Poets could sharpen up their act, perform in more audience-friendly locations, rather than the upstairs rooms of pubs, and even make sure they iron their trousers if they want to earn more respect – and, indeed, cash. Those were a few of the suggestions that came out of a discussion, Making a Living as a Poet, that was held earlier this week

A poetry and spoken word group has been formed at the Society of Authors, the trade union for writers. At its inaugural meeting, the chair of the group and the discussion panel, Tamar Yoseloff, explained how a network that first sprang up on social media last year was now meeting at the elegant surroundings of the Society of Authors headquarters in a residential street in Chelsea.

Performance poet Kate Fox, pictured above, had kicked things off by getting involved in a controversy about public poetry in Bradford  - a row that was reported in full at the time by Write Out Loud. She started a “fair pay for poets” campaign that led to an alliance with Tamar Yoseloff, and the launching of a survey to find out how other poets valued their own work. The survey received over 250 responses. One said: “Poetry is a job, like any other job … we don’t live on fresh air, the words don’t write themselves.”

Yoseloff, pictured left, a poet and London-based freelance tutor in creative writing, said: “At this point the Society of Authors approached us, saying how can we help you change attitudes, and to gain poets more respect?” On the panel with her were Tom Chivers, poet, publisher of independent press Penned in the Margins and an arts producer, and Julia Bird, poet, creative director at the Poetry School and an independent literature producer and promoter.

Bird, whose company Jaybird Live Literature presents productions such as Clare Pollard’s Ovid’s Heroines around the country (next stop Nottingham), has strong views on how poets can broaden their audiences. She said: “I take poetry into theatres, there are comfortable seats, a set, a lighting desk.” Her aim was to avoid pub venues, “uncomfortable seats, rubbish sound” and the kind of poets who say “I know I’m over time, but can I just read a couple more?”   

Some poets who harbour a strange affection for the upstairs rooms of pubs – not least because of easy access to decent beer – might bridle at this. But it’s worth remembering that the hugely successful Bang Said The Gun spoken word night forsook the upstairs room of the Roebuck pub in south London earlier this year, for the plusher surroundings of the Bloomsbury theatre. However, Julia was not finished there. As part of her campaign to encourage poets to take more trouble, she added that she wants them to “iron their trousers … we can do better than we’re doing.”  

On poetry publishers, Tamar Yoseloff asked her co-panellists what advice they would give about some publishers “who bully their authors, who don’t pay royalties, who behave in all sorts of unacceptable ways .. and yet somehow, because this is poetry, we put up with it?”

Julia Bird, pictured right, responded by saying that there had been “a massive explosion in DIY publishing …   I think it’s very exciting to see the big six ‘gatekeeper publishers’ trembling in their boots”. But Tom Chivers warned that “some publishers just don’t edit”, and all panellists agreed that some poets just sought publication for “validation”, and didn’t care too much how many people bought their books.

All three panellists also still bear the scars of having been published by Salt, which abruptly ceased publishing single collections of poetry in 2013. Julia Bird complained that one poet with a big publisher was receiving only 60p per book sold, after also getting a small advance. But publisher Chivers replied that he didn’t think that was an unfair royalty: “Distributors, sales agent, shops all have to take a cut.” He also scorned the idea of sending poems to magazines “that no one reads … the readership of some magazines is so low that I wonder, what’s the point? Nowadays we can use different media that are more successful in reaching an audience.”  

An audience member asked the panel: “Can you make money as a poet to a serious degree?” Julia Bird, pictured right, replied: “I make 4% of my money as a poet. Yes, have a day job, squeeze it into four days, and be exceedingly disciplined about what you write on a Friday.” Tamar Yoseloff said she made her living from teaching creative writing: “I make hardly anything at all from my writing.” But Tom Chivers was more upbeat, saying he felt poets could make more of opportunities for commissions, in the way that artists did.

The Society of Authors poetry and spoken word group is planning to hold more such events, and in other locations, such as at the Stanza festival in St Andrews early next year. Its committee members are Tamar Yoseloff, Leo Aylen, Charles Christian, Helen Shay, Sarah Hesketh, John Rice, Atar Hadari, and Penelope Shuttle.

The Society of Authors says that a year’s subscription costs “less than 15 minutes of a solicitor’s time”, and all members receive unlimited advice as well as access to a wide range of events and offers, including discounted books and specialist insurance. “We’re here to answer your silliest questions,” said chief executive Nicola Solomon on Wednesday night.