Spoken Word Poetry Marketing 101 – Introduction To Marketing For Spoken Word Poets
The Three Basic Types of Poets When It Comes to Marketing:
The Hobbyist
The hobbyist is the poet who loves poetry as a form of expression. They do not have aspirations of making money from their work and therefore see no reason to promote themselves or the work that they produce. Now and then, the hobbyist will get the urge to share some of their work via their Facebook or social media accounts, but this is about as far as they go when it comes to marketing.
Very few of the poets that are performing in the NYC metro area are hobbyists when it comes to marketing.
The Amateur Poet
The amateur poet has aspirations of somehow profiting from their work. They usually have an account at ReverbNation, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. They are also likely to have a blog hosted on either WordPress.com or Blogger.com (also called Blogspot), Wix.com, or some blog hosting type. Unfortunately, the amateur poet lacks a general understanding of how to position themselves in the marketplace as a professional poetry writer. They also fail to understand how to use sites like Facebook (FREE webpages to use — USE THEM!) to find prospects willing to purchase their work. It should not come as a surprise when I tell you that most amateur poets spend most of their time promoting themselves and their work to other poets.
Most of the poets that you will see on a nightly basis at spoken word poetry events in New York City are amateur poets when it comes to marketing.
