In short
Podcast Notes: The Daily Motivation - Episode 828
Episode Title
Turning Community Support Into Global Poetry Success | Rupi Kaur
Hosts & Guest
- Host: Lewis Howes
- Guest: Rupi Kaur, Poet and Author
Episode Overview In this episode, Rupi Kaur shares her journey as a poet and author, emphasizing the importance of community support in her rise to literary success. She discusses her decision to self-publish her first collection, "Milk and Honey," and how her grassroots approach resonated with a global audience.
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Key Concepts
The Power of Community
- Kaur attributes her initial motivation to a supportive community on platforms like Tumblr and Instagram.
- This community consisted of young women who connected deeply with her work, particularly on taboo topics such as sexual assault and domestic violence.
Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing
- Despite advice from her professor to pursue traditional publishing methods (submitting to literary journals), Kaur chose self-publishing:
- She felt her work was not suited for anthologies that separated her poems.
- Self-publishing allowed her to maintain the integrity and continuity of her work.
Initial Success
- Kaur initially hoped to sell 100 to 200 copies of her book but ended up selling 18,000 copies within five months through grassroots efforts and her website.
- She was initially unaware of what constituted a successful book sales figure.
Viral Moment
- A pivotal moment in Kaur's career occurred in April 2015 when a photo she posted online went viral, leading to a significant increase in her readership.
- She expressed fear that the viral moment would pigeonhole her as merely a photographer but was relieved that many stayed for her poetry.
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Important Takeaways
- Courage in Vulnerability: Kaur's willingness to write about personal and societal issues at a young age showcases the value of authenticity in art.
- Community as a Catalyst: The support from Kaur's online community played a crucial role in her decision to publish and the eventual success of her work.
- Revolutionizing Publishing: Kaur's self-publishing journey illustrates the power of bypassing traditional gatekeepers and the potential for grassroots movements in literature.
- Resilience Against Criticism: Kaur faced skepticism from her academic mentors but chose to follow her own path, demonstrating the importance of trusting one's instincts.
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Conclusion Rupi Kaur's journey exemplifies how community support, vulnerability, and self-belief can lead to transformative success. Her commitment to authentic storytelling has not only changed her life but has also made a significant impact on modern poetry publishing.
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Additional Resources
- Full Episode: [Listen to the full episode here](https://greatness.lnk.to/1678)
- Greatness Newsletter: Sign up for exclusive content at [greatness.com/newsletter](https://info.lewishowes.com/newsletter?source=podcast-post-roll).
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Call to Action
- If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to The Daily Motivation on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
- For a more in-depth experience, subscribe to the Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcasts.
Thank you for tuning in, and join us tomorrow for another episode of The Daily Motivation Show!
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Hi, my name is Lewis Howes and welcome to the Daily Motivation Show.
0:12how did you even have the courage to say i want to write the most vulnerable stuff ever yeah and reveal myself at 21 i'm going to try to figure out the sub-publishing world and get this message out to people when everyone could criticize everything i put out there yeah how did you have that courage to put out that type of work i so when i started performing in 2009 a lot of the pieces I was performing about in person were about these topics that were taboo, whether it was sexual assault, domestic violence, and the people who were coming to watch me perform, it was such a supportive group. Everyone was very progressive and radical.
0:52It was a group of like young activists cheering for you cheering for me. Yeah. And so and then they were like, you know, you should share this work online. You can really connect with like the diaspora around the world because my original audience was like my community in job b6 and so because of them i started sharing my work on tumblr and tumblr was also like a very radical progressive space so everybody was like wow this is so cool and they my readers online were the ones that planted the seed of publishing really so i wasn't even thinking about it they were like they would send me messages being like, I love this poem.
1:27What book is it from? Where can I get your book? And I would laugh. There is no book. Yeah. I was like, this is ridiculous that you think there's a book. I'm, I was in university. I'm like, still haven't finished my undergrad. Like there's no book. But once they planted that seed, I was like, could there be one? Like, should there be one? And that's when I started thinking about putting one together. I approached a creative writing professor at the school I was at and I asked her I was like I have a book of poetry like by the time I decided that I was going to publish the book the book was done being written it was finished I mean I had hundreds of poems it was a matter of putting them together and deciding what was going to make it into the final manuscript and my professor looked at me and was like poetry nobody publishes that let's just be honest there's no market for it and she gave me some advice that I think like made sense from her perspective because she was right.
