The rising popularity of poetry on social media is driving a resurgence in poetry book sales in the United States. In fact according to global information company The NPD Group, twelve of the top 20 bestselling poetry authors in 2017 were “Instapoets,” who combine their original poetry with images, creating highly shareable posts on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and other social media platforms. In fact, almost half (47 percent) of poetry books sold in the U.S. last year were written by Instapoets. Alongside the rise in Instapoets, the poetry book category in the United States has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 21 percent since 2015, making it one of the fastest growing categories in publishing.”
According to the information from NPD Bookscan, the following table lists the top 20 poets, based on unit sales in the U.S., and identifies the poets who are also Instapoets: Top 20 Bestselling Poets in 2017 Source: NPD Bookscan,
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
