Stewed Rhubarb’s publisher James T. Harding answers the single most-asked question of poetry publishers (apart from ‘how do I get you to publish my poetry?’) in less than 400 words.
I am often asked about the differences between different types of poetry publication, and – let’s be honest – the answer is excessively dry and therefore easy to forget, so this is a handy reference guide for the poetry pedants among us.
Pamphlets
A poetry pamphlet is a short compilation of poetry. They are typically around A5 in aspect, probably stapled rather than bound with a spine, and usually around 25 pages.
Poets usually publish several pamphlets before they go on to their first collection. This is a rather nice system, as it means that poets get to make their big-leagues ‘debut’ with a publication track record and established relationships with critics, bookshops and audiences.
There is actually an official definition of a pamphlet defined by the United Nations, no less, which is “a non-periodical printed publication of at least 5 but not more than 48 pages.”
In practice, though, you’re unlikely to encounter a pamphlet of more than 40 pages in the UK, because under the Forward Prize rules this would quality as a first collection – and most poets want to hold off entering the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection until it’s actually time for their first collection.
Pamphlets vs Chapbooks
Pamphlets and chapbooks are, in poetry terms, exactly the same thing. It’s simply that Americans prefer the word ‘chapbook’ and British people prefer the word ‘pamphlet’.
There are historical distinctions between pamphlets and chapbooks to do with the type of content – the pamphlet has a much more political connotation – but in contemporary general usage I don’t think there’s a difference between ‘pamphlet’, ‘chapbook’ and ‘booklet’ unless you’re using a formal bibliographic categorisation system.
Collections
A poetry collection is a long compilation of poetry by a single author, more than 48 pages, and most usually produced like an ordinary book.
The word ‘collection’ can mean any compilation of poems regardless of format. You might have a pamphlet collection and book-length collection.
However, in the UK we normally to call a pamphlet collection a ‘pamphlet’ and a book-length collection a ‘collection’. If you call a pamphlet a ‘collection’, it kinda sounds like you’re trying to mislead people into thinking it’s a book-length collection, so I’d recommend not doing that.