Have you ever wondered how to be a poet-writer and how to make money with poetry? Several women post their spiritual poems on my blog. I am often asked how to become a poet and how to sell poetry. Let’s talk about how to be a poet-writer: being a poet is harder than becoming one.
READ ALL MY POETRY BLOGS
How I Became a Christian Poet
“How to be a poet writer” was never a concern of mine. I built a successful career in marketing, working full-time jobs and consulting projects, and enjoying my analytical brain. I never had any painting supplies or art supplies, and I didn’t care much about poetry for about 14 years since college where I studied to be a teacher.
I am an elementary school teacher by my first education – a four-year college with high honors. I quit teaching kids and dove straight into the competitive world of business, KPIs, ROI, and money, which allowed me to 15X my salary right away. So, I went to B-school.
I have a bachelor’s in Businesses Administration – a six-year university program with high honors. there, I quickly learned that you can’t survive in Russia without a law degree, soo…
I also have a doctorate in Criminal Justice – a three-year university program with high honors. That was all in Russia.
SIGN UP FOR EMAILS
In America, I graduated with an MBA from Georgia State University in 2013 with a 3.74 GPA, and English was new to me – I taught myself while being a homeless victim of domestic violence.
RELATED: My Domestic Violence Story
So, “how to become a poet” and “how to make money with poetry” were not the kinds of things I was ever thinking about.
But poetry was thinking about me… Apparently!
RELATED: How I Got Introduced to Spoken Word Poetry
So, one day, out of the blue, poetry entered my life, which has never been the same ever since. That was two and a half years ago.
Today, I have a collection of 100+ poems, 125 poetry merchandise products, 49 poetry home decor products, I use poetry in my public speaking, and I’m working on my book.
So, I have many tips to share with you on how to be a poet and how to sell poetry. In fact, I designed a 10-step plan for you on how to sell YOUR poetry.
By the way, here’s my spoken word poetry collection for your enjoyment.
Now, the story I shared with you was so romantic.
Wasn’t it?
Well, I’m about to drop a bomb on you, so get ready.
Are you ready?
Poetry didn’t come to me “out of the blue,” no, it came from my broken heart, my emotional suffering, the severe abuse I endured in my marriage, and my shattered psyche.
What is a shattered psyche?
It is damage to the mind that occurs as a result of a distressing event. Trauma is often the result of an overwhelming amount of stress that exceeds one’s ability to cope.
Let me tell you: a distressing event is not what happened to me. A lifetime of distressing events happened to me, and then, one unimaginably distressing event happened to me, which sucked me into a miserable life in multiple realities with a cruel Narcisisit who abused me using Narcissistic Gaslighting, Projection, Discarding, and other mental cruelty tactics, with which he pushed me very close to suicide.
RELATED: Narcissistic Relationship Abuse
But, God had a big plan, so He gave me poetry to survive Dr. Jakul and Mr. Hyde. God restored me and provided an opportunity for me to thrive again.
RELATED: What Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Do to Your Psyche
Glory to God.
I described the hell of a life I’ve had and each of the “distressing events” that happened to me – all in my story, which has been communicated in great detail on this Christian blog.
So, now, I’ll just give you some references where you can read about my story.
RELATED: My Testimony
I want to focus in this article on answering your specific questions about how to be a poet writer and how to sell poetry so that you can make money doing what you love and what fuels your soul.
But just to tell you real quick, just to invite you into that day when poetry entered my life without even knocking. Here’s how it happened.
I was asleep. Also, I was depressed and suicidal, supervised by two mental health professionals, going through the second divorce the Narcissist filed for in our first eight months of marriage, and getting ready for a divorce mediation, which is mandatory in the state of Georgia.
