Presented and Published by The Poetry Market Ezine –
Guides to help you live your life as a Poet
THE POET’S SURVIVAL GUIDE 4: ACTIVE DUTY
The fourth e-book in the popular series just for poets continues with “Active Duty!”
Are you a poet? Is it tough surviving life as a poet? Do people still look at you funny when you say you are one? Do they want you to write toasts for their weddings or love poems? What does it mean to be a poet? In this offering, you will learn that “Yes, You Are a Poet!” Plus more on being a performance artist, persistence, how to refresh your poetic skills, and use poetry to help others. Plus there’s the bonus of more Secret Poetry Weapons – skills to keep your life up as a poet (no matter what you may or may not do for a living!)
From Chapter 5: “Persistence: “Is it hard to be a poet? Oh yes! How many people look at you funny (that aren’t writers or poets themselves) when you say you are one? Besides the fact, you won’t find many readers of it anyway they will wonder just what it is you do and then the next inevitable question will be do you make a living with it. You have to live, breathe, eat, sleep poetry to be a poet. If you don’t know what that means, are you living up to your true poetical nature?”
THE POET’S SURVIVAL GUIDE 3: Back to Boot Camp
The Poet’s Survival Guide series is back with a part 3, a new offering for 2012. In this guide for poets, get back to the basics to sustain your life as a poet. Improve your odds. Create your best poems. Figure out which way to go: electronic or paper. Branch out and get your poetry fix while creating and maintaining new and tried and true ways to continue your career as a poet. Excerpt from Chapter 3 “Poet or Poetry on the Side?” — Getting to a place where poetry isn’t just on the side for you will really help you grow as a poet. It’s easy to compartmentalize portions of your life and maybe you have to do that to survive (no writing a poem while you’re taking an order, life guarding, helping a customer select a lawnmower, speaking in a lecture hall, etc.). If you aren’t able to be a poet all day (or all night) long, then it’s a good idea to find a way to connect to poetry in a way that works for you.
THE POET’S SURVIVAL GUIDE 2: In the Trenches
“The Poet’s Survival Guide 2″ features more of what you should know and do to make a living or a part-time living writing poetry. Featuring 11 chapters on how and where to sell your poems. Includes PR tools that you can use to promote your work plus innovative ways to make some bucks selling your poems. Also includes Secret Poet Weapons plus links and resources.
Excerpt from Chapter One “Ways to Sneak Poetry Writing Time Into Your Day” – “Just like the title says, if you want to get time to write your poetry and you are not a full-time poet then you will have to find time to compose your poems somewhere somehow. If you are a student or teacher, you can do it at breaks. Same if you have a job where you have breaks. But depending on how prolific you are or how disciplined you are at starting a piece and picking up and finishing it at a later time, 5-15 minute breaks may not work for you. I find myself squeezing works in during my morning commute. Right now my commute averages 10 minutes so that gives me little time to complete anything.”
Contains 17 informative chapters for new or established poets trying to earn and make a living with poetry. Poetry journals and magazines are well known for paying in copies, which is nice if you like most poets enjoy reading. However, this doesn’t pay the bills. If you are able to explore all forms of the craft, your odds increase as to your likelihood of getting published … and paid! The Poet’s Survival Guide will give you an insight into the tools you need (and probably already have) to make a decent living or a fair amount of extra income at writing poetry or writing in forms similar to poetry. Includes links to poetry marketing, poetry publishing and other writing resources. The readers who buy poetry and/or just read it are few and far between, but there is a market for it out there. More importantly, there can be a market for you as a poet in your own home town. Plus there are other ways you can use your skills for writing poems to earn money with poetry related writings. The nice thing about poetry is that the investment of time and work for the poet or writer can be much less compared to something like a novel or screenplay which can take years to finish – not to mention how much longer it can take to get them published. People who read poetry tend to make up a diverse audience which means they also tend to be widely read. Why not take your poetry and parlay it into other writing venues besides poetry as well as into paying poetry publications?
From Chapter 6 — “POETRY CHAPBOOKS”: “There are several ways you can go about having a chapbook published. There are several options available such as chapbook poetry competitions, chapbook poetry publishers and self-publishing or printing your own chapbook.”
From Chapter 8 — “YOUR POETRY WEB PAGE”: “The content is up to you, but the internet is a great promotional tool that every poet should take advantage of simply because it is instantly accessible to anyone with an interest 24 hours a day.”
From Chapter 12 — “POETRY WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES”: “If you’re an experienced poet and have taken some classes or maybe have a degree in poetry, then if you’re comfortable teaching others you can hold your own workshops or classes.”
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