Is it possible to make a living as a poet

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Skip to content. Posted By halekatie Published March 12, March 12, So living somewhere where the rent is a bit cheaper, and living costs are more affordable, is going to be vital.

Turn up to stuff. Like so many fields of work, poetry and writing are all about making connections. Say yes to everything. Become known as the person who will do the work, rather than the person who refuses the work. Be nice. Be professional. Same thing. Seek out funding. Go out and find it. But even these discs, combined with sales of the books, usually only bring in enough to pay for incidentals. My longtime challenge has been to keep booking appearances that not only pay well enough to enable me to make rent, buy food, and transport myself around the country, but also to reorder the books and CDs.

Or, better, a small-businessperson working a job that includes sharing poetry with strangers, most of whom are unfamiliar with contemporary poetry. But the fun part is going somewhere and making art come alive. He then books himself a reading gig twice every week for three months. As that buzz grows, he sends an email to every private and charter school in town offering to do a poetry workshop.

Each pays him a few hundred dollars, and he sells a few books. He turns two of them into regular assignments where he teaches a poetry unit in their language arts department. With those successes under his belt, Stefan starts booking speaking engagements at literary events and conferences regionally.

When he begins his next set of reading gigs, the house is largely packed because his name and face is out there in so many places. Come winter, he settles in a bit to write more poetry. You can see how approaching his poetry income like this not only creates individual streams of income from many sources, it sets up a situation where each stream makes the other streams larger.

This takes focused attention, consistent follow-through, and about as much time as any serious part-time job. But when it works, it can produce a surprisingly good part-time income.

As a poet, you have a gift for stringing together economic phrases that have emotional impact. There are lots of companies and individuals who need economic, emotionally impactful phrases; seek them out and offer to write those phrases on demand. Instead, you put that muse to work at the mill. The first step, of course, is finding a mill where your muse can work. Good news: there are a lot of mills:. Some folks view this kind of writing as selling out their talent.

But let me ask you this. What sells out your muse more: Writing for pay with a few of your hours, earning money while building your craft? Sites like Fiverr. If your portfolio contains writing other than poetry, you should check out our posts on how to make money selling short stories and how to make money by writing.

He is also the host of the Publishing Profits Podcast show where we interview successful authors and publishing industry experts to share their tips for creating a successful writing career.

Hi Kaviya, as this post suggests, you might try self-publishing a book of poems, or submitting your work to publications that pay by the piece. Hi Jane, thanks for your comment. More realistically, though, it can be a great supplemental income. Hi Moses, you might try pitching to some of these publications , a lot of them pay. Have you tried the other suggestions from this post? Hi Desmond, thanks for your comment! I would start with the types of publications outlined in this post.

We have this list of publications that pay for short stories — check them out because a lot of them probably accept poetry too. I hope you found the insights from this article helpful :.

Good to hear! I am an inspiring Poet and would like to know a few things. First, where should I publish? Do you get paid for public appearances? Bid Daddy Z. These meager earnings are doable for now, but I will need to keep increasing them in the future as I become more capable of generating freelance income.

Income stream 1: Teaching. In the first weeks, I put a lot of time into preparing my lessons, but I knew I could re-use them in the future and that my investment of time would pay off in the long run.

Income stream 2: Reviewing poetry. I regularly write paid reviews of recently published poetry collections for a website and a magazine. I also feel like I am paying my respects to the community I am part of—every poet wants and needs their work thoughtfully considered. Income stream 3: Publishing poetry. Getting your poetry published in magazines pays, but definitely not enough to live on.

As such, this has proven to be the most satisfying but least predictable stream of income. Income stream 4: Poetry readings. You should also ask that your travel expenses be paid by the reading organizers.

They may not be able to, but it is always worth asking. Income stream 5: Mentoring. I undercharged for this in the early weeks and realized I was unintentionally undercutting others. Again, social media and networking is useful here to market your services and share testimonials. Income stream 6: Residencies and grants. There are many residencies and grants available in Britain for poets that can provide a valuable income stream and provide vital space and time to focus on your work. Prizes in poetry competitions can be another income stream, too—but of course making money this ways depends on the taste of the judges, and involves a strong element of luck.

As you make the leap to professional poet, building resilience and not taking rejection personally is vital. Try to use rejection to your advantage. As you continue to apply for opportunities, always keep your CVs and personal statements up to date and on file, then tailor them to suit each unique application. I believe the process of pitching is creative in itself—it strengthens and builds creative reserves through lateral thinking, and helps you articulate what is unique about you and your work.

For any poet, the balance between success and failure will always be movable and dynamic. We all need something to push against, and if success fell into our laps, we would have nothing to strive for. So far, despite many setbacks, I have found that the weeks seem to balance themselves out as long as I continue to seek and generate new work.

Additionally, the excitement of waiting to hear back is one of the more unexpected rewards of working this way. At the time of writing this, I have nine poems sent out to different competitions and journals, one grant application in progress, and a pending residency application.

I am a perennially hopeful person and feel that at least one of these opportunities will come through.