RELATED: My Suicide Story
On March 6th, 2017, at 4 am EST, the day before our divorce mediation, I woke up with a poem dwelling in my head. It was shocking but I captured the poem. That day, another poem came, then, another and another… And I found myself writing poetry multiple times a day, which was freaking me out because it was so not me. Or so I thought…
Soon, #PoemsFromGod collection was born, I moved out of our marital residence, and I created a prayer hallway in my new home to help me get through our divorce jury trial in Forsyth County, GA, which lasted four days.
RELATED: #PoemsFromGod Collection by Anna Szabo
Here’s my prayer hallway made of my framed, double-matted, floating poetry: prayers, declarations of God’s goodness, and my crying out to God.
For many years, I was silent about my pain and I was “positive.”
Then, I was shattered by the Narcissist and rebuilt from scratch by God. My story is complicated. It’s complex. It’s painful. It’s shocking. It’s overwhelming. It’s unbearable. My story makes me feel suffocated from sorrow and sadness.
Drinking my story out of my mind was much easier than becoming aware of it for decades. Shopping my story away, traveling it away, exercising it away, and clubbing it away was easier for me than facing my story.
Feelings didn’t exist in my world for years because I was scared of them. I was afraid of being alone with myself for over three decades, and I had addictions to save me from my own company and my feelings.
RELATED: My Sex Addiction Story
That worked well, until it didn’t.
To deal with my addictions, I spent 365 days of holidays alone at home, 600 days of no dating, and I learned to face my feelings.
RELATED: a List of Feelings
I even wrote an article about it on LinkedIn as I was spending Christmas completely alone at home: “Spending Holidays Alone Is Good For You.”
When I hit the rock bottom and reached my limits running away from myself, I came to the end of my super-powers and there, on the bottom, I met Jesus.
RELATED: Who Is Jesus?
He had been healing me, one day at a time.
Then, Satan came at me looking saint, and he broke my heart, he shattered my psyche, he destroyed my identity, and he devasted every aspect of my being with his premeditated deception, lies, pretend, and cruelty.
RELATED: How Satan Came at Me Looking Saint
Yet, Jesus wasn’t on vacation in Bali when that happened.
Jesus Christ carried me through the valley of the shadow of death. He gathered my every tear, collected my every prayer, and gave me beauty for my ashes. He gave me beautiful poetry.
He is healing me daily. I need Jesus daily.
When I opened my heart and mind to healing, in silence, in solitude, in nature, spoken word poetry started pouring to help me tell my story.
Spoken word poems I write come from deep within.
They arrive at once.
I always feel like I’m giving birth: I struggle and struggle and boom, a poem is here, and it’s profound every time
Poetry is the rivers of living water flowing from the Holy Spirit in me, just as John 7:38 describes.
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within her.
John 7:38
Telling my story my way helped me face all my giants from those adverse events we mentioned earlier. Through prayer, crying, writing, weeping, grieving, and poetry, I was able to process my story appropriately and make sense of it.
I’m no longer afraid of what happened to me. I’m not scared of myself or my story. I’m free.
And I write poetry.
Anna Szabo’s Story
- My Narcissist Mother Story
- My Sex Addiction Story
- My Domestic Violence Story
- My Narcissist Relationship Abuse Story
- My Salvation Story and Testimony
- My Spiritual Warfare Story
- My Depression Story
- My Suicide Story
- My Identity Transformation Story
- My Story of Faith and Fortitude
How To Be a Poet Writer
Now that you know my story, I want to reveal to you the secret to extraordinary poetry: you must care deeply with passion about something really big and your heart must be broken for it.
That’s right: you must have a broken heart in other to be a poet. That is how you can write good poetry from the depth of your humanity and touch other humans in unexpected ways.
Yes, you heard me well: a broken heart and intense feelings are the secret of great poetry that moves people, changes their minds, and transforms their lives. You can read all the blog posts I wrote here about my poetry experience, you can read the comments on each article to see its impact, and that is the kind of poetry we will be discussing when it comes to the questions “how to become a professional poet” and “how to make money writing poetry.”
