Poets and PR – Do we need it? What Do We Need?

You don’t see those words together very often, do you? I’ve noticed the last few years have been tough for books, book publishers, and most of all, for poetry book publishers. Universities are cutting back and closing their presses; small presses that were just making it before now…aren’t. Even established presses are publishing fewer books, taking fewer risks, and as a result, poets are left out in the cold.

So, is there anything poets can do to make a little more splash when their books come out? Especially poets with smaller presses who don’t necessarily have the cash to travel around the country independently, doing readings at every bookstore? I think a lot of times poets shy away from doing publicity, but it is awfully hard to sell books without it.

I won, in a twitter contest, a month of PR book service from a new place called “YouDoPR” a couple of months ago, and it was a fascinating experience. Because of this lucky break, I wrote (and released) my first poetry book press release, started to think about gathering local media contacts, thought about national markets who might be interested in my book. Because this is coinciding with my first job as a “public” poet (as Redmond’s second ever Poet Laureate,) this meant I was thinking about interacting with the public and with media in a new way.

We can’t just write the book, spend the agonizing months (or years) finding a publisher, and then…cross our fingers and hope for the best! No!

At the very least, poets with a new book need to:

Have a web site where people have a clear way to find out about them and their book and a link to buy the book
Get onto Facebook and Twitter (yes, I know it’s killing your soul, wah wahh, do it anyway,) and post about your book release, your readings, etc. Other sites to join might be Goodreads, SheWrites (women only, obviously) and RedRoom.
Send out (additional, if you’re lucky enough to have a press that sends out review copies) review copies either to friendly reviewers or to journals that have recently published your work (They’re much more likely to run a review of your book – you already know they like your poetry!)
Get in touch with media and let them know about your book. If you have friends at radio shows, newspapers, or magazines, do get ahold of them and send them a book.
Join your community. Attend readings by other poets, bookfairs, local writing conferences. Go and hang out in local bookstores and get to know the owners. Make friends for the sake of actually making friends. Word of mouth is a great way to sell books.

If you’re anything like I was when my first and second book came out, I had very little idea about how to go about getting in touch with media in an appropriate way. I lucked into a couple of things on my first book – Garrison Keillor read two poems on his Writer’s Almanac show on NPR, and a local NPR station ran some of one of my readings – both of those resulted in increased sales, so the radio is great for poetry publicity, if you can get it.

Some highlights from the twitter “Poetry and PR” chat with @YouDOPR:

Collin Kelly mentioned using a mail blast program called “MailChimp” which I’m going to look into, for updates and newsletters.
YouDoPR, my partner in crime in tonight’s twitter chat on PR and Poetry, is offering a “buy one month of premium membership, get one free” temporary promotion: http://ow.ly/dA8S5 They offer help setting up a press release, giving you media lists, netgalley access, and other fun stuff you may not already know about!
If you want info on how to get reviewed, check out my old post on “how to get reviewed.”

This is also pretty interesting resource on the basics of poetry marketing (I think they’re selling their services in this article, but it’s still helpful).

If you want to go back and read the full chat, just search twitter for “YDPoetry” to read all the questions, answers, etc.

Redmond Reporter article and Tiny Bunnies

After last week, I needed a little good news, and yesterday, the local paper did a story on the local Poet Laureate of Redmond:
http://www.redmond-reporter.com/news/168839026.html
Thanks Redmond Reporter!
And, She Returns to the Floating World had a very nice new review on Amazon that was more thorough than some of my “official” reviews! Thanks, anonymous reviewer! And remember kids, that book is going out of print in December when Kitsune Books closes, so buy your holiday copies now!

The hummingbirds are hummering around outside my window after yet another beautiful sunny day, while I am recuperating from last week’s excitement. And, to cheer you all up, here’s a picture of a local tiny bunny (we’ve been watching it since it was the size of a peanut, so we call it ‘nanobun’ or ‘peanut’) for absolutely no reason!

