The Art and Science of Selling 50,000 Books of Poetry

(PS: I have only another 49,200 to go!)

Here’s the gory truth: the average book of poetry sells only 100 copies — and mostly to friends and family. Ouch!

Bottom line, the reach of most poets is minimal. While it’s true that Rumi, Billy Collins and Mary Oliver do quite well, it’s usually a steep decline for the rest of us.

Knowing this, I decided to do something different with the release of my most recent book of poetry — Unspoken Word: Love Longing & Letting Go (see below for specifics).

The results? Well, it all depends on how you look at it.

Relative to the average number of poetry books sold (100), I’ve done quite well, having sold 800, so far. But compared to my goal of selling 50,000, the results have been modest, at best.

In other words, I am only 1.6% towards my goal.

Being a glass-half-full kind of guy, I’m encouraged, but it’s definitely time for a quantum leap. Which is why I’m writing this article – to provide you with just enough quantum leapiness to buy my book.

Here we go.