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It’s not easy to make money writing poetry, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done! We’ve updated this post today with a few more ideas of ways you can really make money writing poems.
The biggest challenge for most poets is finding a way to make an income doing the thing they love. Making money from writing poetry isn’t always the easiest way to support your writing passion. Let’s be realistic: most publishers are not begging for poetry submissions.
However, thanks to many different internet opportunities, there are many ways for you to make money online from your poetry. In this post, we’ll share some unusual yet very real methods of making money online from writing poetry.
Why Is it So Hard to Make Money From Poems?
Poetry, as much as it is loved and revered, is not always the best paying form of writing. When compared to other forms of written work, such as books and freelance article writing, you can find it very difficult to find a market for your work.
Poetry money might be hard to come by, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to earn a living from poetry. There ARE ways to find success as a poet.
When it comes to selling your written work, it all basically revolves around one very important thing: who is your audience, and what are they looking for?
Shorter form books such as collections of poems CAN sell and do well – this is becoming truer than ever as people’s lives are busier and more hectic than ever.
A book of poetry and verse can be a nice change of pace that allows people to enjoy reading in small bits between their busy schedules.
However, getting a book of poems published is notoriously difficult. Most major publishing houses do not actively solicit poetry submissions. Today, major publishers are looking for opportunities that have a lot of market potential not only as a book but also in film rights and merchandising.
Books like The Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter aren’t just great stories – they have unlimited potential for licensing to be used on everything from T-Shirts to Lego brick sets.
Does this mean your dreams of publishing poetry are hopeless? Of course not! It just means you need to find a publisher who understands the poetry market.
In order to publish your poems as a book, you will need to be diligent in researching where to submit your work or consider working with a literary agent to pitch your work on your behalf.
What About Self Publishing Your Book of Poems?
Many poets consider self-publishing as a means of getting their poems out there and making revenue. This is always of course a great option – even many established authors who have been published through traditional means find it a lucrative way to boost their bottom line.
However, self-publishing can still have it’s downfalls. There may be unexpected expenses related to printing and formatting, and you of course are still responsible for marketing your work to ensure the book actually sells.
You definitely CAN sell your books of poetry – and maybe even do very well selling it as a print-on-demand book or giving it away for free through Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program – but it is a bit of work and you will likely need to work on creating your own author platform to get any readers or sales.
Fortunately, there IS a huge market for poems and easier ways to make money – but you have to think a little bit out of the box!
It All Comes Down to Understanding Your Audience: Who Will Read Your Poems? What do they need?
The biggest factor in understanding how poetry can sell well in today’s current world is the audience.
Who needs poetry? What are their reasons for wanting poetry?
Once you understand who your market is, you are ready to start exploring all the many different ways you can share your poetry with the world AND get paid for it.
Making money by writing poetry might sound too good to be true – but there IS a demand for it, once you know the right angle to approach selling and sharing your work.
Consider some of these examples of target audiences
Here are just a few examples of the types of target audiences who might be willing to pay for poetry:
- People who need a poem for a special event or celebration: birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc.
- People who enjoy reading poetry casually online
- Someone interested in unique displays, artwork and accessories for their home, school or office {This one is often very surprising to writers, More on this on a bit!}
- Someone looking for unique gifts for family and friends
The greater the need for poetry, the more likely you are to be successful in selling your poems.
For example, someone who is searching for a romantic love poem for their partner for Valentine’s Day or their wedding anniversary has a higher need and demand than someone who is just interested in casually reading new poems they discover online.
Some of these target audiences we shared might surprise you – especially the target audience of people looking for unique artwork and displays!
A book is not the only way to publish and sell your poems – and the demand for unique accessories and artwork is a lot bigger than you might think!
Now that we understand a bit more about the different target audiences who want to buy poems, we can go into the many different ways you can make money online writing poetry.
Here’s 4 Ways You Can Make Money With Poetry
1. Sell Poems & Services on Fiverr:
Fiverr is a website where people can hire you to do a task for $5. Of course, many people on Fiverr charge much more than that!
You can create a listing offering to write a custom poem for $5 or another price – $15, $20, or even $100 if that’s more reasonable. Be sure to include some images and examples in your listing, as this will make it more attractive to potential buyers.
This can be a great way to offer an inexpensive poetry writing service for people who may want to gift a poem to a loved one for special occasions, such as Valentine’s Day, birthdays, and anniversaries.
Creating an account is very easy to do, and you simply need to optimize your profile to showcase your poetry writing services as an available service you offer on the website to make money online with your poems.
2: Create a Website of Your Poems:
Having your own website of poetry is another method of making money online. I did this a few years ago and averaged several hundred dollars a month from the advertising revenue on the poems.
While this may not seem like much, this can really add up over time – especially as you build up traffic to your website and create a following.
Once you gain enough traffic to your website, you can begin exploring different advertising partners who can help you get paid as much as $10-$15 for every 1,000 visitors you have to your website.
It takes a little bit of learning on how to set up a website and how to get traffic and advertisers, but this is a very viable option to do something you love while earning some side cash. Using free blogging software like WordPress is a great way to get started with creating an affordable website.
3: Sell On-Demand Items With Your Poetry:
Sites like make it possible for you upload images to sell on items like poster prints, coffee mugs, t-shirts, and more. While you will need some sort of photo editing program to do this, you can turn your poems into items for sale.
Poems on items such as these can be a great way to not only create more awareness about your work, but can make for unique gift ideas for others, especially if you focus on creating poems suitable for special occasions such as Mother’s Day, Anniversaries, and Birthdays.
4: Sell Poems on Etsy:
Etsy is a store of everything handmade. You can create prints of your poems on paper in a frame or on a canvas and sell that way. If you liked the idea of creating print-on-demand products, Etsy can also be integrated with websites such as Printful, making your start up costs very minimal.
In addition to selling your print-on-demand poetry items on Etsy, you could also explore other possible handmade products, such as selling your own greeting cards.
You can also offer custom poetry writing services, or even an eBook of the poems you have written. With the right marketing, this can be a good way to get your poems in the hands of others while getting paid for your work.
A simple search on Etsy for “poem” and “poetry” and you will get some great ideas for ways to sell your unique poems there!
It’s true: you probably won’t make a TON of money selling your poems to magazines and newspapers, but there ARE publications that still pay poets and are worth
Sadly, there are fewer and fewer reputable websites willing to pay writers online for their unique poems. Popular websites such as Associated Content, Gather, and Triond no longer exist, and many others have merged with other content writing platforms which no longer accept poetry submissions.
Fortunately, as we listed above there are still many unique ways you can make money with the unique and original poems you write! We will continue to seek out different ways to make money publishing poetry online and update this list as we discover them.
Bottom Line: Yes, You Really CAN Make Money Writing Poetry!
I hope this post helps inspire you to think out of the box and consider some original and unique ways you can make a full-time income and living from your passion to write poems and verse.
While it may be the untraditional route from a published book featuring a collection of poems, all of these options are quite lucrative to help you as a writer have the income to support your love for writing!
Do you have any other ideas for ways poets can make money online writing poetry? Have experiences of ideas you have tried for making poetry money? We would love to hear from you – Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
