A poem from my book Penned with Purpose.
Are you familiar with Reedsy, an online typesetter? Have you ever considered writing a poetry book with Reedsy?
I first heard about Reedsy through a workshop David Lee Martin was hosting, Publish Your Poetry. Reedsy was impressive with its layout and ease of use. Not to mention I didn’t have to do any formatting. Once I was done, I could export my book in ePub and pdf format. Ready to upload to Amazon. With Reedsy, you can write, plan, edit, and typeset your book.
Poetry Book in Reedsy
When writing a poetry book in Reedsy, select Add New Chapter at the top for each of your poems. Each chapter is a poem. Also, there are no indents in poetry, so when writing a poem in Reedsy you need to do a hard return with each line of your poem. To do a hard return press shift, then return. Do this at the end of every line of your poem. If you want to separate your poems into themes, select New Part at the top wherever you want that theme to be.
I did this with Penned with Purpose. If you are looking for a simple, free way to publish your poetry book. I suggest giving Reedsy a try.
Typesetting and Reedsy
You will find a place to include your front and back matter, Author page, and other books you have published, as well as a Copyright page, and special pages like Acknowledgements.
Reedsy will typeset your book for you. You also have the option of uploading a cover for your book. When your book is done, select Exports. On this page you will see exporting options, formatting options, trim sizes. If you want to have a paperback and a hard copy, I suggest going with 5.5 X 8.5 or 6.9 for the trim size. KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) accepts both sizes for a paperback and a hard copy. After you have selected your trim size, choose a template. Scroll to the top to export options and export your print-ready pdf and your ePub. Once you have done that, you have a print and a kindle version of your book ready to upload to KDP.
Resources for writing a poetry book with reedsy
15 Pros and Cons of Using the Free Reedsy Writing App
Christian Book Academy class: Writing with Reedsy