How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

I will start off by saying I am not the most popular poet on the site, I am not the most knowledgeable, I have not been on the site the longest, and I am certainly not the most talented or best poet on the site. But one thing I have learned through trial and error is how to get your poetry read. Talk is cheap so I use actions, proof as they say is in the pudding. So go to my profile and check out my poems and see the results of my reviews in numbers. At the time I am writing this my last 10 poems all have over 20 reviews, my last 7 over 30, and my last 5 over 40. So I think I have figured out a coupe of tricks that work.

Ok I will probably repeat myself with this several times but the number one way I have found to get your poetry read is very simple, read, read, read, comment, comment, comment, the rule of thumb is the more you review the more reviews will come your way, repeat this at least ten times to yourself before moving on, seriously! There are some other tricks to learn that will help but this is the number one most important rule bar none!

Number 2 best way get reviews is to send a PM to all your friends that you have posted a new poem. Now this does take time, as there is no way to send a mass PM to all your friends that you have posted something new. You have to go under each and every friend and send them a PM, you can create a general PM about your new poem and copy and paste it into each friend’s PM. But anyway you get around it, it does take time. And the more friends you have the longer it takes. Just because you post something new doesn’t mean all your friends will know. There is a activity list for all your friends and they can see when you comment on a poem or post a new one but they have to be on the same time you are posting to see it, days later, even hours later, they won’t know because the activity cycles the older stuff back. Over time you may gain a loyal fan base of people that just come to your profile and check to see if you have new poems but this is not the norm. So if you want your friends to review you poetry, ask them to come and review your new poem and you will return the favor. Now, here is a key point to this whole equation. If they come and comment, you have to return the comment. If not people will stop coming, people on the site are the same as you, they want their poetry read as well. If they take the time to review your poetry it is only common curtsey to return the favor.

Many people come to the site and they post a few of their poems or many, they gain a couple of friends and then get frustrated because they get limited results. Some stick around long enough to learn the ins and outs of the site, some get frustrated and just leave and don’t come back, and other get so frustrated they take it out on other poets with negativity. In truth is takes a certain amount of time and effort to gain visibility in the site, to gain loyal friends, to gain a fan base. Like most things in life it takes some work. There are over 40,000 members here on OP and growing every day, it is not really realistic to think you can come on the site where no one knows you and post a bunch of poems, have few friends, read no one’s poems and people just come flocking to your poetry, it just isn’t how it works on this site or in life.

Popularity, ok so I am sure some people new to this site as well as some that have been here for awhile think this site is just one big popularity contest and in some ways it is. But in truth if you want your poetry read you have to be visible. It is the same way in the real world, why would it be any different here? If someone want to sell a product it is unlikely they will sell much if they don’t advertise some. If you film and produce a new movie not many people will come to see it if there is no previews, no advertisement. If you write a new book it is unlikely you will sell many copies if you don’t advertise yourself some, a certainly level of popularity is needed in life if you want people’s interest, just fact.

Do you have to win the poetry contest to be popular and get a lot of reviews, no, no, and hell no! I just won the contest this month with “the eternal chess game” but before it won it already had 47 reviews. Also look at my other poems before I won, like I mentioned in the first paragraph proof is in the pudding. I will say this once more since there seems to be a lot of confusion with some poets on this site as well as newbie’s, you do not have to win the contest to be popular and get reviews. Actually it is almost impossible to win the contest till you have a certain level of popularity, it is the exact opposite of what many think. There will be a thread just for the poetry contest so I will not say more than this for now.

Friends- there will be a later thread for how to gain friends but you friends will be your number one source of reviews. All my other tricks that I have learned get me a few reviews, I would have to say 90% or more of my reviews come from my friends. That being said the more is not the merrier. Some people think the more friends you have the more reviews you will get, this is not true, not true, not true! I know people with 500 friends, 1000 friends, and a couple of poets with over 10,000 friends but they get few reviews, trust me when I say it is not the quantity of your friends that will get reviews it is the quality. I will cover more about friends and how to gain loyal friends, that read your poetry in a later thread.

Advertise yourself- it is good to increase your visibility by adverting yourself around the site. I will have a later thread to cover this point in greater detail but if you want people to come and read your poetry, it is good to become more visible in the community. You can participate in the chat rooms, and ask others to read your poetry and you will return the favor. When you post a new poem you can post a thread in the forums telling the community about your new poem and that you would like a review. You don’t have to give away the whole poem but good to give a tease so people want to get more.

