Sourcebooks PoetrySpeaks to Sell Poems by the Work
By Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 11/3/2009 3:23:00 PM
Having carved a successful niche for her company in the poetry market with Sourcebooks’ Poetry Speaks series by combining books and CDs, Dominique Raccah believes she can help poets and poetry publishers make money over the Internet through the company’s newly launched PoetrySpeaks.com. The Web site features three different sections—PS Voices, SpokenWord and YourMic—designed to create an online community that will let poets manage their own information page and provide a channel for published and unpublished poets to download material and to sell both print and digital works. "We want to bring poetry to as broad a group of consumers as possible," said Raccah.
Raccah believes that a key to the success of the Poetry Speaks print line is that it makes poetry less intimidating to readers by adding the audio component; she hopes that by combining different elements online, people will feel a connection to the works—and will want to buy poems they like. PoetrySpeaks.com will sell individual poems for 99 cents for an audio or print download, $1.49 for a combination of text and audio and $1.99 for video. Raccah is also looking for a retail partner to sell print books, DVDs, and CDs as well as to help promote—and possibly hold—performances by poets. Raccah said Sourcebooks has identified 13 revenue streams, but is starting with ones customers are the most comfortable with, patterned after the iTunes model.
The site is offering poetry from more than just Sourcebook material. Tupleo Press, Naxos Audiobooks, and Marick Press have already signed on, and Raccah expects to reach deals with other poetry publishers—both large and small—in the near future. She estimated that currently there are more than 1,000 SKUs for sale on the site. Partners receive 40% of a sale through PoetrySpeaks. Raccah has been working on PoetrySpeaks.com for five years and acknowledged the site will evolve over time. Although the YourMic section, for example, allows unpublished authors to post material, the site is not designed to offer a self-publishing capability, but that is an option that could be added down the road.
