Thanks for the input. I was hoping more people would share some personal experience with submissions or being published. I know about all the publications, but tend to get lost on all that. So has anyone here "been published," and would you care to share your experience, and provide any personal tips? Stormrage, my book cost around $50-60. A friend gave it to me as a gift. Poetry.com then followed that with a whole bunch of great offers (Writer's courses, a cd with my poetry, etc) only available to distinguished authors such as myself. And I've been given some wonderful award two years in a row. Of course I'd have to pay for my own airfare, and a few hundred to attend the gala event. And I'd need to pay extra for my wife. But then I could stand in front of the crowd and read my poem. And I'd get a wonderful prize worth a whole $150. Oh, and did I mention Florence Henderson would sing a song? (The Brady Bunch). They do have a generous offer if you can't afford to attend the event. Pay them a few hundred for a professional to read the poem, and they'll ship you the wonderful award. Bah Humbug.