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It has around 200 poems, a lot of vulgarisms, and many of them seem senseless and random to a shallow person who can't see deeper. I want to allow normal people to tap into the misery of the lives from the most sociopathic people on The Internet. Is it possible to publish such a radical book?

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I suspect most poets would describe their work as "seeming senseless and random to a shallow person who can't see deeper." – Standback♦ Oct 30 '11 at 20:17
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It kinda feels like a 4chan troll is visiting us... do you have the rights to any of these 'poems'? You can't just compile other people's work and publish it without their permission, obviously... – Kate Sherwood Oct 30 '11 at 21:09
No actually I'm not a troll at all. It would be great if the rest of The Internet would stop referring to us as "trolls" too. Also, it's nobodies work, because it's an anonymous imageboard and the threads already got deleted. It would be like saying that Grimm brothers' content wasn't original. – Yannbane Oct 31 '11 at 15:43
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It is in fact someone else's work. Someone else wrote it. If you publish that work and someone claims that they wrote it (and can prove it, maybe through IP logs or having posted it non-anonymously elsewhere), they would have a very good case for infringement. That is why you would have trouble finding a publisher. – Joel Shea Nov 2 '11 at 17:25
Also, the Brothers Grimm lived in a time long before copyright and even if copyright had existed, they works they were compiling and publishing would have been long out of copyright with no discernible author. What you are looking to publish has an author and is very much in the era of copyright. – Joel Shea Nov 2 '11 at 17:28
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4 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

There's no real limit on what can be published, and I don't think vulgarity is a barrier on poetry (in some markets, sure, but far from all).

The question is who exactly you're aiming this proposed book at. Is it a humor/gift item ("The Poetry of 4chan!")? Or is this serious, "artistic" poetry? Or perhaps, as you mention, it's a sort of character study - delving into the psyches of these writers and trying to say something about them as a group (in which case you might want some additional material, perhaps viewing these 4chan sociopaths from several different angles and not just the possibly-oblique poetry).

If you want to pitch this book, you'll have to have a good, clear proposal, because otherwise this could easily wind up with a "why the hell would I want to publish random ramblings from people who post obscene pictures on the internet?" reaction.

(Of course, publishing's an iffy prospect, doubly so for oddball projects. Even if it's possible, it's not gonna be easy.)

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Thank you very much, kind person. I am really not sure what to do with those so called poems. I probably wont publish them, officially, but after some edits they will appear on The Internet (took me quite a while to get them). I plan to just throw it out, and let the user decide will he take them humorously or seriously. I wonder what can I do with that... – Yannbane Oct 30 '11 at 20:36
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You could put them up as a 99-cent ebook. I think you'd sell a decent number of copies that way. – JSBձոգչ Oct 31 '11 at 12:44
up vote 6 down vote

Sure, what are you waiting for?

Go to http://kdp.amazon.com/ and publish it right now. Log in, paste it into the form, fill out the book details and click submit.

Amazon deletes you? Try Barnes and Noble. Go to http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com/. Follow the three simple steps.

Barnes and Noble deletes you? Try Feedbooks. Go to http://www.feedbooks.com/help/self-pub-howto/. Follow the four publishing steps.

Feedbooks deletes you? At that point buddy, you're really fighting the tide. Consider doing a personal blog. http://www.blogger.com/ You might even get some Adsense revenue that way.

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Awesome, thanks! I'd like to publish it on Amazon, but I'm underage and I'm not a US citizen, is it possible? – Yannbane Oct 31 '11 at 20:00
up vote 0 down vote

I don't think you'll find a publisher if you keep racial slurs for amusement in. Indeed, if you self-pub with that, you may well find yourself removed from vendors. Anything else goes, though. Go search on Amazon for PETS WITH TOURETTE'S...

(Also, I doubt very much this comes under "radical" ;) ).

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Well, as I said above, I will probably not publish it officially, but rather make it available on The Internet. 40-50% off the poems are centered around hate and racism, and that's pretty much the core of 4chan/b/, without it this wouldn't be complete. I also have a lot of general vulgarisms in there, and a lot of poems insulting me in particular. – Yannbane Oct 30 '11 at 20:51
up vote 0 down vote

As someone mentioned earlier- anything can be published.

If the real question is will a publisher pay you anything to publish it-The answer is will enough people pay money for the work to allow the publisher a chance to get a ROI? Need I mention that the market for poetry is not large?

Unless the work is really well-written and has some redeeming value I probably wouldn't be tempted to buy it even if it was self-published - based on your description.

If you think it is something that others will BUY then send query letters to agents and see if anyone is interested enough to represent you. If you don't come up with a really GOOD query letter I'd be willing to bet the only group who might make any money will be the postal system (when you send query letters and copies) and they are losing money. (Yeah, I know email is free but you'll have to try every agent and some still don't use the net.)

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