Do Reviews Sell Poetry Books?
In the world of prose fiction and nonfiction, one of the primary purposes of reviews is to sell books: a review in the New York Times Book Review can send people rushing into bookstores on a Sunday to grab copies of the books covered that week. But it’s not such a linear process for poetry–even when a poetry book gets covered in the NYTBR, those same book shoppers may not buy it, simply because they don’t read poetry. Brown says, “The important thing to remember is patience–it takes time to see those results, and it’s a mistake to look at the numbers from a distributor a week after a big review comes out and think that it doesn’t make a difference.” She also points out that there are many financial benefits other than book sales that poets count on, and that reviews can help with those, too: “Sometimes a solid number of reviews may have unexpected results, such as the poet garnering good venues in which to read or teach, and it’s also helpful for the poet in acquiring more time to wr
In the world of prose fiction and nonfiction, one of the primary purposes of reviews is to sell books: a review in the New York Times Book Review can send people rushing into bookstores on a Sunday to grab copies of the books covered that week. But it’s not such a linear process for poetry—even when a poetry book gets covered in the NYTBR, those same book shoppers may not buy it, simply because they don’t read poetry. Brown says, “The important thing to remember is patience—it takes time to see those results, and it’s a mistake to look at the numbers from a distributor a week after a big review comes out and think that it doesn’t make a difference.” She also points out that there are many financial benefits other than book sales that poets count on, and that reviews can help with those, too: “Sometimes a solid number of reviews may have unexpected results, such as the poet garnering good venues in which to read or teach, and it’s also helpful for the poet in acquiring more time to writ
