After selling the flower shop he owned for 18 years, the champion of the 1998 Poetry Olympics worked as a poet-in-residence at a hotel (leaving 45,000 copies of his poems on guests pillows!), secured sponsorship to take 100 poets on an 8,000-mile tour of America and even got Pontiac to hire him to promote a new car. From the story of his own project using poetry to help Alzheimer’s patients to an interview on the nuts and bolts economics behind the world’s only "Poetry Diner," Glazner details how creativity off the page can spark even new approaches to writing itself. From marketing ideas for how to break out of the "poetry ghetto" to the how’s and why’s of analyzing the economic impact of slam festivals, Glazner shows exactly how its possible to not just survive but thrive off one’s art.

Glazner is also the editor of Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry. He is curator of the Word Art series at the Governor’s Museum in Santa Fe and the director of Alzheimer’s Poetry Project, which reads poems to the patients that they learned as children. Glazner organized SlamAmerica, a poetry bus ride, which featured 37 readings over 30 day period in 36 cities and directed a documentary film on the tour, Busload of Poets. Glazner has given lectures and performances at About Cafe Bangkok, City Lights Bookstore, Chicago Theater, Tucson Poetry Festival and with the Royal Nepali Poets in Kathmandu. Glazner is a graduate of Sonoma State University’s Expressive Arts program with an emphasis in poetry. He and his wife live outside of Santa Fe.

25 city tour! See events page for details!

From the Introduction

So you want to be immortal? Only through great writing can you hope to join the cannon, have your words live on, and be added to the long history of poetry. The goal of this book is to help give you more time to work on your art and to integrate poetry more fully into your life.
It is a step-by-step break down of various strategies using the skills learned as a poet to make your living as a poet and a series of life lessons from working poets on how to integrate the world of commerce with the art form of poetry. Besides the traditional paths of teaching and working with publishers, this book will expose more innovative guerrilla techniques like business sponsorships, unusual poet-in-residencies, and using new media to build the poetry audience.
After studying poetry in college I worked for 18 years as a florist. I also worked on my poetry, giving readings and producing several reading series. I was busy and productive but my goal was to be a full-time poet. In 1998, I sold my retail flower shop and traveled to 18 countries in Asia and Europe meeting poets, working on translations, and writing poetry. This was my first step in becoming a full time poet.
By selling my business I gave myself a grant to travel the world and study poetry. I invested in my career as a poet. Since returning to the United States, I have worked as a poet-in-residence at a hotel distributing over 40,000 poems. I have secured a sponsorship to take 100 poets on an 8,000-mile tour of America and made a documentary film about the project, Busload of Poets. I edited an anthology documenting the first ten years of the Poetry Slam movement. I have read at festivals around the country including the Seattle and Tucson Poetry Festivals and the Texas Book Festival. Pontiac hired me to tour with the jazz trio, "Vibes," to promote a new car.
It is not an easy task to become a working poet or full time poet. In most cases when people ask what I do and I answer, "I am a poet," their immediate response is, "Yes, but what do you really do?" Once I explain the projects I have accomplished they are less skeptic but it still seems like magic to make a living as a poet. I hope with this book to take another small step in changing that attitude and perception and to encourage poets like you to take the leap to full-time poetry.
The first change must come from within— you must believe you can make it as a poet. If you say you are a freelance writer or a marketing consultant no one blinks an eye. The skills learned and used in those professions are also in the poet’s arsenal. The way these other professionals manage their careers are transferable to the career of the poet. Many of the skills and techniques we will discuss in this book come under the heading of "managing your own career."
This book will look at poets who make their living from their art. We will use them as resources and as inspiration. We will break down the steps they have taken to reach their achievements. We will look at how different types of poetry lead you to different paths.
This book speaks to poet's roles in enriching and bettering their lives, managing their careers and bringing their poems to market. This book will give you many techniques and methods to xplore and try out while showing you what has worked for a wide range of poets. We will build on the creativity you have developed as a poet and extend that creativity to help bring your poetry to life. Only you can dedicate your life to poetry and if the muse is willing, you and your poetry may just be immortal, but that is doubtful so why not work hard and enjoy yourself?