If you really want to figure out how to
make your poetry sell, this is the book for you. Chris Hamilton-Emery
is a poet and also the Publishing Director of Salt Publishing, an
innovative British poetry publisher which has excellent sales in the US.The
book provides a hard-hitting, even hard-nosed, approach to the subject and
the author does not mince his words: ‘The world of poetry can be a bear
pit and, like any industry, it is competitive and has moments of
confrontation and even dirty tricks. Be prepared to take some knocks along
the way.’
Hamilton-Emery emphasises how important it is to set about submitting
your poetry in a businesslike way. Even if it is poetry, the
editors on the receiving end still want to see workmanlike submissions.
He stresses the importance of working out how to become a player in the
poetry world and how you can work at building your profile. 50 dos and
don’ts of preparing a submission are listed.
The author acknowledges that you may have spent enormous amounts of
time and creative energy on your poetry, but not a single moment on
considering how to market it. Given how difficult it is to market any
book, poetry demands that the author puts their mind to it; ‘Building
your audience is your problem.’ He then shows you how to do
this through 41 practical suggestions, which include building mailing
lists and email lists; focusing on local reading venues, radio and
newspapers; lecturing and reviewing; entering awards and competitions; the
whole gamut of readings in a range of venues; and so on. His approach
is practical and positive, but also realistic about what can be achieved.
The chapter on ‘Sorting Your Book’ deals with the practical questions
of your book cover (‘Nothing is more important in achieving sales success
than the cover of your book’), choosing a title and finding endorsements.
His view is that: ‘It pays to understand as much about publishing as
possible.’ And then he’s on to selling it, with another 45 tips and
suggestions on how to go about this, which is really the core of the book.
Whether you’re a novice or a published poet, this book really does
offer a lot of useful information. In effect it’s a self-help book for
poets, providing 101 suggestions about how develop your career as a poet
and sell your work.
If you’re serious about selling your poems, this book is a must.
