What about poetry and money?

There's very little money in writing poetry. If you're a poet, don't quit the day job.

I've made $31 having my poetry published, and another $60 in contests plus a cheap one use MP3 player in a contest. I paid $22 for the priviledge of entering those contests.

Of course, my book of poetry, should I ever get it published, will sell a million copies, which should lead to "big money".

Why not submit? It just takes research time to know who to submit to and money for printing, envelopes and postage. If you're not sure if your work is good enough to be published, try posting some in the poetry critique forum.

Good luck,
NDG

My top earner was $50. But to earn anything steady I use prose.

Dude, there's no money in poetry.
You'll make more in one day, begging on the street.

There might be enough money in it for an occasional coffee. Emphasis on occasional.

I've made nearly €3k so far on mine. That's a very big mug of coffee!

Well done Deccydiva! That is amazing. I was always under the impression that even successful poets didn't make much and had to do other stuff (teach workshops/classes etc) to make ends meet. Poetry doesn't equal big bucks like novels (sometimes) do...

I've made...hmm...£12.50 so far! I'll remember not to spend it all at once...

I don't do it for the money. I'm sure if I was more proactive and submitted lots of stuff to all the right markets I'd have made more....still not enough to live off though.

My first poetry ebook is being published within the next month so I can't really say much as far as the money aspect of it goes. I'll keep you posted though. Most of my poet friends still have their day job and just write on the side. They sell to magazines and such to make a little extra money.

Even Pulitzer Prize winning poets have day jobs. Except for Adrienne Rich.

My first published writing will be poetry. It will cost me $20 for a copy of the book and postage. So, I'm -$20 so far.

Money spends better--but poetry is more rewarding.

Personally, I have placed only 16 poems in 48 years, (for a net profit of $16), possibly because I'm a Traditional Poet in a Modernist world, but anyone who says they're making enough money to live off of, based strictly on their Poetry, no matter what kind of POD/Vanity or E-chapbook deal they have, is only fooling themselves, for any such success they've had is dependent either on tapping a specialty market of interest or are being just plain lucky.

Those of you who have dreams of making your fortune by writing Poetry might check out the following website: http://www.webexhibits.org/poetry/home_business.html which not only answers the question or what Poets earn and how they have earned it over history but gives an excellent overview of poetry, itself, throughout the ages, as well as a very good catalog of the terms used in the craft and the various forms that such can and has taken over time. (and is, in fact, a decent short course in Poetry).

In any case, I would suggest that anyone wanting to be known as a Poet learn their craft before they worry about making money off it.

Think about it.

Jim Hoye (JRH)

P.S. Which is not to say they're arn't rewards in writing quality Poetry, just that those rewards arn't monetary.

What is a poets yearly salary How much do they make in a whole entire year?

It all depends on who you are and how good your poems are. On weather they get published or whatever. But again, it depends on alot of factors.
source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_poets_yearly_salary_How_much_do_they_make_in_a_whole_entire_year

So I guess it depends on the "weather." ;-)

anis said:

What is a poets yearly salary How much do they make in a whole entire year?

It all depends on who you are and how good your poems are. On weather they get published or whatever. But again, it depends on alot of factors.
source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_poets_yearly_salary_How_much_do_they_make_in_a_whole_entire_year

So I guess it depends on the "weather." ;-)

Click to expand...

That assumes quality is the object of publishing.

I've seen lots of great work go unpublished. I've seen dreck in prestigious magazines.

My biggest seller was a poem that I placed in the Nov. 1987 issue of AMAZING Stories. Pat Price paid me a whopping $1 per line, which netted me an equally whopping $23.

Of course, I've spent most of that by now.

so, I guess it won't do any good to ask if I can borrow $2 for a cup of coffee?

LimeyDawg said:

so, I guess it won't do any good to ask if I can borrow $2 for a cup of coffee?

Click to expand...

Well, it never hurts to ask.

skelly said:

Well, it never hurts to ask.

Click to expand...

damn broke-ass poets...