Posting poems- it is not good to post too many poems to quickly. Now here is a problem for some poets. Some people write all the time so they are excited and want to post everything they have and that is fine, but know that if you post poems every single day it is unlikely you will get that many reviews on each poem you post. There is just not enough time for your friends to come read your newest poem after you send them a PM if there is a bunch more by the time they get there. Some poets are on everyday and very active but most have lives outside of OP and many are not on every single day, and are limited on their time. So if you really want your friends to come read your newest post then you have to give it some time in between poems. I personally like to wait about a week or two in between posts. I am not sure what the magic number is but it seems to work for me, proof again is in the pudding. I am not saying you can’t post more if you really want to, that is up to you but don’t be surprised if you don’t get as many reviews. Also, another reason I wait is that it takes time for me to return the favor to all those who commented on mine. If you just keep posting and posting and don’t return the favor your friends will eventually stop coming. Now if you are retired and can be on OP for hours and hours a day than I for one envy you, lol. and for two you could post more often. It doesn’t necessarily take along time for your friends to respond. My most recent poem had 43 reviews in just one day, now it was about 9-11 but still the proof is in the pudding.

Reviewing poetry- I will cover this topic in greater detail in a later thread but I do want to cover a few points. When you review try to be objective and have constructive critism. You are not going to like every poem you read, you will not be able to relate to every poem you read, just isn’t realist. If you read something you don’t like just comment on the structure, rhyme, meter, etc or if you can think of nothing positive to say then just move on and read something else. People do not like negativity, the old saying goes you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. There is a lot of truth in this saying. It doesn’t do the poet a lot of good if you just destroy their poem, for one they will most likely take it very personally and be offended. Try and be constructive with your comments and if you point out something negative also point out something positive. If you really think the poem needs work and you want to help them and pass on advice, send them a PM, rather than blasting them in public. Trust me they will take it a lot better this way. So, way does this all matter, on how you review? Well if you want people to want to be your friend and review your poetry it is better to be on a positive note with them, If you come in and blast their poem and tear it to little shreds, than what is the likelihood they will want to come and read yours? And if they do they will probably try to retaliate and low ball your poem regardless of how good it is, people are just this way. That is why I say if you can’t find some positive in a poem, better to just move on.

Time- does it take a large amount of time to be able to get reviews, no, no, hell no! Now the more time you put into it the more you will get out of it, like most things in life but a large amount of time is not needed. I am a good example, I work 50 hours a week and have a wife, three young kids, and two dogs. Time is almost never my friend, lol. But as they say proof is in the pudding, look at my profile and see my numbers. So how do I do it, well I follow these guidelines I have come up with through trial and error. Even in the reviews, if you don’t have hours a day to just review, review, review then when you do review make it worth while and really give them something to remember you by. Rather than just saying great poem, write a review from your heart, it goes a long way to make up for the lack of time.

I hope this starts out the threads well and helps those new to the site that want to learn the ins and the outs of our community as well as helps those who are having trouble getting their poetry read. I also hope this will help curve some of the negative BS on the site, the whining and complaining, the jealousy and create a more positive atmosphere for all of us to enjoy. So I will end this thread where I started it with this: read, read, read, comment, comment, comment, the rule of thumb is the more you review the more reviews will come your way. This is always the number one rule bar none!!! These are the tricks that have worked well for me, I am sure there are more. My team of experienced members will also be posting their ideas and thoughts and what has worked for them. This thread is open to anyone who thinks they can add to the topic in a positive way. Please any and all experienced members of the OP community, come and post your ideas, thoughts, and any tricks you have learned.

Please feel free to contact myself angel33614 at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/angel33614 or the God father of OP papapaczki at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/papapaczki or any member of the team if you have any further questions about the forum, one of the threads, general questions about OP, or any suggestions for future threads.

Here is s listing of the ins and outs of OP team members in no particular order:

Teardrops aka Marie at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Teardrops
Atie at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Artie
Ginga at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/ginga
Malificent aka Mal at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Maleficent
Knight at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/knight4696
Rygar at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Rygar
Wordslinger at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/WordSlinger
Madelynn aka Maddi at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Madelynn
Kah at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/kah
Dahlusion aka Dah at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/dahlusion
Rymer at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Rhymer
Cheronold aka Cher at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/cheronld
Gogant at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/gogant
Aria at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Aria
Chaos at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Chaos128
ApaqRasgirl aka Asha at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/ApaqRasgirl
Supence aka Spence at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/SuSpence
Charlie23 at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Charlie23
Ianscott at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/ianscott
Cousinsoren aka Cousin at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/cousinsoren
Dano at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/Dano
Sammia at http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/sammia


Purity of the soul, journey well to all!!! With grace and humility ANGEL aka The Poem Buster

Last edited by angel33614 09-21-2010 at 04:55:37 PM

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

RYGARS METHOD OF GETTING YOUR POETRY READ:

1) be proactive and link your poetry when in chat or other places (just don't link your poem on a comment on someone else's poem)

2) READ OTHER POETS!

