Fun Poetry Promotion That Could Work for Other Writers

I know, I know. I rarely talk about poetry here, not because it isn't a passion of mine but because I know that most visitors and subscribers to this blog aren't poets. Still, I do have a poetry corner in my free SharingwithWriters newsletter where I sometimes feature craft helps and sometimes marketing ideas like the one below. You'll notice though that most marketing or promotion ideas that work for poets can be adapted to other genres and vice versa.

 

 

A Los Angeles area poet (Yes, he shall be named in the spirit of great poetry marketing everywhere!) erected a real-estate-type brochure dispenser in front of his home. On a Saturday he filled it with 30 copies of one of his poems and the Los Angeles Times reported that he said, "…by Monday they were gone." He has continued doing adding new poems to his box. He also noted that e-mail poems aren't quite the same…paper is going out of our lives. A poem on paper is tangible." I should think if you printed the copies are nice paper and included an artistic image, people would use your poems as little gifts. And do include a brief credit line with a link to your most recent online poem or chapbook. Of course!  

Oh, yes. The poet's name is Peleg Top. Here is a quote from the first poem he used in a brochure:

"I look ahead and see no destination
I look behind and see thousands of questions
I look down and hear my heart melting…"

Learn more about him at http://pelegtop.com/poetry

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PS: If you live in the greater Los Angeles area and have an old real estate brochure box hanging around in your garage that you'd like to get rid of, I'd be pleased to pick it up so I can try this promotion myself.


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .