How to Go From Unknown to
Known as A Poet
I
remember attempting to write
poems as a kid. There are some classic poems we learned in school that
we still remember today: Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall; Humpty Dumpty
had a great fall; All of the Kings Horses and all of the
King’s
men couldn’t put humpty back together again.
What about: “There was an old lady who lived in a shoe; she
had
so many kids she didn’t know what to do.”
As a coach today, involved in guiding others into writing and
publishing a book, I have the
pleasure of working with many
aspiring
poets.
Each have their own uniqueness: some are funny and others write about
the serious side to life. There are others who are focused on the
beauty all around, people, places and things, finding something to
heighten our awareness and to deepen our appreciation.
The path to the modern day poet’s success is no different
than
those who have blazed a trail before and neither is the steps
to
self publish a poetry book.
If I could for a moment, take you on a journey through the early life
of one of my favorite poets, Langston Hughes. He didn’t start
out
wanting to publish a poetry book, he started out with a passion for
writing about what was going on around him, using a poetic format.
The first step to growing your popularity as a poet: persistence.
Langston’s father didn’t think he could earn a
living
writing, so he paid his way to Columbia University on the grounds that
he would study engineering. Within a short time, Langston dropped out
of the class but continued to write poetry.
Persistence leads to success as a poet. Langston was an unknown, known
only by his family and friends, but he looked for opportunity, believed
in what he was doing, stayed true to who he was, did whatever he had to
do to spread the word.
As a self published poet, if you are willing to take your message out
and you do it with passion and purpose you will carve out a place for
your work.
Self publishing, just like traditional publishing, requires effort.
Expect opportunity and take advantage of it when it knocks on your
door. Look into your community calendars to see what is going on for
the month, contact those who is putting on these events and sell
yourself to them as a guest on their programs. In the beginning it will
not be a paid spot but if people like what you say, your presence, they
will want to invite you to more and more events.
If you already have writings to recite, great; those words will grow
into book sales when you take advantage of these opportunities.
The more you recite and promote your poetry, the more exposure you are
bringing to your words and those efforts will end up accomplishing that
you want.
A silent poet cannot be heard. If you are aspiring to be a poet,
prepare yourself to speak, to present your spoken
words.
More about poetry publishing.
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