Five Questions Every Poet Should Answer Before Marketing Their Collection
The first thing you need to successfully market (and sell) your newly-published book of poetry is a marketing plan, one that makes the most of your time, money, talents and energy. But generating a marketing plan is no easy task. It requires research, testing and defining your boundaries as an author. Here are five helpful book marketing hints that can get you started when you’re publishing your poetry manuscript.
Jump to the marketing sections that interest you most below:
(1) Define your target audience
(2) Research how to reach your audience
(3) Identify your competition
(4) Identify how your book is different
(5) Outline a budget
(1) Define your target audience: Poetry is perhaps the genre most published and distributed in the world. Even so, your voice is unique, and you are definitely trying to reach a certain audience. If your first thought is, "That’s easy: Poets!" then you might need to reevaluate your approach. The more specific and honest you are about your audience, the better your chances are that you’ll actually reach them. Ask yourself about the age, gender, lifestyle, income, residence/location and education of your ideal audience members. Students? Cultural transplants? Korean transplants? Professionals? Other writers? Grieving writers? Emerging writers? Writers who love language? Writers who are also teachers? By clarifying your targeted audience, you're finding a niche audience, which will make marketing much easier and effective later down the line.
For instance, if you write religious poetry, targeting poetry enthusiast in general might not be the best marketing strategy. Instead, you may consider spiritual or inspirational poets and readers that will both respect and express enthusiasm about your book.
Another example of a sub-genre within poetry is “experimental.” Your poetry may break the conventional rules of content and form that traditionally make poetry accessible to the masses, in which case you will have to search out the types of people who read the kind of poetry that's rich in language experimentation.
Or maybe your poetry has a cultural bent and insight that individuates your voice and paves the way for a variety of marketing avenues – your poetry might focus on riffs of hip-hop and blues songs. No matter your poetry’s message or style, there’s undoubtedly an audience for your work, an audience just waiting for your new, rich material. All in all, once you have your target audience defined, you can then search out the means of reaching them and begin your marketing endeavors.
(2) Research how to reach your audience: Often times the presentation of your collection is just as important as what you’re showcasing. Now that you’ve defined your audience, you must think about how you can connect with them. Ask yourself (a) where do they hang out? (b) to which journals do they subscribe? (c) where do they attend poetry readings? (d) what other type of events do they frequent? or even (e) what talk shows do they spend their time watching? Just as the religious poet wouldn’t attempt to publish a poem in a self-proclaimed secular magazine, you must find (and eventually secure) the marketing avenues that best suit your voice and style. The experimental poet may submit excerpts of their poetry to journals such as Dandelion or Aught, but the religious poet may target other magazines, namely Image or Relief.
Other avenues to explore include: where can you publish an advertisement for your poetry book? What events can you attend (and possibly read during) that will contain people interested in your subject matter? What bookstores and retailers might take an interest in your poetry? In what communities, online and otherwise, should you register as a member? What book groups have appropriately reviewed poetry books like yours, and would they be willing to review yours in the future? Where might you leave (or send) free copies of your collection? Neighborhood coffeehouses? Local poetry centers, libraries or other organizations?
List these questions and generate your own statement of purpose. Once you have a detailed mission, with specific areas and platforms to research as possible avenues of visiting your audience, you can begin to develop your marketing goals and predict
where as well as when
you can sell copies of your poetry book.
(3) Identify your competition: Poetry readers can only buy (and read) a finite number of books, and as a self-published author, the task of making your target audience aware of your poetry collection falls to you. Luckily, Wordclay is here to supply services and advice to help you succeed, but you've still got to take the first steps. Think about other recent poetry collections and chapbooks similar to yours – that’s your competition. Maybe your poetry is different or is more effective, but how is your audience supposed to know? Especially when these alternative books have a marketing plan that lifts their voices above the crowd of other poets? All the more reason for a sound, specific marketing strategy, one that will categorically set you apart and above your competitors.
