Contributing Editor Michael Bugeja

by Michael Bugeja

Q I would like to be a literary agent for poets, but what do I do about money? I can't survive by charging 15% of a sale of a poetry book because it will probably be to a small press where my share would range from $0 to $85 or so (less than my expenses) -- unlike an agent of fiction or nonfiction who would receive thousands of dollars or more. Yet, if I charge an up-front fee of $350 or whatever, AAR and everybody will put me down as if all fee-charging agents are the scum of the earth -- despite my hard work and scrupulous record-keeping and reports to the client. It's not fair for poets not to have agenting, and it's not fair to expect me to work for little or for less than nothing. Please advise.

Sincerely,
R.C. Anderson

A You are right to sense a need for poet-representation, but not in the traditional agenting sense. If you represented a poet, and actually placed her book -- rare enough -- you'd be lucky to receive $85 in royalties. Chances are, as you indicate, you'd get $0.

I'll answer your question momentarily, but I have to explain the market first, so you understand what I mean by representation. Poetry is not and probably never has been a selling market, even for the most widely known or published poets. I could tell stories about famous poets and their abysmal total sales receipts, but that would be unfair to the poets, because I do not entirely blame them. I place blame on aspiring poets and politics.

Few poets sell more than 1000 books, the typical press run. In time, all of my own poetry books have earned money for publishers but only after a few years selling about 400 copies per year. Then again, I have by some measurements the largest regular poetry audience in the world, as columnist for Writer On Line and Writer's Digest and as author of two best-selling" how-to" books: The Art & Craft of Poetry (Writer's Digest Books) and Poet's Guide: How to Publish and Perform Your Work (Story Line Press).

I am also honorary chancellor for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. My last poetry collection was Talk, published last year by the University of Arkansas Press, which advertised the collection in Writer's Digest. So my combined audience, roughly, is about 300,000. Do you know how many books I sold in 1998? A bit more than 400. My royalty check was about $200. If you were my agent, you'd have received $30.

Poets who make money selling their collections do so through the educational market, although they won't acknowledge that. It's not a traditional textbook market, it's a "literary market," which often means a university press. But in essence, the literary press is acting as a textbook seller to creative- writing professors. True, many such university presses have stopped publishing poetry because they are being held more accountable by taxpayers. Others, like the University of Arkansas Press http://cavern.uark.edu/~uaprinfo/staff.html, which was nearly shut down because of administrative restructuring, are struggling to survive. While my help was solicited at UAP to "save the press," because of my reputation as a journalist, and because of my audience at Writer's Digest http://www.writersdigest.com/, my in-house poetry collection at the time, titled Millenium's End, was returned because I had only sold 400 copies of Talk, which was released during that press's near demise. Do you see the ironies here?

The professor-poets who sell books usually work or are active in creative-writing departments and hold political sway as critics or as members of the Associated Writing Programs http://www.gmu.edu/departments/awp/. I am a supporter and member of AWP and believe it provides a good service to creative writing departments. But we're not discussing that, are we? Back to the market. Many poet-professors judge poetry contests at university presses and, in essence, control the keys of literature in this country. Their books are used in creative-writing classes and are sold at "literary festivals," many of which are successful, by the way, and draw non-poets and even non-academics from college towns. It's a night of culture in towns lacking opera, even if the poetry is sometimes as obtuse as German arias.

I'm sure this column is going to be seen as political, but keep in mind that I have been trying, diligently, to increase the audience for poetry since the early 1980s. I came out against the politics of creative writing long before my friend, a poet I greatly admire, Dana Gioia, did in his watershed Atlantic Monthly piece, "Can Poetry Matter," followed by his excellent book by the same title. I have also promoted the books of nearly 100 top "academic poets" in the pages of Writer's Digest. I read some 300 collections of poetry each year and do dozens of book reviews, for the good of the art which, I believe, may one day be a lost art if people don't start buying more books. And I have come, sadly, to the decision that the situation regarding the audience for poetry is not going to change unless poets read other people's works for the right reasons -- because they understand it, enjoy it, grow by it, and experience truth, beauty, or wisdom. Not because the poet's work has been assigned in class or the poet is appearing for a reading in a college town or at a how-to conference featuring, of course, literary agents.

You want to represent poets? There are many out there with manuscripts that have been finalists in major literary contests, year after year. Their rejection letters read like apologetic celebrations. Some of these poets would yearn for your services, as long as they were reputable and discrete. Solicit manuscripts from these well-published poets, promising to place the collections for free as a way to build up your clientele list. And when you have placed ten or so in reputable presses -- odds are you won't do that easily, but it's possible and pioneering -- start charging other published poets $500 a pop, only when you have placed their manuscripts with a respected press. This will require from you integrity, research, and intelligence, the latter associated with your ability to understand the specific style and align that poet's book with the appropriate press.

The bottom line: If you believe in a poet's work, and you can place the book for her, you will not be charging a "reader's fee" but a "finder's fee," and agents have been earning the latter for decades now with Hollywood scripts. You'll just be doing it with poetry ... and for the good of poetry.

Good luck.

-- MB
©1999 Michael Bugeja

References:
Dana Gioia, Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture

Michael J. Bugeja's poetry has appeared in hundreds of America’s most prestigious magazines and journals. He has authored four text- and trade books, including Guide to Writing Magazine Nonfiction (Allyn & Bacon, 1997); Living Ethics: Developing Values in Mass Communication (Allyn & Bacon, 1996); Poet's Guide: How to Publish and Perform Your Work (Story Line Press, 1995); and The Art and Craft of Poetry (Writer's Digest Books, 1994). In addition, he has published two books of social criticism and six book-length collections of poems, as well as a collection of award-winning short stories and a novel.
His writing awards include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, an Academy of American Poets award, and a lengthy list of other awards and prizes. He writes a column on poetry for Writer's Digest and is honorary chancellor of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.