MY BLOGS ABOUT POETRY
Let me be real with you.
There are poets who write books about the adventures of their … umm… how do I say it? Their d..cks, p..ssies, and as…ls. I’ve heard plenty of that at spoken word poetry Atlanta events, and I am telling you now: that kind of poetry is not the poetry I am talking about here.
I am not equipped in any way to advise you on how to write and how to make money writing poetry about your sexual adventures and other things that do not matter and have no significance, from my perspective.
It’s vanity and pop-culture.
If you’re into that kind of thing, this website is not a helpful place for you, it’s not the kind of content you will enjoy, don’t read any further – it’s all a total waste of your valuable time.
Just move on, dear.
Goodbye!
BUT!
If you’re someone who has a heart for encouraging and empowering people, if you’ve struggled and suffered and grew spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and you matured by going through trials and tribulations, you have a message, and I can help you.
I can advise you on how to become a professional poet and how to make money writing poetry.
I have tips on how to become a poet, how to be a poet writer, how to become a professional poet, and how to make money with poetry.
I am able, willing, and about to teach you how to sell your poetry to people who need and want it.
So, keep reading!
Also subscribe to my emails, I want to stay in touch with you.
SUBSCRIBE TO MY EMAILS
How to be a poet writer is the beginner-level question, so here’s my beginner-level answer: you need to be able to feel your feelings intensely, you need to be willing to sit in solitude 101 with your feelings, experience turmoil on the inside, and write about it.
That’s how you become a poet.
Now, let’s discuss how to become a professional poet.
Six Frequently Asked Questions About “How To Be a Poet Writer” -Answered by Poet Anna Szabo
To become a poet, you need three things: to be able to experience a wide variety of human feelings, to allow yourself to feel intensely about the topics of your passion, and to write poetry, no matter its rhyming or flowing in your own unique way. I wrote a guide on how to become a poet, which you can access for free at How To Write Spoken Word Poetry: 10 Steps.
To be a poet, you need to feed your mind, heart, soul, and feelings. Once you discover what you care about, what sparks writing, you then have to continue the relationship with your muse. For some poets, the muse is social injustice. For me, the muse is God, Narcissistic Abuse, Domestic Violence, and empowerment. I wrote a lot about depression and suicide, but that muse is gone because God restored my mental health, and so there’s absolutely nothing dwelling in me in regards to depression. But I volunteer at the shelter for victims of Domestic Violence, so, even though I am no longer experiencing Domestic Abuse, I am impacted by it still and the muse visits me regularly. Here’s my advice on how to be a poet writer: find your muse and write, write, and write. The muse is a guest, she can move in for some time, but she will be on her way soon, so, spend time with her, give her your full attention, and capture everything in writing.
To be a good poet writer, you need to write vulnerably about your personal human experiences. Be real, every time. I cry when I write. Some of my poetry I resented, I refused to share it, but then, I got wise counsel from my church deacons and, of course, those pieces are today the ones I incorporate into my speeches, and they move people so much, I’m in awe. Here’s my tip for how to be a good poet writer: be vulnerable, be real, and never delete any poems you write. Never!
To become a professional poet, you must get paid in some ways for your poetry. You can publish books, get paid to perform your poems at events, have a podcast with your poetry and get paid to run ads on it, have a Youtube channel where you share your poetry and get ad revenue coming in. Here’s my consult on how to become a professional poet: find ways to get paid for your poetry, even donations count.
To make money with poetry, you need to be creative. Having done the work, I can assure you: selling your poetry takes a lot of work. You need to be skilled at building websites, creating products, capturing product images, writing search engine friendly product descriptions, and promoting your products. I created a guide called How To Make Money With Spoken Word Petry: 10 Ways, which you can read for free.
