Is it possible to make money from poetry?
First, let’s answer the main question: “Is it even possible to make money from your own poetry?” Most skeptics argue that this is almost impossible to do. They say that creativity, in principle, is of no interest to anyone, and you will never earn anything with your poems. But that's not true.
You can make money from poetry. At the same time, compared to what it was 30 - 40 years ago, the number of ways to earn money has increased.
But, like any creativity, poetry is not for everyone. If you can hook people, attract them to your poems, then you can make money. But if you don’t have talent and you don’t want to work on your creativity, then you’ll have to give up this idea.
The relevance of selling poetry
Many people will say that poetry, like any other form of art, is not everyone's cup of tea. You can only half agree with this statement. In the world you can find many talented authors who are able to captivate even the most picky critic with their work. Their works are designed to penetrate into the very depths of the human soul and leave their mark there.
You may be interested in: Edmund Spenser, English poet of the Elizabethan era: biography and creativity
Should such works be paid according to their merits? Of course. The most talented authors are able to earn hundreds of thousands of rubles a month from their poetry. However, novice writers will also not be left without a fee. Despite the fact that the works of an inexperienced poet are very different from professional prose, they are still willing to buy them at a fair price.
How to make money from poetry
Now let's talk about specific ways to make money from your poetry. I see only 4 ways to monetize creativity:
- Selling poems.
- Writing to order.
- Publication of collections.
- Concerts.
Let's take a closer look at each of the options. Let's talk about what it is, whether it is difficult to implement and whether it will be possible to make money.
Selling your poems
The easiest way to make money from poetry on the Internet is to sell. You publish your poems in special stores, and if someone is interested in them, they will definitely buy them.
You can sell your poems:
- On copywriting exchanges (Etxt, Advego, Text.ru, etc.).
- On the website Syon.ru.
On copywriting exchanges, poetry is not the main content. Nevertheless, they enjoy their share of popularity.
Syon is a specialized website for selling poetry. On the main page, in red font, it says “Congratulations to bosses (managers, chiefs, directors) are very popular; if possible, focus on this circle of people.” That is, you will have to write congratulations to the big shots of cool companies.
The main disadvantage of the site is the huge commission. Almost half of the profit per verse goes into the pocket of the service. Not very optimistic, but this is the only opportunity to sell your poems on a specialized website.
The main disadvantage of poems for sale is the instability of purchases. In any case, you will have to wait. It may take a month, two, three, a year, or they may buy a weak quatrain in a month. You need to look at what others are posting, focus on what customers want to see, and try to produce content.
In my opinion, a very unstable way to make money. It's only worth trying if you have nothing else to do.
Poems to order
If you don't like the unstable sales of poetry, you can try writing to order.
You will also have to work to order on copywriting exchanges. On each of the portals, there are usually 3-4 orders a day for writing small poems: congratulations, love lyrics, etc. Most often, webmasters or employees of small companies will order, so the payment is small - 35-50 rubles.
If you have some kind of audience, then you can work not only on the stock exchange: create your own group on social networks, publish the best poems there and write about the fact that you write poetry to order. You will definitely get a certain number of clients.
Work to order is more stable than selling poetry, but due to the small number of orders and great competition, it is very difficult to snatch tasty projects without a good portfolio and rating. The biggest drawback: a huge number of inept poets who write nonsense.
Release of collections
Modern poets often publish collections of their poems. There they put either poems on a certain topic, or the best for a certain period of time. These collections are most often sold directly to readers, without intermediaries such as bookstores.
In order to gather an audience and check whether the collections will be bought at all, poets create VKontakte groups. There they publish their work, communicate with fans and sometimes organize voting, fundraising and ordering collections.
They make very little profit from the collection. Most poets do this when readers ask for it for a long time. Rarely is this done for commerce.
You are unlikely to earn a lot of money from your collections. Only if you become a world famous poet or at least become widely known in Russia. But nevertheless, you can earn some money.
Concerts
Some modern poets organize unique concert tours in different cities of Russia. Almost the same as popular musicians who come to a city, give a concert, get paid and leave for the next one. There are only significantly fewer poets who pack the halls.
The famous poetess Irina Astakhova often conducts concert tours in different cities. It gathers halls of 100 - 150 people in almost any city. But I really like her poems, they touch the soul. This is more likely an isolated case than a general pattern.
Only famous poets who have a good voice can hold their concerts. It is important not only to write great poems, but also to tell them in a way that touches the audience. And not everyone succeeds in this.
Concerts
Some poets prefer to make money from poetry by organizing unique concert tours in major Russian cities. Such events are somewhat similar to the activities of musicians who come to one city - organize a concert, and then go to another. However, it is worth understanding that even a famous poet will not gather as many people in the hall as a rock band. Therefore, you should prepare in advance for the fact that the profit from ticket sales will be small.
However, some aspiring authors use a rather interesting trick that allows them to gain public attention. They invite you to attend a poetry reading concert completely free of charge, where poetry will be sold in printed form. In some cases, so many people come that not everyone has enough books signed by the author. Free tickets are fully paid for in the sale of printed works.
Earning money from reading poetry
Additionally, I would like to talk about making money by reading other people’s poetry. This is a very difficult way to make money in terms of implementation. You don't just need to read beautifully.
The main way to make money by reading other people's poetry is the Youtube channel. The algorithm of actions is approximately the following: choose atmospheric, smooth music, a strong poem, publish it. You can publish poems by contemporary poets. They love to repost cool readings to their public pages.
Once you get views, you can start monetizing. The easiest way is Youtube affiliate. Advertisers will not be very interested in ordering advertising in videos with poetry readings, so there will be few direct advertising offers.
