you think they'll like your style/content and you like their style, follow their guidelines and submit your work.

I know places like Vita Brevis Literary Magazine or The Drabble have really quick turnaround times and are free to submit to. These kinds of "beginner" magazines are likely your best bet.

Some publishers will not accept hard-copy submissions. Without a computer, you will have to write or call a publisher to ask if they will accept paper submissions. If so, they can give you detailed instructions on how to submit your poetry.

Editors look for submitted work to be clean, easy to read and in proper poetry manuscript format (research this online; it's quite important). As editors receive a huge volume of submissions, they will often simply reject manuscripts without even reading them if they're in an improper format (single-spaced and in Comic Sans font, for example) or include things like pictures. Submitting work for publication--especially if it's for pay--includes the expectation that it will be presented professionally, which means using the industry-standard format. The more you deviate from this, the more you will be viewed as an amateur unfamiliar with the field of poetry, and the harder it will be to find a publisher. Submit something that follows poetry manuscript submission guidelines, on the other hand, and your poem will be judged entirely on its own merits.

There is no legal minimum age for this, but some journals and literary magazines may have a minimum or maximum age (or other requirements - my local university has a literary journal just for current students, for example).

Google is just a search engine - you cannot "publish on Google". You could try publishing your poems on a blog with ads, which will eventually pay out once the ads have been seen a certain number of times, but publishing to a magazine or journal will pay more and get your poems noticed sooner.

You don't have to - in the United States (and many other countries), you automatically have copyright without formally registering it. Formally registering your copyright will make it a lot easier to defend if you have to, however.

No. These days free verse is popular, and with free verse anything goes. However, individual publishers, magazines, and literary journals (etc) might have their own style requirements.

Prudent? Yes. Necessary? No, not in the US, where copyright laws are a little "squishy." Once you produce a physical copy of your work, it is considered "copyrighted." You might increase your peace of mind, however, if you register a copyright of your poem with the US Copyright Office. That would prove helpful in the case of later legal disputes.