Fall Creeping In

I confess that since my last blog post, I’ve had two trips to the hospital – one for a pretty bad concussion and the other for a particularly nasty (food poisoning? stomach flu? evil demon?) that left me dehydrated and unable to go outside for the last two days and enjoy the spectacular beautiful weather we’ve been having. The ER doc said, “Well, your white blood cell count is 21,000, so you’re probably fighting something.” Indeed. So I haven’t been deliberately neglecting you, my e-mail, etc…it’s just that I’ve been elsewhere. Mostly, getting catscanned, IVd, etc.

It’s a good thing I bought the Hunger Games soundtrack right before these two events, because there are lyrics (from “The Civil Wars” “Kingdom Come”) that go “Don’t you fret my dear/ it’ll all be over soon” that were replaying in my head. The Hunger Games soundtrack has a beautiful Appalachian sound that reminds me of the music I used to hear growing up in Tennessee.

But, let’s hear some news about other folks, shall we?

Kathleen Flenniken is featured in Seattle Magazine here!
Would your book group like me to visit? What about another Northwest Poet? Check out info on “A Poet at Your Table!” at Susan Rich’s blog…
Ever wonder about “poetry marketing advice?” This is pretty solid…

The school year is starting, the days are getting shorter. Literary magazines have re-opened to submissions. Regarding the sad book news I posted last week, well, continue to wish me luck. May have some leads about keeping “She Returns” alive as an e-book, and am still looking for a home for “Unexplained Fevers.” I’m hoping for a luckier… and healthier… month in September…

YouDoPR Twitter Interview for Poetic PR, and Deborah Scott’s painting of a Robot Scientist’s Daughter

Have you always been curious about PR and Poetry? How does that work, anyway? I’m having a twitter conversation with the folks at YouDoPR and you! Bring questions, helpful suggestions, etc!

And, don’t worry, I’m not leaving my “career” as poet for artist’s model – yet! But Deborah Scott did a wonderful portrait called “The Robot Scientist’s Daughter” for the magazine Poets and Artists, which you can find (along with her wonderful write-up of why and how she did the piece) on page 37. The whole issue is pretty freakin’ fun to read. I’m only sad I didn’t get to put up an Ode to Deborah. She definitely deserves it. But what a great idea – artists and writers doing portraits of each other. Pretty cool! Thanks Deborah for doing the painting (in which I wobbled around on a sprained ankle, which makes for limited posing, so she definitely had her work cut out for her!)
http://poetsandartists.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/septemberlowres2012.pdf

Two Poems in The Pedestal Magazine, Plus Thanks and Plans for this Fall

First of all, thanks to all of you who wrote to me and commented on the last post. It really helps.

Second, if you’d like to read (and hear me read) two speculative poems, “The Robot Scientist’s Daughter [Apocalypse]” and “Introduction to Mutagensis” go on over to The Pedestal Magazine’s new issue here. The whole issue is wonderful. Thanks to John Amen and his editors for such good work! The celebration of speculative poetry continues. Well, except in representation at the AWP 2013 panels. Hopefully, AWP people, you will have at least one speculative poetry panel at our 2014 Seattle conference – I mean, you will be in geek territory, after all! Let’s all propose a panel on it!

Yesterday I was strolling – well, limping, with my sprained ankle that’s probably a more accurate representation of my movement – through one of the local public gardens, and there, next to a splendid set of bright dahlias, was an apple tree with fall apples all over the grass. They smelled delicious. But like fall. The air – the blue sky, the crisp sixties-temps – called for September. Usually August stays summery here, but already August is slipping away….Watermelons will disappear, replaced by delicata squash and cranberries.

My plans for fall events for the Poet Laureate program have started going into action. I have to write a PR release for the first event, the Inaugural reading (with art exhibit by Michaela Eaves) on October 6th. Set up the Redmond Library Events for “Redmond Reads Poetry” – a program to have the whole community read the same poetry book, this quarter, Kathleen Flenniken’s Plume.
I also have to start sending out poetry packets again, since it is that time of year. Have to straighten out the situation with my second book, third book, and fourth manuscript. Write some reviews. (And, of course, reading. Really enjoying “The 6.5 Habits of Moderately Successful Poets” by Jeffrey Skinner and Lesley Wheeler’s book from local sci-fi feminist press, Aqueduct Press, “The Receptionist and Other Tales,” which is almost like a collection of short stories in verse, if that makes sense.) What are your fall plans?