The Poetry Payout

All poets can agree: we don't write poetry for the money. Still, it hurts to see Rachel Friedman's article "The Microeconomics of Poetry" at New York Magazine's blog cite the following facts (among others):

# of poetry MFA degrees awarded in 2011: 1400
# of jobs available to teach in MFA programs (the only things those grads are qualified to do): 750
Copies of Jane Hirshfield's Come, Thief sold: 2,250
Earnings to Jane Hirshfield from those 2,250 sales (assuming a 10% royalty): $5,625
Number of books by Tomas Transtromer sold in the 10 years before he won the Nobel: 12,300
Number of books by Tomas Transtromer scheduled for printing in 2 weeks since he won the Nobel: at least 50,000

Not bah-humbugged out yet? Read the rest of the article for more discouraging news about the market for poetry.

It's a good thing we don't write for the money or the recognition, or it might really make us sad.