Document your competitors’ marketing efforts in a spreadsheet and mimic those that are the most successful. Actively compete with them on every level. Start by engaging your regional competition and then branch out once you’ve solidified a core readership at home. You can’t hope to tackle your competitors without a strategy, but in order to develop any kind of attack plan, you first need to identify who you’re up against!
(4) Identify how your book is different. List the unique points of your voice and your poetry. In order to define your exclusive selling position, you need to understand your work’s divergence from your competitors. Essentially, you need to think about why customers should buy your book instead of another collection. What makes your poetry special and unique? Your voice? Your regional flair? Your politics? Your unique take on love and the pastoral? Think about the selling points of your book, especially in relation to other similar collections. Now’s the time to narrow and hone the description of your book.
While this may seem obvious, especially after defining your target audience, there are finer points you should explore. For example, you may know that you have published “experimental poetry,” but there already exists quite a few poetry collections that can rightly claim “experimentation.”
So why should readers invest their time and money in yours?
Obviously, since you’ve set aside the time, money and energy to publish your book, you must feel that your work is different than what’s currently on the market and your poetry deserves to be read. In the case of the “experimental” poet, consider how your poetry can be differentiated from others. Picture a reader holding two books, weighing yours against another with the same cost and same claim to “experimentation,” which should he or she choose?
Imagine you’re writing the blurb on the back of your book, or better yet, you’re writing a review of your own book, what would you tell readers? Reminiscent of whom? Sounds like what? Utilizes what techniques? Innovative in what area? List points that talk specifically about your book and grab your readers’ attention. Consider the finer details of your poetry. Do you utilize experimentation with tangos? Experimentation with blues riffs? Experimentation in traditional form like the sonnet or haiku?
And don’t be afraid to compare yourself to popular poets. Your background and your experience, not only with poetry, but with your subject as well, can reinforce your literary authority and further differentiate you from others. You know your poetry is unique, and you need to convince others with your own words.
(5) Outline a budget: Let’s talk about what’s ideal and what’s feasible. While it would be wonderful to devote an unlimited amount of money to your marketing campaign, you’re just one poet, with a book and a unique voice, and obviously, you still have bills to pay.
That’s the reason you must clearly outline your marketing budget. You need to devote a certain amount to your marketing fund, but nothing that's going to cause you financial uncertainty. And, you’ll be surprised at the amount you can accomplish with little money.
Readings rarely cost more than the gas to drive to the venue. Flyers with your cover images can be affordably purchased at the Wordclay Services Store. Publishing in magazines is often free. Entering contests might earn you great recognition as well as win you some funding to spend later in your marketing campaign. However you approach your marketing efforts, defining your financial boundaries and making a detailed list of your expenses is a must for any successful author.
Active Poetry Marketing: Following Through with Your Marketing Goals Say you’ve identified your target audience and you’ve even listed a wealth of marketing avenues you can tap to reach them, say you’ve even booked a few advance readings and have an advertisement coming out soon, you’ve just clicked the “Publish with Wordclay” button, now what?
The next step after publishing is following through with your marketing goals. You want to reach your audience, not only to turn a profit selling your book, but also for the satisfaction of having your book read.
But you have to get the buzz going first.
Strategize how to implement your marketing plan. You can refer to the Four P's of Marketing – product, price, place and promotion – for guidance. Have a press release written and distributed in your area. Contact your local media outlets that would be interested in your poetry and suggest a morning reading. Print flyers detailing your upcoming reading and post them in coffeehouses, art galleries, wherever you believe your potential readers might frequent.
Once your book becomes a tangible product that people can order and hold in their hands, that’s when the legwork begins. Engage your audience. Just as you researched and arranged promotions in advance, keep discovering new conduits to express your poetry and mention your book. Stay active, stay afloat and stay in the minds of your audience, because the moment your marketing plan withers and loses momentum is the same moment your readership and sales will diminish. Adhere to these marketing basics and always remain true to your vision.
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