Marketing Poetry Books

Book Marketing Question: Marketing Poems

I am an artist, but recently I have put together a collection of poems and am getting it published. It will be available on Amazon in about 3 months. I want your guidance in marketing my poetry book online because I am not very good at social media networks and online publicity.

John’s Book Marketing Answer

The key to selling poetry books is to build a following by doing live readings of your poems wherever you can.

For online marketing, don’t worry about social networks. Search for various poetry websites where you can submit samples of your work. Also look for poetry websites that feature authors reading their poems, especially those that feature Google Hangouts.

Follow-Up Poetry Marketing Question

Do you think promoting a poetry book on Facebook and Twitter is of no great value?

John’s Poetry Marketing Answer

Being active on Twitter and Facebook will not sell a lot of poetry books, but these social networks can be used to develop contacts to find the websites and bloggers who can really help you sell more poetry books.

Connect with other poets, writers, poetry publishers, and poetry journals.

Follow and review (daily) the #poetry and #poem hashtags on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. Pinterest also if you’re visually oriented.

Join any Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn groups devoted to poetry (writing, reading, or reviewing). Get involved in the discussions. Ask for help. Answer other poets’ questions.

Those are three great ways to use social media to sell poetry books.

You can also contribute your poetry reading video to Poetry Station: http://www.poetrystation.org.uk/info/contribute.