Would you pay $100 to have your poem printed in a newspaper?

Mom and Pop Poets: How to Make a Buck for Newspapers

By Roy Peter Clark

Some newspaper writers may think of themselves as frustrated poets, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to make a little dough by publishing more poetry in the Daily Rag.

Most journalists I know have traditionally held community poets in disdain, imagining dewy-eyed church ladies emoting about spring; or crusty fishermen writing doggerel about catfish.

Such snobbery is not only destructive to the aims of what’s left of the newspaper, but it may be the kind of small-mindedness that misses another yeasty opportunity to raise dough.

I don’t know anyone more against the policy of paid obituaries than I was, but I was wrong. Obits today -� many produced by amateurs �- not only get some money flowing into the paper, but also give friends and family members an opportunity to shape a statement not just about the death of a loved one, but about his or her life. Call it a Life Notice.

With obits as a precedent, here’s my plan:

Devote a small corner of the paper to something called “Poet’s Corner” -� a reference to a place in Westminster Abbey where England’s most celebrated authors are entombed. This space in the paper �- somewhere near the classified ads or nature photography or other light features -� should be able to contain 20 lines of poetry. That, or something like it, will mark the upper limit of poem’s length…. Read the full Article

Poynter Online – NewsPay.