Video Game Poetry

[MegaSonic]

I have a bunch of video game inspired poems that I'm considering publishing. Is this something that would be of interest to anyone? If it was good, would you consider buying something like that? If so, how much would it influence you which games inspired the poems? How many poems would you have to read first before deciding it was worth buying? 

I'm a very longtime lurker here and thought this would be a good place to gauge level of interest. Any input is appreciated. Or if there is anything else you'd like to know, please ask.

[Meteo Xavier]

Ehh... trying to not come up with a negative answer here but I may not be able to get around it.

I have 80% of a decade in experience with the indie book publishing world and with that, I would highly doubt a venture like that would be worth your time to do. The fact of the matter is that books are poetry are very likely the hardest to sell and find interest for and (I don't mean this to sound sardonic or cutting, but I also don't any better way to phrase it) there is not a hungry audience out there right now going, "Man, I'd really like to pay money to read some poetry about videogames." It's true that video games have been hot on the publishing trail in the last little while, but they've mostly banked on celebrating and archiving nostalgia (to the point of getting cease and desist orders).

However, I can present an idea that may get around it. If you were to venture towards a publishing project that was much more serious and of interest to the hardcore gaming group - like if you were able to compile together indepth interviews with developers on the series they worked on or something, you could have your poems preface the sections as sort of a fun little "garnish" to them. That way the poetry doesn't go to waste and you have something people may have more paying interest for.

[Peíorele]

19 minutes ago, Meteo Xavier said:

compile together indepth interviews with developers on the series they worked on or something, you could have your poems preface the sections as sort of a fun little "garnish" to them

This is a fun idea! I would buy something like this.

Additionally: you could consider doing a series of videos in which you (or someone with a nice speaking voice) reads your poetry aloud. You could have an artist draw up a nice background related to the video game your poem is inspired by, and maybe an OCR track played softly in the background (with the ReMixer's permission, of course). This would serve as a great promotional tool for your published work. I'm not sure of the niche overlap between video game fans, literature lovers, and spoken word pieces, but you never know!

[JohnStacy]

You could also do music yourself, or work with a musician, to turn your poetry into songs.  You could use the poems as lyrics, and edit them to make them fit to a melody of an existing game tune, or you could write original music with the poems as lyrics.
As somebody who has tried his whole life to write good poetry/lyrics, and failed miserably, I would jump at the opportunity to turn somebody's poetry into a song.

[MegaSonic]

48 minutes ago, Meteo Xavier said:

Ehh... trying to not come up with a negative answer here but I may not be able to get around it.

I have 80% of a decade in experience with the indie book publishing world and with that, I would highly doubt a venture like that would be worth your time to do. The fact of the matter is that books are poetry are very likely the hardest to sell and find interest for and (I don't mean this to sound sardonic or cutting, but I also don't any better way to phrase it) there is not a hungry audience out there right now going, "Man, I'd really like to pay money to read some poetry about videogames." It's true that video games have been hot on the publishing trail in the last little while, but they've mostly banked on celebrating and archiving nostalgia (to the point of getting cease and desist orders).

However, I can present an idea that may get around it. If you were to venture towards a publishing project that was much more serious and of interest to the hardcore gaming group - like if you were able to compile together indepth interviews with developers on the series they worked on or something, you could have your poems preface the sections as sort of a fun little "garnish" to them. That way the poetry doesn't go to waste and you have something people may have more paying interest for.

Thanks for the input. I'm not really trying to make money off this, just mostly trying to lose a lot. I write poetry as a hobby and whether I publish or not, I'll still write them. I appreciate your suggestion too, but unfortunately, I don't really have the time for other large endeavors. Since you have some experience in indie book publishing, with my concern being to not lose money, perhaps I could just do an ebook/kindle?

[Garpocalypse]

You could do something along these lines and put your poetry to music ala Lost Odyssey's short stories.

 

You could also get this guy to score the videos for you if you decide to go this route.  http://ocremix.org/community/profile/22026-garpocalypse/

[MegaSonic]

11 minutes ago, JohnStacy said:

You could also do music yourself, or work with a musician, to turn your poetry into songs.  You could use the poems as lyrics, and edit them to make them fit to a melody of an existing game tune, or you could write original music with the poems as lyrics.
As somebody who has tried his whole life to write good poetry/lyrics, and failed miserably, I would jump at the opportunity to turn somebody's poetry into a song.

