There are various ways of promoting rhyming verse, and there are various ways of being 'professional'.
My particular interest is in the publication of rhyming/bush verse for children in high quality, professional publications. These could take the form of magazines, anthologies or collections.
Unfortunately, these markets are shrinking.
By far the most prolific publisher of poetry for children is the NSW Department of Education, which publishes "School Magazine". School Magazine publishes magazines for four levels of primary aged children, as follows:
Countdown (ages 8 - 9)
Blast Off (ages 9 - 10)
Orbit (ages 10 - 11)
Touchdown (ages 12 and over)
Each of these is published monthly, excluding January and December. This means four magazines are published ten times a year - a total of forty magazines. As a general rule, each magazine publishes 2 - 3 poems. That means they publish over 100 poems for children a year.
They publish both free and rhyming verse, but it is probably true to say they publish a preponderance of free verse, probably, again, because the preponderance of the submissions they receive are free verse.
All poems published are accompanied by high quality, full colour illustrations.
All poems are paid for, depending on length. Payment varies between about $50 and $200 per poem.
Copyright remains with the author, and no restrictions are placed on the author concerning where else he/she might like to submit the poem for further publication.
Poems are sometimes re-printed by School Magazine. (One of my poems has been re-printed twice - making a total of three times.) Submission is always sought prior to re-printing. A separate fee is paid, though it is usually a little less. Again, copyright remains with the poet.
Payment is made upon acceptance, not publication. This is important, because years can occasionally lapse between acceptance and publication, and sometimes an accepted poem never gets published at all.
I have had somewhere between 30 and 40 poems published by NSW School Magazine over the last 20-odd years, many of them more than once.
I do not recall seeing a poem written by another ABPA member in the magazine.
Submission guidelins can be found here:
http://theschoolmagazine.com.au/documen ... 787966.pdf
Until recently, Learning Media Ltd. in New Zealand published a similar magazine, "New Zealand School Journal".
NZ School Journal has published two of my poems, including one, "Dad Meets the Martians", which they turned into a song and recorded on CD for distribution to every primary school in New Zealand, free of charge.
Sadly, the New Zealand government has recently announced that Learning Media Ltd. is to be privatised.
NZ School Journal is currently not accepting submissions. I am told it may eventually be revived, but will only be available to schools that are prepared to pay for it.
The Victorian government used to have its own magazine for children. I believe it was privatised in the late 80s (I was not an active contributor at the time), and for many years it was published by Pearson.
Three of my poems have been published by the Pearson school magazines.
Sadly, a couple of years ago Pearson announced they would no longer be publishing the magazines. I wrote to the Victorian Minister for Education at the time, asking if he had any contingency plans in place. He replied that he did not.
I should add that both NZ School Journal and the Pearson magazines paid contributors.
There appears to be an increasing number of on-line magazines that publish for poetry for children. However, they do not pay for contributions. There is also considerable doubt as to whether children actually read these magazines.
We live in interesting times.