3) Be respectful in your comments, keep it constructive and not personal.

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Rygar you suck, you took my long winded three page typed explanation of how to get your poetry read and pretty much sumed it all up in three sentences, lol. You are the man! Purity of the soul, journey well!!! with grace and humility ANGEL- POB for life!

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

All good ideas, I have been contemplating removing most of my older poems and only leaving, the top five. Thought maybe the number of poems might intimidate the readers. The older works get little attention. What do the experts think?

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

i have actually thought the same thing... i have so many that i posted way back when i was a newb and didnt have many friends... alot of them never got read at all... but i can see how going onto someones page and seeing 100+ poems might intimidate people

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Rhymer.. yes! That's one I forgot. I don't know why but it definitely seems to help to limit the number of poems. I'd say keep it under 20.

~Rygar

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

rhymer, dano, and rygar I couldn't agree more, I try myself to limit the amount of poems I have posted, I have many more on the shelves so to say and when I lose inspiration to write something new I post an old one. When I first started on this site I posted most of my poems and since I wasn't yet well known and hade no idea how this site works I got little attention and few reviews. So I deleted all my older writes that had 0-3 reviews. Here is a great example: My poem "The purple heart", I originally posted back in 09 when I first joined and I had no reviews, zero, so I deleted it along with some other ones that had no to few reviews. I recently re-posted "the purple heart" the same way, under the same name and got 38 reviews. So as I have said before, proof is in the pudding, lol. Great point, keep them coming! Purity of the soul, journey well!!! with grace and humility ANGEL -POB for life!

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

A new addition, like a poem cue, where the poet can select the poems they want most read would be ideal, an arrangment tool, again deleting poems that poets commented on is a stop sign sorta because, if you delete a poem, you have just wasted everyones time and yours, and the commenting poet.
So a new tool would be ideal..

WordSlinger- About, lol

PS I mentioned this before, A Poem Shuffle Function

Last edited by WordSlinger 09-21-2010 at 07:12:14 PM

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Excellent feed back, I think I will cut the number of poems posted. One day when I have enough, who knows I might try to publish.

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

wordslinger- you are the idea man, serious! Brillant idea, would love if there was such a function, that would sure solve the problem! I am all for it, maybe we can make up a suiggestion thread for improvements and changes, and/or a OP petition and have everyone that supports the change add thier name. Add mine for sure! Purity of the soul, journey well!! with grace and humility ANGEL -POB for life!

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

I thought of a menu for poem categories: people come to read for a specific purpose. So , if they want Dark and Depressing, open that menu and they have titles to choose from. Humor in another folder, etc. I was thinking about this for about 9 mos, and now there may be a 'baby' on the way.
I will generally read two or three poems to get one comment, sometimes, even then there is no reply. There are exceptions when I come to a page of one who is generally straightforward in their style and the piece is cryptic or ambiguous, leaving me with very little substance to reply with. (that's my problem, not theirs)
this is actually the best response on my work for about 5 months, so I have no complaints. A very BIG THANK YOU!!! to all who commented on my last two poems: very gracious, folks!!

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

My thoughts on “How to get your poems read“……When leaving
a comment on someone’s poem…..don’t plug a poem of yours.
I don’t do the chat thing. I really don’t have time. The only sure
way to get someone to read your poem is to get a million poets
on your friends list……..Then send as many “Would you please
read my latest poem” private messages to as many of your friends
as possible……and don’t forget to add, “I thank you in advance”

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Gogant you are Hilarious, lmao, you don't do that, lol
But everyone it does work, lmao
:P

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Rhymer that might help trouble is all your work is awesome . I also agree if you want someone to read your poem you need to read there poem . Marie

RE: RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Well.....I might have plugged one or two, here and there, Slinger.
Marie, you're right......you have to read other's in order to get yours
read.....and besides, you do get lots of satisfaction reading poetry by
some awesome poets here in OP Land....

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

I have something to show you all.
This young man writes his heart out.
I am like the only one who reads him.

As an example he writes, he posts,
and he posts in the read my poetry section( forum),
that alone won't do it, you have to work the website,
read and be true, read and comment: and poets will take time out for you..

