by Evan J
Photo by Evan J
It’s no secret that it’s near impossible to make any significant money as a poet. There are arguably only five poets in Canada that actually bring home the bacon from poetry book sales. Personally, as a professional poet, when I audit my most financially lucrative years, I’m still not making anything more than $5,000 a year, and that includes grants. Yet it seems that other artists (musicians, photographers, filmmakers, culinary artists), even enthusiastic, emerging ones, can earn a living wage by their craft.
While the internet falsely suggests that it’s possible to get by as a professional working poet, I have yet to find any inventive answers for how to do so. Poetry book sales, public readings, literary journals, and contest winnings are all fun, but they don’t pay the bills. So I assessed the market and came up with three unexplored opportunities for poets to potentially make some significant money. If you are keen to work exclusively as a poet, to earn your life’s primary dollars by using your artistic craft, I believe you might be able to do so by exploring these three options.
1. Connect with large organizations.
For-profit, non-profit, committees—really any organization in any industry that has enough money for advertising and conferences. Large organizations are often looking for new and unique media content. Sometimes they’re looking to supplement the opening hour or keynote speech at a conference. Sometimes they have a community engagement wing you didn’t know about. For any of these reasons, it’s not unheard of for a large organization to consider commissioning a poet to create and record applicable poetry. Of the poets that do find these gigs, the slam poets significantly outnumber the page poets, so having a knack for performance can go a long way, further than awards or publishing credentials. Regarding how to connect with these organizations, it’s both a numbers game and a quality game. You’ll have to connect with hundreds of organizations, sell yourself well, and have recorded examples at the ready. Having a family or friend connection to the organization can help you through the front door.
2. Document weddings.
Wedding organizers are often willing to hire musicians and photographers without ever questioning the thousand-dollar price tag. Consequently, there might be an opportunity to convince the happy couple that their special day also deserves to be documented poetically. Picture this: a home’s hallway decorated with a set of picture frames, each frame filled with an elegant poem, every poem glorifying and defining that special wedding day. Like beginner photographers, you’d need examples and a healthy social media presence. You’d have to complete a few discounted wedding gigs to help acquire example material and testimonials.
3. Offer programming for seniors.
When poets think about community programming opportunities, the list usually starts at libraries and ends at grade schools. Yet this completely disregards the other end of the age range. Facilities that provide entertainment and care services to adults and seniors (seniors centres, adult learning centres, supportive housing, retirement communities, retirement homes and independent living facilities, assisted living facilities, nursing homes) are often looking for programming from external sources. At these locations, musicians, theatre companies, crafting professionals, and visual artists regularly offer weekly entertainment sessions. There is no reason a poet could not also provide a regular reading or creative writing session.