2:25It was and is really difficult as a young poet to get published and she was like you should submit your pieces to anthologies, journals, literary magazines, that sort of thing and I was like okay cool and she told me to order this book that you know gave you the addresses of all the places you could submit. I started submitting and And very quickly, I was like, this isn't going to work for me because I am submitting these individual pieces to these outlets that don't necessarily embody any of the topics that I'm writing about. And I felt like I was doing a disservice to my work because Milk and Honey, although it's about 200 poems, from cover to cover, it also for me feels like one continuous poem.
3:12so the this idea of taking these pieces apart and throwing them around and hoping they'll land I was like well of course it's not going to work that's not how it needs to be done this is how it needs to be done and so I asked her that same professor I was like well what do you think about self-publishing and she said absolutely not really yeah she was like nobody in the the industry will respect you because yeah you've bypassed the gatekeeper so that's not a good idea and then I remember thinking who is this industry I'm so far removed from like these gatekeepers like I grew up in Brampton um Malton cities that are majority you know people of color working class immigrants everybody I knew you know drove a trucked worked in a factory or labor job I had no even like access point to this like industry of publishing and literature.
4:18But what I had was a community on Tumblr and Instagram of young people, young women who felt so seen by these words. I felt so seen by the words and all I wanted was to like share with them. And so for me, self-publishing just made sense. And then I ended up, yeah, I ended up putting it out there in 2014. I was still in school. I thought that, you know, hopefully, I don't know, 100, 200 people would buy it. I had my LSAT prep books. I was going to go be a lawyer. And then it all just happened, I guess. How quickly did it happen for you where you were like, oh, this is more than a few hundred copies sold by like some friends and family.
5:03Yeah. This is like they keep selling every week. What was that like? Initially, I didn't have an understanding about what were good book numbers. So the self-published edition came out in November 2014. And by April 2015, I believe I hand-sold or online on my website sold about 18 ,000 copies. Wow, that's really good. Which I didn't think was good. Really? Yeah, because the only numbers I knew were like music numbers and album sales, which, you know, would be like so-and-so went platinum. And I was like, 19 ,000. Oh, my God. I should go be a lawyer because like this whole thing is not working for me.
5:46And also at that point, I wasn't thinking this is going to be my career. It was my hobby, my passion. And I was like, wow, I'm just lucky to like, you know, connect. And like I got to graduate and go do the next thing. but then in April 2015 I published a photo online of a young woman on her period it's in that book and that really also brought a lot of people into my work I was really into photography and um yeah that's the one and in a way that picture changed my life really it brought I mean it was such a viral moment that hundreds and thousands of people found my work and I was scared because I was like, oh no, do these people think that this is what I do?
6:31Like, I'm not just going to take photos of myself on my period, although I love this series, you know, but like, I write poems and luckily they stayed for the poetry. Wow.
6:49Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of The Daily Motivation, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to click the link in the description. That will take you to the full episode of our main podcast on The School of Greatness. And if you are loving The Daily Motivation, please follow us over on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts right now. And if you want more exclusive content and ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcast right now. And if you want to get even more inspiration from our world-class guests and learn how to improve your life and take it to the next level, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter.
7:39Again, have an amazing day and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show. Thank you.
From the publisher
Have you listened to the FULL EPISODE yet?
"I had no access point to this 'industry' of publishing and literature. But what I had was a community on Tumblr and Instagram of young women who felt so seen by these words." - Rupi Kaur
At just 21 years old, Rupi Kaur defied traditional publishing wisdom and followed her instinct to keep her poetry collection "Milk and Honey" intact, rather than fragment it for literary journals. Despite her professor's warnings against self-publishing, Kaur recognized that her community of young, progressive readers on Tumblr and Instagram were connecting deeply with her vulnerable explorations of taboo topics. This intuitive understanding of her audience and unwavering commitment to her artistic vision led her to self-publish, initially hoping to reach just a few hundred readers.
What began as a passion project quickly transformed into an unprecedented literary phenomenon. Without fully grasping the significance of her early success, Kaur had sold 18,000 copies through grassroots efforts and her website in just five months. Her breakthrough moment came in April 2015 when a powerful photograph she posted online went viral, drawing hundreds of thousands of new readers to her poetry. Rather than pursuing her planned legal career, Kaur's courage to share her most vulnerable work and bypass traditional gatekeepers revolutionized modern poetry publishing, proving that authentic connection with readers transcends industry conventions.
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