Poets Are Poetry’s Biggest Hurdle

What disappoints me most about poetry and art is the training —

the idea of financial literacy and independence through poetry-related activity is so absurd to some, especially poets, that the thought of there actually being options to survive and actually thrive around writing has become physically insulting.

The people who attack me most for creating a business around poetry are poets.

The people who attack me most for creating a business around art are artists.

I attribute this situation to the following reasons.

There is no mention of business

expenses and write offs. There is no mention of how to get an EIN. There is no mention of pricing, let alone a discussion of pricing per hour vs project-based vs value-based pricing. There is no mention of marketing. There is mention of craft as if craft will lead to recognition. It won’t.

Writers and artists are trained

to put the work on a pedestal and be content. Work that is honest to the artist/writer and also of value to a buyer is a paradox.

The idea of art/writing for an audience as something that is inauthentic

at best, sacrilegious at worst, prevails. The irony: viewing the self as an audience (e.g., “my work is for”), and making work that appeals to the self, is praised. In truth, making work with an audience in mind is only a constraint, much like a form. Artists/writers already have an audience an mind. It determines the word choice, the register, the brush stroke, the color. I can be authentic to myself and others.

Artists and writers who understand their audiences

and receive fame and wealth are often attacked for what people in the industry often view as a lack of quality, when in reality they have a deeper understanding of what their readers/viewers are looking for

Artists and writers ascribe their own perceptions of quality and value to the work of others

but it is a buyer who determines more of the quality and value

Promotion gets frowned upon

even though craft alone doesn’t lead to visibility

I don’t hold it against the people who show the most discomfort and negativity. Everything arounds us trains artists and writers to be unsuccessful and dependent. The fact you can get a creative degree without taking a single course on financial literacy, taxes, or basic marketing techniques demonstrates the industry is designed to fail the individual.

For writing, the assumption is a person will remain in academia or write on the side. Nothing wrong with that, but in 2023, there are alternatives

Your Writing Helps Someone Do Something

There's a guy named David Shands. He's on the Social Proof Podcast. If you guys like business talk, that's the podcast you might enjoy.

When he's working with new clients, he has one framework he works with:

I help ___ to _____ by ____

If you can answer this question or fill in this sentence, it can kind of help direct you to work.

You don't determine the value of your work; other people do because it depends on what they need. Whatever that value is, it's always going to be the most important thing because you are serving them.

I'll use us as an example for I help ___ to _____ by ____ So, diVerses, professional poetry development for underrepresented voices, right?

We help underrepresented voices develop their writing in a professional way, to elevate their writing and also their business acumen.

How do we do this? We host workshops. We have a podcast. And we are primarily our YouTube channel and the videos we produce for that. Again:

I help underrepresented voices to develop their writing in a professional way by holding workshops, videos, and podcasts on topics they need to grow.

What would your answer to that question be? You help who to what by what?

If you can answer that question, you have an idea of what you're actually serving and what your platform is.

See the full video: https://youtube.com/live/yg94JoNzx0s

The Value Of Your Poetry Changes

The value of your work is like this: if I am alone in the woods, and I am walking through the woods, a flashlight has immense value, right? Maybe that's the most valuable a flashlight will ever be if I'm walking alone in the woods late at night, and I'm trying to find my way home.

But in broad daylight, you know, in the middle of an office building, maybe a flashlight has zero value. It's not going to do me any good, right?

My poetry also has a fluctuating level of value, or a fluctuating value level, depending on where I'm at, who I'm speaking to, what my audience might be.

When we're talking about who our audience is and who we’re really directing our messages to, again, that's when it’s important to be specific and cut themes or ideas down to a specific audience.

Watching somebody on TV that's a black man, that's going to pull me in. But watching somebody on TV as a black man that came up from a very specific religious background, that's going to pull me in more.

You're going to continue to really cut into this audience and this demographic until you strike gold. Maybe you’ll reach a Facebook group full of like, thousands of people. Or maybe you’ll reach a section of Twitter or other platform where all those people have those specific interests.

As you specify, you're also going to reach a wider pool unintentionally; you're going to also reach people that don't have, or don't share, all those identities. That’s great!

But the people that are going to push you forward the most are going to be those people that you're able to really cut into and get—the people that are going to really incredibly resonate with your work.

See the full video: https://youtube.com/live/yg94JoNzx0s