So. Why doesn't poetry sell?

Thought I'd have a go at a serious topic.

I don 't honestly know why poetry doesn't sell. There are a couple of conventional theories:

1) People want immediate satisfaction from things, and poetry requires an investment of time and thought before you get returns.

2) You have to be educated in reading poetry in order to know how to approach it. People are simply not taught how to read poetry anymore.

In answer to, 1) I would say that there are different kinds of poetry, and some do give immediate satisfaction. It's a shame that when a poem displays these qualities it is often looked down on as a crowd-pleaser, a dumbed down gimmick. I'm not sure about 2). It might be right. I find poetry approachable, but I know I didn't until sixth form, when we studied Bloodaxe's 'The New Poetry'. So maybe you do need to be educated well to appreciate it - at least on the page.

I have a few theories of my own.

1) It is possibly too intense and real. The books that fly off the shelves are mostly pure escapism - most people don't want the 'assault on the senses' that poetry often promises to inflict.

2) Range. Anthologies of poetry are often very successful in terms of sales, at least compared with individual's collections. Anyone involved in poetry tends to find they form strong opinions about what is great, and what is bilge, and most find that the rest of the world do not agree with them. So you can't just pick any book off the shelves and trust it to be good. Buy an anthology, however, and you'll probably be getting a good haul of the stuff you like.

3) Not enough celebrity. Billy Corgan's horrific 'Blinking With Fists' (the first poem was called 'The Poetry of my Heart') sold well. Ted Hughes is great, but is it coincidence that 'Birthday Letters', his books of poems about his relationship with Sylvia Plath, has outsold all his other collections? People like to read the dirty secrets of a person they know. The tabloids know that.

4) The way it is marketed. I honestly think this is a big factor. The critical atmosphere around poetry is intensely intellectual, and the marketing reflects that. There is almost an effort to disguise from the casual reader anything that might be interesting, and make it clear to them that they'll only enjoy the contents if they're a very sensitive and intelligent human being. Bloodaxe's Neil Astley takes the strong view (too strong in my opinion,) that treating poems as 'texts' and approaching them in an intellectual fashion is totally misguided, and has tried to find an alternative marketing route. He's now a rich man.

In reality, I think it's probably a combination of all these factors. Any other theories?