Launching The Hustle.

After one has establish oneself, one is known to the masses as the messenger of the word and if you speak their language by now they like you. You get called to poetry readings, sessions and shows by fellow poets. You have now establish a network for yourself and gained appreciation from the masses. You need to maintain this by writing more fresh poetry.            

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Bookings

Yes we do poetry for the love and to enlighten souls, but a man has got to eat at the end of the day. When your poetry is tried and tested and you have established a fan base, it easy for you to get bookings for people know and love your poetry to actually pay to see and hear you perform. There are companies that manage poets, they get bookings for you. You submit your poems and details to them and they add you to their database, these people market you and put your profile on their website for people to book you. If you are independent like myself you can have your own blog or website where people can get you for bookings.
                                                             

Competitions

Another way of making money is entering competitions. This is where you get to see whether you got it or not but obviously we cannot all win, so this is also a place to grow. You  get to learn new ways and what are current trends, competitions are very interesting and nerve wrecking ask any poet, but it is all for building oneself and the money obviously. As a poet you need to be a recognized brand , so you need all the exposure to achieve that as I have mentioned in my first post. The attached video is Dejavu Tefari performing for a crowd during a competition in Cape town: Taken from YouTube.      

Shout and be heard.

Poetry is one of the oldest forms of self-expression. The natives that practice the craft are deemed to be conscious, conserved and enlightened. It is food for the soul, a very strong tool one can use to create awareness. Poetry is the love of literature, something our children no longer embrace. So it definitely has something to teach. Most of the poets think being known is not important but actually, one recites to be heard. Why write if your views are not going to be heard? People listen to who they know.

You need to establish yourself as a poet.

First get recognition, well after you have written a good few and this is how;

1. Join poetry communities or societies you will meet up with other poets and possibly work with them; this is good for growth.
2. Take advantage of the media platforms;

• Create a Facebook page or a blog, where you post and share your poetry.
• Create an account on Soundcloud, where you upload and share your poems.
• You also can submit your poems on BadilishaPoetry Radio an online poetry exchange podcast. badilishapoetry.com
• Sign up on youtube, and create a poetry channel where you can upload videos of yourself.

 3.  Be part of poetry sessions and enter competitions, this builds your reputation.

The above mentioned will only be effective if one has good poetry on paper and a good delivery to go with it. To write good poetry one needs to write, write, write and write.

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