~~Press Release
Date:   March 27, 2015
Subject:  Call for Submissions for THE POETIC BOND V
Contact:  Trevor Maynard, email poetry@trevormaynard.com
 
Introduction
THE POETIC BOND is an international poetry anthology published in paperback annually.  This year the series is entering its fifth year, and expectation is once again high for this year’s crop of poems.  Over 120 poets from 17 different countries have already been published in the previous four paperback anthologies which are widely available on Amazon and elsewhere.   

Submission window, opening 31 March 2015, closing 30 June 2015
There is no restriction on theme, subject or form, and there is no line count!  The submission fee of £10/$15 covers the submission of up to four poems.  Poets wishing to submit their work should go to www.thepoeticbond.com and click on “Guidelines and Conditions 2015”. All individual poems remain copyright of the poet and are only used as part of the anthology with permission.

Selection and publication process
Each poem received is coded and anonymized and then sent to two of six independent readers, who act a first filter, writing a short report on each poem with their recommendation to the editorial team.  The reports are reviewed and a short list established based on congruent themes emerging from the pool of work.  The process evolves organically, without any predetermined parameters, and the final selection seeks to create a balanced portfolio of work, based on the individual poems coalescing into a coherent whole.  For this reason, each year’s anthology can be different in mood and subject, but will always reflect the contemporary zeitgeist of work produced in the new media, professional and social networking community.  Once selected, the individual poets are contacted for biographies and a photograph, and a collage of all the photographs is used in the design of the bookcover.  The anthology is published in paperback by Willowdown Books, and then made available for purchase through www.thepoeticbond.com, Amazon and elsewhere.

Readers’ Reports are offered as feedback on all submissions, whether selected or not
2014 saw the introduction of feedback in the form of READERS’ REPORTS, which have proved very popular, giving many poets valuable critical opinion.  These are not critiques, but views expressed by anonymous readers, who are all published poets, and act as the first filter in the process of selection. 
Due to the volume of submissions, readers’ reports in 2015 will be available within a month of submission, which will hopefully avoid the usual rush of submissions in the week of the deadline and ensure feedback for those submitted earlier comes back quicker.  Receiving feedback is purely optional, but has proved of value and encouraging to many of those who have submitted work.  Feedback received before the deadline will not indicate whether the submission has been shortlisted, and affords the poet the opportunity to resubmit without further fee.

Editors’ Notes 
(1) Trevor Maynard is the Editor of The Poetic Bond Series, manager of the LinkedIn Group “Poetry, Review and Discuss” and the author of two poetry collections.
(2) The four previous anthologies in the series are; The Poetic Bond (ISBN 1466498412), The Poetic Bond II (ISBN 1480209732), The Poetic Bond III (ISBN 1492384194),  The Poetic Bond IV (ISBN 1503034526)
(3) Biographies of all the poets published in The Poetic Bond series are available in the MEET THE POETS sections at www.thepoeticbond.com
(4) Trevor Maynard’s poetry collections are KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON, available on Amazon (ISBN 1480052493) and LOVE, DEATH, AND THE WAR ON TERROR.