Monday, July 31, 2006

Self-publishing pays off

Road show brings success to a persevering poet

Everyone who works in the publishing business knows that poetry books are among the hardest to sell. With some notable exceptions, traditional publishing houses simply won't touch them. It's even hard to convince the vanity press to take this venture on. It's the same when it comes to marketing such books.

But that hasn't stopped Marcus Harris. This North Carolina poet is in the middle of a tour of more than 40 bookstores in seven states and Washington, D.C. And he's getting lots of press. The attention has surprised the man who writes many of his poems from personal experience. The Durham Herald-Sun tells Harris' story.

To learn more about Harris and his work, visit his website. (Thanks to Rose for this tip.)


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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the east (here in Pakistan), only poetry books are sold. Young people buy poetry and love that.

Deb Sistrunk Nelson said...

Shirazi: Wow. Could this be a difference between the East and the West? My daughter loves to write poetry. But right now, she does it for herself, not for others.

I wrote poetry when I was young, and my peers told me that I was good. I apparently didn't save any of it, and I regret that. I've thought about starting up again, but I'm not sure I'm that creative anymore. :-)

Sometimes I think my career in news, PR and business writing stifled that "other" side of my creativity.

Anonymous said...

Take a start. Who knows? As they say, any thing that comes from the heart has an effect.

Deb Sistrunk Nelson said...

Ah, Shirazi. You are a wise man. And you won't let me off the hook, darn it! LOL

Cecilia said...

Shirazi's right, Deb! Writing poetry will feel like going to a spa after a hard day's work dealing with all your news/PR/business writing tasks.

Thank you for introducing us to Marcus Harris. His work is original and a lot of fun to read!

Deb Sistrunk Nelson said...

Cecilia: You are, of course, absolutely right about the poetry writing. I am overdue for a spa!

Yes, Harris' poetry is fun to read. He is definitely an original - in his writing and in the way he markets himself.