There's a big article about this in Writer's Market 2008. Apparently, if you were to be accepted by every poetry publishing market in existence, you still wouldn't make a decent income.

I've never considered poetry synonymous with money before, anyway. I always thought of poets as this rare and mysterious species above such earthly vices.

all in all, though, poetry is a awesome medium.
And who knows, maybe it'll have a spot in the limelight, once again.
So keep at it folks and continue to hone your craft.
Virtual coffee on me

Well, you can see the varying results. Most people don' make much on their poetry, though some people are very good at submitting to the proper markets for their work and doing well with it.
So really, the only way to know if you can make money on it is to submit and see what happens.

Just like the lotto. You can't win if you don't play.



Trish, hasn't made a dime.

Anis,

If you had read the link I posted, You'd know that monetary success at poetry is extremely rare and usually dependent of periferal opportunities, (ie. Lectures, Teaching, Awards, etc)

Specifically:

"anthologized works populate classrooms at all academic levels lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries: Goethe, Blake, the Brownings, Whitman, Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Shelley, the Rossettis, and their peers. Because these poetic giants enjoyed larger audiences than today’s American poets (whose buying audience, Billy Collins estimates, is less than one-tenth of one percent of the population), the assumption is that they were well published and financially successful.

On the contrary, none besides the versatile Goethe (who was also a novelist, essayist, scientist, and commentary writer) and Emerson (who was an essayist and commentary writer) were well published – until after they died.

They were all self-published and enjoyed degrees of failure or success commensurate with their ability to find audiences, and to promote and distribute their work. Keats, Shelley, and Byron didn’t live long enough to promote their published works. Some didn’t even get that far; the painfully shy and hermetic Emily Dickinson only lived to see five of her poems published. Whitman self-published many editions of his greatest work, Leaves of Grass, today the largest-selling poetry collection ever composed by an American-born author, but never saw the proceeds."

*****

KTC - Getting paid $250 for 3 Minutes work only means that you seem to be in synch with what the "Establishment" wants. I've written a poem or two in the middle of the night which came out virtually whole, but it happens VERY seldom and I haven't sold any of them yet.Moreover, I have recently revised a number of Poems that were over 45 years old.

I've got one Poem that I've been working on for over 5 years, which I expect will end up to be over 20 pages, about the History of the Railroads, and which will probably not be completed for another 2-3 years, and I think you'll find that far more common for most than the quick and easy inspiration you've experienced. The only other Poet I've ever heard of who could write like that was Byron and I don't know that he ever made much if any money from it.

The two of you arn't helping anyone by giving them false hopes of monetary awards or ease of poetic creation. (It may be that way for you, but it is most definately NOT that way for the vast majority).

Think About It,

James R. Hoye, (JRH)

I do think you made you point clearly, Kevin.

You can make money on poetry, but certainly not a stable income. It's rare to do that. Poetry and writing in general are not the "steady job" people get into when they graduate. And the skill and talent of many writers and poets will never be realized in a monetary way. It doesn't make them less talented or skilled by any means. But the continued success of some poets in the market does say something for them.

The ability to write a poem in 3 minutes or over the course of ten years is irrelevant to the conversation, I think. I think it is amazing to hear of the success you've had, but in no way does it make me believe that I could have the same. I think that's the case with most people reading this - not under the illusion that it's common.

I made 3 dollars once.

Don't get me wrong; I love poetry. I think contemporary poetry is in a Renaissance. It needs better marketing. It needs a marketing miracle.

If you look at the stuff written by Franz Wright, Ruth Stone, Yusef Komunyakaa (and by many others) there's some amazing doings afoot. It would appeal to a large audience if it were made known to a large audience.

average salary of a major league baseball player:
1910 =$900-$12,000
1975 = $45,000
2002 = $2.4 million

No reason why poetry can't follow the same trend.
Poets just have to market their work, aggressively, and demand their due.
The value and monetary worth of their work is already there,
as evidenced by some stuff posted in these forums.
I'm not saying writing poetry is about money by any means.
But there's no reason why one who does so,
with skill, shouldn't be adequately compensated and earn a liveable wage.