What is the best way to make money by writing poetry?
I’ll admit right off the bat, I’m not an authority on this subject because I write short stories, not poetry. Having said that, in my experience, the two are intertwined enough that I can shed some light on this for you. In general, it is extremely hard for a person to make a living selling short stories to magazines, and the same is true for poetry. Selling your work to small press magazines, and even the big names, will certainly put some cash in hand and get your name out there, but you won’t be pulling down the big bucks. For a short story writer, such as myself, to make real money, I have to set my sights on writing a novel. Since this isn’t an option for a poetry writer, an equivalent goal would be to try and sell a collection to a publishing house. Instead of receiving a one-time flat rate payment for your poem (which is what you get selling to a magazine) you’d get an advance and hopefully royalties. The exact numbers depend on many things, such as the publishing house, their p