To sell your poetry, you can design shirts, hoodies, pillows, mugs, framed poetry, downloadable poetry products, canvas wall art, books, ebooks, subscription-based website, subscription-based YouTube channel, subscription-based podcast, speeches for which you get paid, and the list goes on. Turn your poetry into home decor products and sell them on Etsy – see example. Place your poetry on merchandise and sell it on TeeSpring – see example. Sign up for Amazon merch for free and upload your poetry designs there so that Amazon can print and sell your merch on their platform and pay you royalties – see example. Create your poetry prints, frame them, and sell on Amazon – see example. Design cards and journals with your poetry. License the rights to your poetry to product production agencies that can create hundreds of products for very specific communities you’ve never even heard of, and they will sell those, paying YOU royalties. Good luck!
Let’s summarize everything we discussed on the topics of “how to become a professional poet” and “how to make money writing poetry” – I created helpful lists for you below to easily remember what we talked about and what you need to do if you want to pursue the idea of being a professional poet who gets paid to write poetry.
How To Become a Professional Poet: 10-Step Plan
- Learn how to feel deeply
- Become familiar with your feelings
- Figure out your point of view on specific topics
- Choose the topics you’re very passionate about
- Write, write, and write poetry
- Edit your poetry for proper grammar and punctuation
- File your poetry properly with accurate dates and categories
- Keep track of your edited poetry organized in one inventory
- Create poetry products: books, shirts, hoodies, mugs, home decor, framed wall art, digital downloadable prints, and package your poetry also into speaking performances to sell by the topic
- Sell your poetry on Amazon, Etsy, TeeSpring, Amazon Merch, art galleries, Amazon Books, and on your own website
How To Make Money Writing Poetry: 10 Ways
- Have your poetry collection featured on your website – see example
- Create your poetry prints, frame them, and sell on Amazon – see example
- Turn your poetry into home decor products and sell them on Etsy – see example
- Place your poetry on merchandise, such as shirts, hoodies, pillows, mugs, and sell them off of TeeSpring – see example
- Sign up for Amazon merch for free and upload your poetry designs there so that Amazon can print and sell your merch on their platform and pay you royalties – see example
- Setup a DONATE button on your poetry website so that your readers can donate using PayPal – see example
- Curate your poetry into an ebook and use it as a freebie to grow your email list, then sell to your email subscribers the products you created on Amazon, Etsy, and TeeSpring – see example
- Drive traffic to your poetry page and sell ads on your website. I don’t do it but soon I will soon, on this page where my poetry is published: Poems from God – 100 Spiritual Poems by Anna Szabo
- Start a public speaking career and include your poetry in your speeches – see example
- Share your poetry on YouTube and make revenue on ads
I hope that my advice on how to make money writing poetry and how to become a professional poet really helped you. I hope you feel encouraged and empowered seeing how many different ways there are for you to get paid for your poetry art.
This ministry is something I do because of my passion, and the donations of readers like you help support my content. If you found this article of value, please donate now to support this blog.
Summary
Today, we discussed how to become a poet and how to sell your poetry. We talked about the difference between becoming and being a poet. We explored the value of muse for anyone who wants to learn how to become a professional poet. Writing consistently with passion and genuine emotion requires muse.
You’ve learned how to become a professional poet, how to make money with poetry, and how to be a good poet writer, which requires you to write about the topics that matter and resonate with other humans.
I curated 52 of my favorite short poems of mine into a free ebook that I think can really encourage you. All 52 poems there talk about what God says about you. If you want to download it now, it’s free. Get it below.
Thanks for reading! Ask me anything in the comments below.
Anna Szabo is the founder of Online Discipleship For Women, a Christian ministry committed to helping alleviate suicide among women globally by sharing hope in Christ. Anna teaches how to create a joyful life by embracing God’s word based on her six pillars of joyful living: faith, food, fitness, finances, felicity, and fortitude. She is a Christian speaker, YouTuber, artist, poet, and blogger who created 2,000,000 words of Gospel-focused content to encourage and empower you. Donate to show your support.
