Increase your chance of Poetry Publication
Learn the 10 critical steps
Download our free guide loaded with tips and practical activities to improve your poetry.
By downloading this guide you are joining our email community. The emails are sporadic (we are too busy working on our poems and you should be too). Unsubscribe at any time.
Take the next step towards your publishing dreams
Sometimes all it takes is a few small tweaks.
Remove intimidation from the submission process and begin your empowered journey with our practical advice and clear instruction on how to make sure your work isn't lost in the slush pile.
Publishing poetry can be intimidating.
I know because I've been rejected more times than I've been published.
The tips I've included in this guide I learned the hard way (yes, I'm old enough to have begun my career when you needed to fax or post work to a publisher and couldn't stalk them on social media).
And while much has changed over that time the tips I've included here are what's relevant now. I've focused on the small changes you can make to increase your work's success on the slush pile.
This guide is designed to remove intimidation from the publishing process and replace it with a sense of empowerment as you submit your work with confidence.
I hope you enjoy working through this guide as much as I enjoyed creating it.
From my pen to yours,
Melissa
Learn the 10 critical steps
Download our free guide loaded with tips and practical activities to improve your poetry.
By downloading this guide you are joining our email community. The emails are sporadic (we are too busy working on our poems and you should be too). Unsubscribe at any time.
Nine Cups Writing
For writers.
And those not calling themselves writers... yet.
About Melissa
Dr Melissa Watts has a Bachelor of Arts with Honours (creative writing & literary studies) from the University of Melbourne (2004) and a PhD in creative writing & history from Federation University (2023).
Melissa Watts has published poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Her poems have inspired other artists to craft bronze statues and compose piano performances for audiences in New York.
She has published a collection of free-verse and structured poetry exploring the relationship between people and place. In Small Towns (2022) Melissa shines a light on the unsaid. She picks the scab of small-town tensions, then unflinchingly aims her bow at social injustice, tipping her hat to the feminist poets who have come before her.
Melissa is currently exploring pathways to publication for her novel depicting the lives of female cartographers in World War Two.
She has hosted keynotes at Melbourne Writers Festival interviewing British author M.J. Hyland and Ballarat Writers Festival interviewing YA icon Maureen McCarthy. She has spoken at Clunes Booktown and maintained monthly radio programs interviewing authors such as Paddy O’Reilly, Graeme Simsion, Toni Jordan and Angela Savage. Melissa spent several years as the publicity officer for Ballarat Writers working on large literary projects including festivals and competitions.
When not writing Melissa has worked in instructional design and online learner engagement strategy for some of Australia’s largest corporations.
Melissa was the 2024 judge of the Martha Richardson Poetry Prize.
