Let’s put our beloved prose aside, it’s time to talk about poetry. If you are the kind of person that loves expressing yourself through poetry, then, this article is for you. The truth is that poetry is a unique way of putting your feelings out there, of connecting with your most hidden feelings and desires… But, did you know you can actually make money writing poems? Maybe you like them corny, maybe you have a dark Poe hidden inside. Whatever your passion for poems, in this article, I’ll show you how you can actually make some money on them.
So, do you want to make money selling your poetry? Do you want to take advantage of your creativity? There are websites that pay a lot of money for them, if your poems turn out to be what they are looking for, people even buy them on Valentine’s days to give them to their partners.
It’s time to dust off those poems you wrote a while ago or take your pen, connect with your emotions, and get ready. Get the most of your time, and especially in these moments when it is so necessary to stay at home. Working from home has now become a necessity, and those who enjoy writing have it easy.
How much can you earn?
The profit will depend a lot on the quality of your work, so you should strive to meet the expectations of those who may be interested in your writing.
In the beginning, do not expect to win a lot, there is a lot of competition and as I said, it is not easy to meet the expectations of buyers. You can earn from $ 1.50 to $ 300 per poem. I know, it is not a highly valued job, but look on the bright side, you will have more income and you will fill out your work portfolio, you will gain experience and strengthen yourself as a writer.
There are even magazines that pay for you to write poems for their column on a weekly basis, but we’ll talk about this later.
Things you should know first
Poetry is not something easy to sell, because not all of us have the same appreciation or point of view. As a writer, you immerse yourself in your own thoughts, emotions, history, therefore, the reader understands it and can put himself in your place, you have to be communicative and efficient.
Know your audience
As a good salesperson, you must know what people need, then you will know where you have to start developing your poetry and what themes you can develop in it. Go file your repertoire, never stop creating, you can always give use to what you write. Among the job offers that you can find are from people who:
- enjoy reading poetry on social media and websites.
- are looking for an unusual and unique gift for a family member, friend, or partner.
- want to decorate their environment with unique elements, such as pillows, cell phone covers, accessories, with motivational phrases or short poems.
- need a poem for a special celebration, birthdays, weddings, parties, anniversaries, for Valentine’s Day, among others.
The better you meet this need, the easier it will be to sell your poetry.
Literary journals, magazines, and websites for your poems.
There are many platforms that are willing to pay for your poems, here is a list of them, I hope they become useful to you:
Gobbling fruit:
In general, they look for poetry of the fantasy genre, surrealist, folkloric, mystical themes, all very medieval and rustic, trying to recall ancient cultures and fantastic times where the gods reigned.
If you like fantasy you will surely enjoy this job very much. They pay up to $15 per poem.
Leading Edge:
They deal with topics that include science fiction and fantasy in general, they use poetry as a means of expressing these genres, they look for young writers with original ideas.
They also pay well for short stories. Their fees range from $5 to $20 per poem.
Crazyhorse:
They publish work that reflects the multiple poetries of the twenty-first century. They publish poets at all stages of their writing careers and are interested in publishing poets from underrepresented communities.
US kids Mag:
This page pursues to encourage reading in children and adolescents and provide them with entertainment and learning, here you can write both poems and short stories, you must remember that the language here is for children, so you must limit yourself, at the same time you can put in march your creative skills and give the kids a good lesson.
They seek to teach children about healthy lifestyles and customs, as well as health issues in all senses. Payments are $25 dollars and up, depending on what they ask for.
Boulevard Magazine
This magazine is interested in non-fiction quality content. They are continuously looking for beginning writers and unpublished writers with exceptional promise. They want to bring out new writers, who can provide them with new and out-of-the-box poems. Their minimum payments are $25 to $250 per poem.
Arc Poetry Magazine:
They are looking for writers under 40 to develop contemporary poetry themes, with creative, unique and modern ideas. A jovial and youthful language. Its pay is $15 and up.
AGNI
On this website they look for writers who tell their own truths in their own words and who can convince readers that they have found something that no one else could have written. They can pay from $ 10 to $ 200, depending of your job.
Chicken Soup for the Soul
They look for inspiring stories about people who have had interesting experiences, poems that tell about people’s daily life, that encourage the spirit and open the heart. These stories must be personal and dramatic. Your only requirement is that the poem tells a story and that it is interesting and satisfying to read.
Submit your Poems to Contests to Make some Money
Another option a little more complex, but not impossible to win if you result to be a good poet. It is by participating in contests, there is a great variety of these that you can join. It is a good way to earn a lot of money fast. You will have to put the best that you have at stake.
Among these you can choose the following contests:
- Boston Review: Prize $1500
- Bellevue Literary Review’s Marica and Jan Vilcek Prize in Poetry: Prize $1,000
- Poetry.com Contest: Prize annual $5 000; monthly $250; daily $25
- Fanstory: Prize varies based on contest (they have a few contests for different genres.)
Write poems for Greetings Cards
Many greeting card companies pay for you to write a good phrase or a good poem that goes according to the occasion for which it is to be used. It can be a poem, a phrase, a short story, anything that can be used for a good gift or to express gratitude. And the most important thing is that the words have to be of your own authorship.
Among the ones you can use are:
Blue Mountain Arts: Pays $300
American Greetings: Pay varies
Freelancing and Self-Employment
Being a FreeLancer is a more and more viable option to earn good little money. There are several sites that give you the possibility to sell your poems and demand the prices you consider. Among these platforms are:
Zazzle: Here they give you the opportunity to make your own products, t-shirts, mugs, cushions, anything you want, and you can write on them your own phrases or poems and sell them. You can edit and design it your way, it is a good way to promote your writing.
Fiverr: It is the perfect place to offer your poetry and any other thing you have saved and want to take advantage of it.
There are thousands of people looking for writers for their web pages, blogs, magazines, articles and even school projects. They will be able to hire you as long as you comply with what they ask for, make sure you have a wide repertoire and images that justify your work.
TeeSpring: It fulfills the same function as Zazzle, you can sell products designed by yourself, as well as decorative elements.
Etsy: You can create prints of your poems and design them in your own way and then sell them. Everything handmade is well received on this page.
Songwriting
Believe it or not, selling your poems as music is currently a very lucrative business, there are many artists who are just starting out in music and need good lyrics in their songs, this is your opportunity to prove your worth as a writer, get going, every good poem can become a song. Who knows where this business can take you and what doors can open.
You should know…
The more you write, the faster and easier you will earn income and increase your orders.
In Google Trend, you can see that monthly searches for poetry are over a million and a half. The market for poetry fans is huge, and the demand is even higher, do not expect to get rich at the first, you will need to have a very large repertoire of poems in order to meet the expectations of consumers.
Over time you will discover that this job, more than a business is a pleasure, who would not like to work doing something they love, in this case, writing.
The poetry business is not really something you can live on, don’t expect to get rich either, but it will serve you as an experience, you will be able to fill your portfolio with all your completed work and happy clients, you will earn in referrals and maybe even find a permanent job writing poems for a column in a magazine.
Always remember that businesses are businesses, open your mind, choose varied offers, it is always good to know a little about everything, and to be able to write about anything. Personally, I will tell you that I have found during my searches for a little job on the internet with offers that are as scandalous as rare, however, I have had a lot of fun completing the work.
I hope this post has served as an inspiration to start your projects. If besides poetry you also like to write essays and stories in these articles you can find websites that pay for your work.
