5 Innovative Poets to Watch & Learn From

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As everyone knows, you can't make a living from writing and selling poetry.



Or can you?



Well, it IS next to impossible to make a living by only writing poems. Sometimes
I wonder if that's why poets seem to be the ones I see most often experimenting and
innovating. They know that large-scale publication and fat advance checks aren't in
their future (nor is bookstore placement), so they look for other ways to make their
work known.



Here are 5 poets who are doing remarkable things—all very different from one another,
all demonstrating that the only limit to what you can do is your imagination.





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Robert Brewer


Robert is editor of Writer's Market. That's
his day job. He also runs a successful professional blog, Poetic
Asides (which led to him winning Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere in 2010), and
he runs a personal blog called My Name
Is Not Bob.




Last year, Robert announced that he was publishing a chapbook, ENTER, that
would available in a limited signed edition—just 100 copies—for $10 each.



The chapbook is handcrafted and has a personalized note from Robert. He's working
the scarcity angle—providing something that only a few people can have, and personalizing
it to the max.




The strategy has worked: He took pre-orders up until the release on April 1, and is
almost sold out. (Click
here to read about the release and for instructions on how to order any copies that
are still left.)





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David Sanders


David's day job is teaching at Ohio University. You might also know him as the former
director of Ohio University Press and Swallow Press.




Late last year, David launched an e-newsletter, Poetry News in Review. It's
a digest of poetry news, new releases, and reviews (and many other informative things). Go
take a look at an issue.




David was already an influencer in the literary community before he started the newsletter.
Now he has a direct line to the people who have been following him all along, which
creates a community around the content he creates, and opens up more opportunities
for him in the long term.





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Guy Gonzalez


The former head of Digital Book World—and now a digital director at Library Journal—has
his roots in the NYC poetry slam scene. Just this month, Guy released a digital chapbook, Handmade
Memories , available for Kindle, Nook,
and Goodreads for
$2.99.



On his blog, Guy says:

There's been a lot of debate over poetry's viability
in e-book form, thanks to reflowable text corrupting line breaks and, in many cases,
skewing the reading of a poem. Some of my prosier poems run into this problem, especially
on the iPod Touch's small screen, but being able to flip to landscape mode addresses
most of those issues. I plan to write about this specifically in the near future,
but briefly, my take is that poets (and publishers) intent on forcing legacy
forms into e-books are missing the bigger opportunities digital offers, but that said,
the limitations of e-books are no reason to avoid them. The potential to reach
new readers is far too great to pass up.

Read
more of this post here.




Notice how Robert took the physical print book route, and Guy took the e-book route.
There is no one RIGHT way to issue a new book or project. You do what fits you, your
personality, and your audience. Given Guy's digital background, a digital chapbook
made a ton of sense since he has the skills and connections to execute it beautifully.





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Greg Pincus


Greg, a professional author and freelancer, has just launched an experiment that explores
how authors can make money without focusing on sales.




He came up with a Kickstarter project designed
to pay him so that he can offer schools free class visits (virtually or in person)
and introduce poetry to kids.




He's creating a situation where fans/supporters get stuff that they want from him,
and he, in turn, gets to do something that is both good for others AND good for his
career. If it works out—the campaign is still in progress!—it's a win-win-win situation. Go
check out the details of Greg's Kickstarter campaign here. You should also check
out his blog on social media.





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Dave Malone


Dave's day job involves teaching and freelancing, but his life focus is on writing—and
getting his poetry out there.



Tomorrow Dave launches his brand-new newsletter, If I Had a Nickel, focused
on poetry and the Ozark life. [Sign up here.]
He's also launching his newest collection of poetry as a four-part series, through
Smashwords, for free. (Hint to all: Series are always a wonderful marketing technique!)



Dave
used my advice about MailChimp to start his newsletter, and it's been exciting
to see his brand come together over the years. Because of his talent and expertise
at website building, film, and other areas of new media, he has almost too many opportunities
to chase down!



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I hope these stories have inspired you to think about what avenues are available to
you for expanding your reach and building a solid writing career, no matter what genre
you're working in.




I do apologize that on this occasion, I've featured an all-male cast, but that's
how it worked out. I hope you'll comment with examples of female authors and poets
doing wonderful things!



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