Book | Poetry Projects to Make and Do
Editor | Deborah Alma
Publisher and Release Date | Nine Arches Press, October 2023
Project Brief
This was the third creative writing handbook that I’d been commissioned to work on for Nine Arches Press after having successfully delivered campaigns on the evergreen titles How to Be a Poet and Why I Write Poetry. I was taken on by the publisher to ensure that the book crossed the radars of not only the specialist poetry press but also those who work in the writer development field as well as in the mainstream press.
Campaign
As the campaign evolved, it transpired that publication of Poetry Projects to Make and Do would tie-in with a pop-up Poetry Pharmacy shop, sponsored by Lush, opening in the centre of London. This meant we could piggy-back on this for coverage in both consumer and trade media, but it also meant we had limited time available. With the editor Deborah Alma having spoken before on national broadcast media in her Emergency Poet capacity, we built upon her high profile to launch the book, while making sure not to overload her inbox given she had two shops to run which were over 150 miles apart concurrent with the book’s launch.
Results
Features secured included: Deborah Alma choosing her Top 5 books for The Big Issue; a feature by Deborah in Bookbrunch; a full-page splash in Poetry News, the print magazine sent to all members of The Poetry Society; a feature in Writing in Education, sent to all members of the National Association of Writers in Education; an exclusive extract in Writing Magazine and an online article by contributor Pat Edwards for the Writers’ & Artists’ blog, as well as a booking on the Being A Writer podcast for Deborah. At the 2024 London Book Fair, the book was prominently displayed on the most visually arresting stand of LBF; it continues to sell well in the writer development field as an evergreen title for the independent press.