TheShowMan:
http://www.originalpoetry.com/poet/TheShowMan

ShowMan like I told you, if you want to be read and commented on
you have to do the same thing..

Last edited by WordSlinger 09-21-2010 at 09:27:18 PM

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Goody advice, Sling..........now I am going over to Showman's page to see
what's new.
Here is a plug for Hannahlynn.......Please read her wonderful poem,
"May I have this Dance"

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

wordslinger- I think showman is the perrfect example of what not to do. He comes and posts poetry all the time, sometimes 4-6 per day, but I have seen his name very little when it comes to reading others, he doesn't follow the number one rule, Read, read, read, comment, comment, comment, the more you read and comment the more comments that come your way. I think almost everyone that gets alot of comments will tell you the same thing, we each have our own version to the story, but the story is pretty much the same. If all you do is post all your poems, rarely read anyone else's, than you will get limited results, just fact. In life there is a saying that you get out of it what you put into to, this site is no different. it takes a certain amount of time and effort to get reviews, just my two cents for what it is worth. I hope showman comes here and learns from our experience, that is one of the goals of this forum, to help poets such as your friend. So send him a PM to come check out our forum. The info contained in this forum is not a gaurded secret, I want everyone to know and learn the ins and outs of OP and how to get their poetry read, the more people are reading and commenting, the more reviews they will get and the more reviews we will all get, why not spread the joy? Purity of the soul, journey well!!! with grace and humility ANGEL

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Hi all - ok, I'm a little late chiming in -

First, let me say that I have learned alot reading all the other posts!

Second, I completely agree with the read, read, read philosophy - the more you get around (read other's work) the more you and your work will be visible. There is also a thread in the forums for "Read My Poetry" or something similar.

I don't PM many people to read my stuff, but my comments are much lower than others, so maybe I'll start doing that - LOL

kah

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Yes Angel reading others poems seems to be the key. pming works too as does plugging one of your own poemswhen you may read something that reminds you of one you wrote. Speaking of that, that's how Marie and I got the 2poemsforu idea. We each had a poem that had a similarity that we admired. The ironic thing is that the comments are limited on that page so far. I do plug 2poemsforu in the Forums and have it posted on ginga's page too. Maybe 2pooemsforu should go out and solicit friends to get more readers...anyhow I also thought about deleting some of my poems. DOes anyone have an idea bout the "ideal" amont to have posted to make it seem tolerable/reasonable to read, but I prefer a category column so different genres would get read. We'll be bombarding papa with all kinds of tecnical request fear...
ok that's all I can think of for now..read and comment on the 2 latest poems on 2poemsforu these ladies are great!!!
ginga

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

sometimes i do pm my friends to read my poems and when i do my ratings are higher of course... but i often just try to make myself visable on the site by being in the forums and of course reading and commenting... i think as others have aleady stating that commenting and rating others work is the most effective way of getting people to read yours... also what is important is to get yourself established within the community... make friends in the forums... with all of the veriety of styles within op there is a nitch for everyone... find people who appriciate your style of writing and whos style you can relate to and enjoy reading... but it does come down to work... you have to put forth the effort in order to reap the rewards...

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Besides making a point of going to friends' pages and checking their latest work, I also check the "Reading Room" and the "Poem" and "Poet" search options, and comment on poems and poets that don't seem to have gotten much attention. Often, the authors will (in a spirit of appreciation, I suppose) respond in kind as soon as they're aware. It strikes me as a cool way to get as many people involved in the interactive process as possible.

RE: RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaos128

Besides making a point of going to friends' pages and checking their latest work, I also check the "Reading Room" and the "Poem" and "Poet" search options, and comment on poems and poets that don't seem to have gotten much attention. Often, the authors will (in a spirit of appreciation, I suppose) respond in kind as soon as they're aware. It strikes me as a cool way to get as many people involved in the interactive process as possible.

RE: RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

RE: How To Get Your Poetry Read 101

Thought of another point to add, when someone takes the time and effort to review your poem, the reviewer always likes to get your feedback. I know when I comment on a poem i try to put a lot of time, effort, and consideration into my reviews, I wait patiently to hear back the poet's response and get very disapppointed when I go through the effort to leave a real indepth review and get no reponse in return. When i get no response at all I am less liekly to want to come running back. Just like as poets we like to get feedback I think it is also nice to get feedback as a reviewer. Just more food for thought and my two cents. Purity of the soul, journey well!!! with grace and humility ANGEL