Stand By for Poetry!
I’ve noticed (and maybe you have too) that the main news feed of the Inner Circle Writers’ Group on Facebook has tended to be swamped in recent months by poetry. My job is to edit the group’s feed so as to give members as a whole a pleasurable and interesting experience, while also helping writers get some exposure to their peers, but this is a balancing act: if I were to allow every poetry post through, then soon all you would see would be random poetry; but at the same time, I want to give poets a chance to be read, if possible.
Another thing I have noticed is that most of the poems get hardly any feedback from members. You can probably understand the poet’s frustration: here he or she is, trying to get their words out there, and they get a poem approved for display in the group… and then hear nothing back. From a general member’s point of view, a constant stream of poems from complete strangers might not particularly appeal on casual browsing, unless they are in the mood for poetry.
There are two things I can think of to do about this, and so I’m going to do them:
1. I’m going to start a Daily Poetry Thread in the group. This means that any poet at any time will be able to post a poem in the thread without having to ask me for approval. I will also then tend to disapprove poems appearing in the main feed, with exceptions from time to time.
What will this do for poets? Firstly, it will open the door to posting poetry without having to wait; secondly, a dedicated thread on poetry each day will mean that any member interested in or in the mood for poetry will be able to click and get a ‘dose’ — which in turn means an increased likelihood of feedback for the poets, as those looking will have already pre-selected themselves as ‘in the mood’.
What will this do for members? It will reduce the number of random poems appearing in the main feed, while giving a regular channel for anyone who wants to read some poetry to tune into.
Look out for these daily threads starting today.
2. I’m going to open up a poetry anthology, probably called Poetica 2. I’ll be looking for poems up to (but not greater than) 500 words in length — and lots of them. Stand by for specific submission guidelines tomorrow.
In this way, I can serve both poets and group members better.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
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