[Maryann Corbett]

Publishers often say to prospective authors that what sells books, above all, is giving readings. Some poets active on this site say the same thing. I wonder how we know that's true.

And the reason I wonder is that it feels contrary to my experience. I go to readings only a few times a year, and I don't always buy when I attend. I'm far more likely to be motivated to buy by a great review, and I'm much more likely to buy online.

So am I just (yet again) weird in this regard? What's the evidence that more sales by small poetry publishers happen because of readings? (Or what else is going on here?)

[Orwn Acra]

This is tangential to your topic, Maryann, but what makes me want to buy a book, other than its contents, is what the book looks like. I'm 100% serious, too. The covers of so many modern poetry books consist of a random nature/garden sort of picture in a square frame, the title in a pedestrian font, the author's name in the same pedestrian font (a little bit smaller this time), and all backed in that exciting new color: mauve.

Look at the wonderful new editions of Nabokov, Camus, The Wind in the Willows, Kurt Vonnegut, and so on. Look at music (Rhino records released a large anthology of bubblegum music from the 60's in what looks like a hat box). Look at film. They all look great. Assuming that the artist had a say in the aesthetics of the packaging, one can tell that a lot of thought has gone into how to present the thing to the world. I suppose someone can disagree with me and tell me that that sort of stuff shouldn't matter in poetry, but I would suppose that that person is wrong.

But to answer your question, I would be more likely to buy a book if I heard the poet read. Reviews are subjective.

[Maryann Corbett]

Originally Posted by Orwn Acra

This is tangential to your topic, Maryann, but what makes me want to buy a book, other than its contents, is what the book looks like. I'm 100% serious, too. The covers of so many modern poetry books consist of a random nature/garden sort of picture in a square frame, the title in a pedestrian font, the author's name in the same pedestrian font (a little bit smaller this time), and all backed in that exciting new color: mauve.

Orwn, I like snappy presentation too, and I've said so in reviews. I agree that it affects buying behavior. Poets sometimes have no say, though, about their cover art, so I'd like to hope that a ho-hum cover wouldn't trump good poems.

But to answer your question, I would be more likely to buy a book if I heard the poet read. Reviews are subjective.

Certainly. But even a review that says "I didn't enjoy this" can convey enough information about the book to let the reader come away thinking, "I'd like this, even if the reviewer didn't." Julie Stoner's reviews in the most recent Able Muse are a relevant example.

And poets' readings can influence us negatively as well, if a poet isn't a good performer. The poems on the page might well be better than a poet's reading lets me know. That's why the best review is one that offers generous helpings of the poems.

So I'm still wondering, what do we know and how do we know it in terms of sales at readings?

[Janice D. Soderling]

I probably don't know what I am talking about (again) but readings seem to me to be entertainment and not sales generators. Sure some locals or friends will buy a book from an unknown after a reading, but most of those folks buying at online book sites have never heard the poet or author perform and they are buying anyway.

I still believe that most poetry sales are generated because someone read a poem or several poems that they like and chose to buy the book for that reason. I once had a complementary letter from a lady who had read one of my stories in a magazine (in Sweden) and wrote to ask where she could buy my books. I wish, but it made my day. It made my week in fact. I haven't had many fan letters, but those few I have had were from folks who had simply read something I'd written somewhere and wrote to say something nice.

I used to do regional readings in Swedish and it was cool if some came up afterward to chit-chat a little. But I've seen writers lug in big boxes of books and then lug them home again. I've even gone to readings of my famous friends (famous in Sweden) and they sat aterward and patiently inscribed their books (or had pre-signed them), but really, even in Stockholm the queue was never so long that it would make a decent night's wages. And they always sold for less than it cost in the bookshop but more than it cost when they were marked down for a clearance sale.

Getting written up in the newspaper is nice and good publicity but that always comes the day after when everyone has gone home.

Maybe I just want to believe that readings don't help so I don't soak my pillow, so I won't mourn missing out on the real thing. I live so remote from the English-speaking litterati or even the English-speaking Swedish litterati so even if I wanted to do readings nowadays it isn't realistic.

But I realize it is expected in the USA and England and I understand the reasons. The only time I've explored the terrain (English market), because the very nice editor-publisher told me truthfully and early that she couldn't afford to publish authors who couldn't take part in self-promoting events, no matter how much she liked their work. I understand that fully, and we retain a good writer-editor relationship.

Maybe I should go back to writing in Swedish, but I write much better in English. So I won't.

[Marybeth Rua-Larsen]

I go to a reading with the expectation of buying a book unless I very much dislike the reader/poems. I like to do what I can to support writers/poets. I generally go to one reading a month in my general community, and like most people, I don't have loads of money to spread around on this, but I think of two things: 1 -- if I ever have a book, I hope when I do readings that people will be moved to buy my book, so I respond as I would like to be responded to; 2 -- because I attend local readings, I see buying the books as a way of supporting writers in my community and learning more about them and their work.

Most books/chapbooks cost between 10-20 dollars. I don't find that an unreasonable amount (along with a drink, depending on the venue) to spend on an evening's activity. Of course I'm not in an area where there's a poetry reading a couple of times a week...in that situation, I'd be more discriminating out of necessity.

Marybeth

[R. Nemo Hill]

In my own experience, for relatively unknown authors (like most of us), a reading is what sells a book. For all the crowing & toot-toot-tooting I do up here when a new chapbook comes out from EXOT BOOKS, by far the largest share of sales is at a live reading. In other venues there's lots of back-patting and high-hatting, but not so much ponying-up. I must also say that I have yet to receive any sales after even the most glowing of reviews for an EXOT title--even, ahem, after Paul Stevens marvelous piece about Mike Alexander's brilliant We Internet In Different Voices.

Other than that, I second Orwn's remarks. It's one of the reasons I carry on with EXOT BOOKS: to give authors some sort of creative setting for their words. Just for the record I would never publish a book for which the author did not give explicit and enthusiastic approval of the visual design. More than any other form of publicity, especially for relative newcomers, I think design is paramount. I am appalled by the look of almost all the chapbooks I see.

Nemo

[Susan McLean]

I have been to a lot of readings and have given a few. When I am attending a reading, I buy the book only if I enjoyed hearing it (and usually I expect to re-read it and learn from it, which means it is written in form). For free verse, I tend to read the books from the library, with the exception of a few great favorites. I will buy poetry books that I pick up and read in a bookstore, if I am very impressed with the quality of the work (but I must say that I buy those mainly at West Chester, because they tend to be formal poetry, which most of my local libraries do not carry). I do not buy books because of a great review (I have been burned too often) unless I really like the excerpts from poems that are included. My taste and the taste of reviewers are often just too dissimilar.

When I have given readings, I usually sell a few books. The books I sell are sometimes not to other poets, but just to people who want to buy a book from a poet they have heard in person. Even if I don't sell any books, I think giving readings is worthwhile. To be heard, to move people, to show them that poetry can be understandable and enjoyable--all are reasonable goals.

Susan

[Maryann Corbett]

I appreciate having these responses. Evidently I am weird, at least a little. Something to think about.

[T.S. Kerrigan]

I have tried to find other ways to sell books, putting readings on YouTube, publicity on the internet, etc. and nothing has worked as well as reading. Let's face it, books of poetry whether from small presses, university presses or major national publishers sell only a few hundred books. The only exception I know to this, with the exception of dead or celebrity poets, was Garrison Keillors Good Poemswhich started with a first printing of 73,000 and has gone into a second printing.

[Janice D. Soderling]

I seem to be the only one whose purchases are triggered by having read a poem, or several, that causes me to admire the writing. I accept that it is true, but I'm sorry to hear it.