As an example: the channel of a girl who recites poetry well and creates an atmosphere through her appearance and music.
We recommend reading: How to make money on a video blog - step-by-step instructions.
Poems on the Internet
It is more profitable and much easier to publish your own collection online. This does not require payment to the publisher, layout designer or designer. There are many platforms where you can publish a book online. Some of them offer the release completely free of charge.
Which platforms offer online publications:
- Samizdat;
- Ridero;
- Bookscriptor;
- Electrobook;
- Bookvika;
Independent sale of collections
Once your book has appeared in online stores, you can begin to promote sales through advertising. To do this, publish a link to purchase wherever your current or future audience lives. This could be your account, YouTube channel, thematic public pages, various websites. In the same way, you can sell both real and offline collections if you have already published your collection in a publishing house.
Portfolio for a poet
A few words about the portfolio and examples of work. If you plan to work on commission or sell your poems, it is best if you prepare a portfolio in advance. You can do this in two ways:
- In the exchange interface.
- On the website stihi.ru.
Both options are correct. Choose according to your taste. I will only say one thing: there is a lot of useless criticism on stihi.ru. Legendary couch experts who are ready to tell you how to do everything better, for free and without registration.
You can also publish poems in your VKontakte group, but copying will not be prohibited. Someone will definitely snatch them away.
Exchanges and services for earning money
- textsale.ru is a well-known copywriting exchange. There is a special section for selling poetry where you can put your finished works up for sale.
- etxt.ru is one of the most popular copywriting exchanges. More than 600,000 customer performers and 200,000 customers are registered on the site. Here you can both exhibit your works for sale and take orders for execution. Even for beginners who have just registered on the exchange, there are always orders that you can apply for.
- contentmonster.ru is a professional copywriting exchange. To register as a performer, you must pass a preliminary test. Working in this exchange has many advantages. Professional copywriters and many serious customers are concentrated here.
- fl.ru is a popular exchange for freelancers. It makes it possible to communicate with the customer directly; all transactions between the customer and the contractor are insured by the exchange itself. Freelancing has the opportunity to both take on single orders and establish contact with regular customers.
How much can you earn by writing poetry?
Let's briefly go through each method of earning money:
- Poems to order: 100 - 150 rubles per verse.
- Selling your poems: 50 - 100 rubles per verse.
- Publication of collections: 150 - 200 rubles profit per collection.
I can’t give definitive information about reading poetry, because it all depends on views and the method of monetization. And so, about 10 - 15 dollars per video, if 15 - 20 thousand people watch it.
I can’t give any reliable information about the concerts either. I can only share a story that I know first hand:
Contemporary poetess Serafima Ananasova conducted a concert tour of the cities. My friend organized her concert in Orel. 10 people gathered, the poetess received a net profit of about 2 thousand rubles per evening. And I spent 1,000 rubles on travel. In the end it wasn't very profitable.
I don’t know how other poets earn money. Perhaps it is my city that is not conducive to poets.
Approximate earnings for a beginning author
To make it easier for a novice poet to decide on a source of income, we present to the reader an approximate list of profits for a particular activity. Of course, the numbers are quite arbitrary and largely depend on the skills of the poet. However, even they can provide motivation to authors to start making money from their creativity:
- sale of a small poem (2 quatrains) - from 50 to 100 rubles;
- the cost of ordering a small work is from 150 to 200 rubles;
- net profit for the sale of the published collection is about 250 rubles.
As for concerts, it will be extremely difficult to calculate even approximate revenue, since everything depends on the number of people who came to the concert. In some cases it reaches 20 thousand rubles, and in others it only pays for organizational expenses. It can be very difficult for a poet to make money this way. Therefore, try to compare your capabilities, skills and desires so as not to end up with nothing.
As you can see, in order to make money from poetry for a poet in the 21st century, it will be enough to make a few mouse clicks and a couple of keystrokes. However, every author must understand that most readers intuitively understand the quality of the written work. If a poet is negligent in his work, then he is unlikely to be able to get much profit and recognition from readers. At the same time, even a novice author who is distinguished by enormous talent will not have much difficulty providing himself and his family with a stable income.
Source
What poems are in demand?
Let's consider 2 options for earning money: writing to order or selling poetry. The rule here is that “you are paid by the sponsor, not by the poetry connoisseur.” From this we can draw a simple conclusion: the most popular poems are congratulations.
The following are in great demand:
- Congratulations for the holidays.
- Congratulations to the women.
- Congratulations to the bosses.
- Congratulations to partners.
In order to have good relationships with loved ones or with colleagues and superiors, people are willing to pay good money. The largest orders are congratulations to the boss. And they don't require much.
Release of collections
To make money writing poetry, you don’t have to become a copywriter. After all, you can follow in the footsteps of famous poets who publish collections of their works in paper form. Books can be sold directly to readers or through an intermediary in the form of publishers and stores. In the first case, you will need to invest a certain amount of money to print the main batch, and in the second, you will need to impress the editor.
Of course, in order for a publishing house to be interested in an aspiring writer, he will have to make a huge impression on professionals in his field. To do this, you need to at least create a group on a social network where your works will be posted from time to time. In addition, such a community will also make it possible to determine whether the author’s works will be sold if he decides to work without intermediaries.
Is it worth trying to make money with poetry?
If you are confident in your abilities, you already have readers, and not just “mom said I was a great poet,” then you can try your hand at making money from poetry. But keep in mind that you will have to improve, and most likely your inspiration work will end the moment you start making money.
Are you ready to take risks, force yourself to work and write without inspiration? Then making money from poetry is for you. If not, then it’s better not to even try and go to your VKontakte wall.