I've thought of doing songs before, and I've tried some more lyrical poetry but I don't have a good ear for music so that's been tough. I've found that songs and poems, at least for me, take a different set of strengths.

[MegaSonic]

2 minutes ago, Garpocalypse said:

You could do something along these lines and put your poetry to music ala Lost Odyssey's short stories.

 

This reminds me of some material from an English course I took in undergrad on alternative media for literature. I really like things like this, and I would certainly enjoy doing a creative endeavor along those lines. 

[DarkeSword]

I think that instead of publishing in book form, publish on a blog, maybe one every couple of days. Start a tumblr and promote the hell out of it. Build up a following and a fanbase for this kind of thing. When you think you have a good base of readers, maybe go Kickstarter or talk to a small press publisher. The idea is good but the market's pretty niche; you ought to cultivate an audience before trying to sell anything.

Also I would recommend not posting the poems on your blog as text, but as an image with your pen name included. That way when it gets reblogged or shared the accreditation isn't lost.

[MegaSonic]

4 hours ago, DarkeSword said:

I think that instead of publishing in book form, publish on a blog, maybe one every couple of days

I actually used to post poetry on a site for sharing literary works. At one time my more popular ones were read over a few thousand times without any publicity and seemed well received, including a couple of my game inspired poems. However, it's been a few years now since I've really been active there. I probably should have stayed active because then the number of reads would be much higher by now. Apparently, a few people who got started on the site have been moderately successful in selling, but those were mostly novels. I should probably pop over there and see what their thoughts are too. 

I think there's a hug gap to cross from poetry that people enjoy reading to poetry that people are willing to buy. Even if a lot of people read it, that doesn't mean anyone would buy it.

[DarkeSword]

23 minutes ago, MegaSonic said:

I actually used to post poetry on a site for sharing literary works. At one time my more popular ones were read over a few thousand times without any publicity and seemed well received, including a couple of my game inspired poems. However, it's been a few years now since I've really been active there. I probably should have stayed active because then the number of reads would be much higher by now. Apparently, a few people who got started on the site have been moderately successful in selling, but those were mostly novels. I should probably pop over there and see what their thoughts are too. 

I think there's a hug gap to cross from poetry that people enjoy reading to poetry that people are willing to buy. Even if a lot of people read it, that doesn't mean anyone would buy it.

Sure, but what I'm saying is that if you build your identity as a "Video Game Poet" and start producing and providing that content for gamers, you'll have a brand that you'll be able to leverage. If you cultivate a following in gamer circles (as opposed to poetry circles), then you can use that to your advantage. Gamers can be very passionate and ardent supporters of this kind of thing.

Also, don't think of it as selling poetry, think of it as selling stuff for gamers. Gamers love spending money on physical goods. If you're gonna sell a book of video game poetry, it's the quality of the book that's going to really sell it.

[MegaSonic]

3 hours ago, DarkeSword said:

Sure, but what I'm saying is that if you build your identity as a "Video Game Poet" and start producing and providing that content for gamers, you'll have a brand that you'll be able to leverage. If you cultivate a following in gamer circles (as opposed to poetry circles), then you can use that to your advantage. Gamers can be very passionate and ardent supporters of this kind of thing.

Also, don't think of it as selling poetry, think of it as selling stuff for gamers. Gamers love spending money on physical goods. If you're gonna sell a book of video game poetry, it's the quality of the book that's going to really sell it.

I see. I've been thinking of an audience that likes video games and poetry, which is a particularly small group, but targeting the broader gaming audience opens up more opportunity. And running a blog for some time would both create a readership base and answer the question about the feasibility of publication. 

Now, another thing that I'm not so familiar with is the rights to using certain material such as licensed characters, console names or game titles, both from a writing standpoint and a design standpoint. Obviously, putting Mario smack on the front cover of a book wouldn't fly. But how about mentioning him directly in a poem? And that goes for blog design too. I can't just rip images and put them there, but If I make a blog, I'd say it has to have the feel of a place for gamers and not just be a bunch of words. 

Thanks for all the replies. They have all been quite helpful.