How to Promote Yourself
ONLY YOU CAN
MAKE YOURSELF "KNOWN"
AS A POET!
Rod McKuen pursued publicity relentlessly. He had sold 9 million
poetry books at my last communiqué with him. (He made LP records).
You can make tapes and CD's easily today, even give voice readings
on web sites, which you can advertise, or try to get free publicity
for in free classifieds on the internet.
No one's going to ask you if you're a poet. You've got to make
promotion plans and stick to them.
You've got to think up ways to connect to people and publishers. It's
what every famous poet did! Focusing on a theme helps. Hosting and
promoting your own web site helps. We can help you do it!
Of course, you want to be published in the most treasured hard cover
anthologies of our era. It is something the classic poets did to become
known in their own time.
You don't want to be in an anthology that buries you in 1,000
mediocre poems. That book is not respected, and you won't be
for including yourself. It's a "poetry mill" that ends up in landfills.
Everyone who owns and reads J. Mark Press anthologies loves them.
Their contents is beautiful. Every 2nd page is a full illustrated page...
with rare, archived museum fine art, (not clip art).
J. Mark preserves a time honored art of "iconology;" (where the artist writes a poem with his painting and adds a detailed caption).
Instead, J. Mark captions the art with a poem.
"Iconology" is nearly lost today due to the cost of permission
art and the time required to locate appropriate pictures.
HERE'S HOW I'M HELPING YOU help yourself....
LOCAL NEWSPAPERS LOVE TO GET NEWS ARTICLES
I used to supply our poets with letters (News Releases) to their newspapers and to their libraries about being published in a J. Mark Press
anthology. Soon you can access a copy online when we publish you.
In the release I mentioned that the anthology could
be located through local bookstores or libraries.
Poets who faithfully sent out news releases as I wrote them
(but with their own name) became "famous" in their communities.
It's the first step toward becoming known. People will read the news
release in their newspaper and ask at the librarian for the book you
appear in. The librarian will have a reason to order the book, though they nearly never add new poetry.
Other people will see that book on the shelf in their library.
They will definitely borrow a J. Mark anthology. They'll be
reading YOUR poetry!
They'll notice in the index that you're from their neighborhood.
Now you can understand how news releases are published about achievements. You are able to get your own published.
SUCCESSFUL BOOK SIGNINGS or READINGS
START WITH DOING FOR OTHERS
Invite area poets to bring their poems to read, and their guests!
Don't expect people to show up in any satisfying numbers just because you (an unknown) are going to appear somewhere "peddling" your book.
You need to motivate strangers to show up by targeting their
self-interest. Offer a combination of a compelling topic, and their
chance to express themselves, and buy a signed copy of your book and perhaps get free coffee for coming.
High schools, colleges, libraries, Writer's groups, historic sites, the Y's, town facilities, bookstores, even some shopping malls, are all good bets for places to host readings and poetry events conducted by a published poet.
Radio or cable TV talk shows are good places to be interviewed to gain free publicity about your forthcoming book. They love interesting guests.
But you need to impress potential interviewers with a topic. If you
have a theme, especially a controversial one, get the addresses of
TV shows and stations and write letters. Give a seminar on the topic.
Sell our "Keepsakes" with your poem. Sell your own book. Don't you want to be remembered? Always keep names and addresses of attendees to solicit for the next show, book, keepsake.
Many people who can't buy your book will gladly give you a few
dollars for one of our gorgeous bookmarks or mugs with your poem.
Our book author, Connie Savage, sold 124 of our bookmarks, for $3 each, in a week, just telling people outside her church that she's raising money to publish her book!
Get a web site where millions of people may find you, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year! We can provide this for you. People come HERE to
see the show! (Your own isolated site won't be found unless you get into search engines and advertise). See www.worldtv3.com/POETS.htm
If you have an e-mail address, people can link to it from your page here.
We're advertising it to publishers, reviewers, libraries and poetry enthusiasts, so you don't have to.
The Thrill of Selling via BOOKSTORES?
They're a problem for the small press and independently published authors. They customarily get 50% of your selling price. (They may never sell your book.) People usually go to bookstores for books they saw ads for, or publicity about, or for subject information. People generally look for poetry in the library.
The only chance you have in a bookstore is when you use a theme or
controversial topic. Your title has to sell the book!
[POEM IMPROVEMENT workshop 2]Contents
Guest Register/ Your Own Web Site
Poetry Workshop /Newsletter #1
Keepsakes with Your Words
Hard cover book publishing
Book Printing and Binding of your own pages
Poetry Publications And Reviews
Poetry Contest winners' poetry from Helping Hand Anthology
Poetry Contest winners' poetry from Notable American Poets Anthology
Reviews of J.Mark book authors
Promoting Yourself as a Poet
SHOP AT BARNES AND NOBLE
"A Backpack of Milestones" Poetry by Barbara Fischer
Off-lease Autos Don't Pay More
The J. Mark Cutlery Store
J. Mark Press, Box 24-3474,Boynton Beach, FL 33424