# Poetry for the Kindle?



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

I have a good friend who is a poet.  She's published two short books so far, and continues to write.  I've been wondering whether to point her toward the e-books option as a way to increase her readership.  (She's not much of a gadget/electronics person, so I doubt she'd ever consider it without a gentle push.)

Does anyone here have thoughts on whether poetry would be suitable for the Kindle?  Is there much of it so far, especially indie work  --  and do you think there is a market for more?


----------



## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

Susan:

As you can see I have my own book of poetry on discount here on the boards. Poetry is a hard publishing sell - but every author worth their salt must also be a poet and a comedian. We incorporate both within our novels. However, I decided to gather my seven chapbooks up and codify them into a collection (The Closet Clandestine). It doesn't sell at all, but no matter. On the Kindle and in print on CreateSpace (POD) it doesn't cost me a dime to get them out for readers. Some readers love poetry collections, but an author who is solely a poet should never give up their day job. I DO have another poetry book that does sell - and here's the point. That book (Come, Wewoka and Diary of Medicine Flower) is a narrative poem on the Cherokee Trail of Tears (I'm Cherokee) and a collection of prose aphorisms in a Days-type book, popular among the Cherokee. Well, it's poetry, but its niche, so it sells to history buffs, native Americans (I sell them at Pow-wows, and since I'm Native American, purchasers can admire my ribbon shirt and feather earrings). So poetry sells when its niche, married with
prose or woven within novels. My own big poetry book gets excerpted and reviewed all the time, and well, because - ahem - I am a master poet. But even at $ .99 people are still hesitant. They say, "poetry," and perhaps struggle with visions of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and a class full of giggling prepubescence snickering at "water, water, everywhere."

Saying that, I must say that poetry is NOT a labor of love. It's a mandate for any poet to share, even give away. Nothing could be closer to the soul and bone to a writer than the raw imagery of a crafted verse. The expectations must be different than a work of fiction, and disappointment must be marginalized as "to be expected."

Hope that helps

Edward C. Patterson
wrote my first poem at age 8 (ah so many decades ago) lol


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Ed, if you don't mind I'll copy my first post with your reply and send it to her as an email, and perhaps it will be enough to start her on that path.  (That, and going to visit her with Kindle in hand, and showing her examples of what might be.... )


----------



## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

Cut and paste away. I'm here to be of assistance.

Ed P


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Thanks so much!

(Don't know whether you're remotely interested, but FWIW.... 
http://www.themontserratreview.com/bookreviews/gentlingTheBones.html 
Her other one, which I haven't seen, is poems about Russia; she's a Russian major and lived there for a number of years.)


----------



## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

Lovely images. Excellent traditional usage (which among many poets is lost). I enjoyed it, and it engaged me. Engagement is the ticket, you know. Too many poet's proclaim that their poetry is personal and don;t give a fig whether a reader get's it or not. That's not the case here. She had me in the first quadrain. 

Ed Patterson


----------



## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

So nice to hear, on her behalf.  I'll pass that along too.


----------

