Poetry is one of the more emotionally resonant categories in a bookstore--and it can also be one of the hardest to merchandise with confidence. Too often, poetry shelves are treated as static or purely alphabetical, when in reality poetry readers are as varied as fiction readers, with distinct buying patterns.
The Poetry Shelf is my monthly, publisher-agnostic curation, researched and designed to help independent bookstores rethink how poetry is presented, discovered, and sold. It came about after last year's Winter Institute when so many booksellers told me they didn't know what to do with their poetry sections. (To be clear: there were lots that did!) It's data-informed, but practical--created with the realities of indie retail in mind. In many stores, there is already a local poetry expert, and those shops may not need this resource. But for stores that don't have that depth of specialization, my goal is not to dictate what they should carry, but to offer a flexible starting framework that can be adapted to suit local communities, budgets, and tastes. The project is updated monthly and shared via a free e-mail subscription, an Edelweiss catalog, and on the Central Avenue Publishing website.
Before publishing, I spent years working in market research, advising consumer packaged goods retailers on category optimization--how customers shop, and how assortment and adjacency drive sales. Now, as Publisher at Central Avenue Publishing, I've applied that experience to poetry--our specialty--particularly within the accessible and social-media-driven segments of the market. These are readers who tend to buy multiple poetry books per year and who tell me they still strongly prefer in-store browsing.
One of the core ideas behind The Poetry Shelf is segmentation. Poetry is traditionally shelved alphabetically by author, but that assumes a uniform reader. In reality, the poetry category contains multiple reader types--each with different motivations, comfort levels, and expectations. Grouping poetry by segment, and arranging those segments intentionally, can encourage browsing across comfort zones and increase multi-unit sales.
 |
|
| Michelle Halket | |
Drawing on merchandising strategies used by larger book retailers and other retail sectors, I developed a simple shelf schematic: a sample 36-inch poetry shelf divided into seven segments and arranged left to right to guide reader discovery. The flow introduces customers to what's new and popular, then gradually invites them into deeper, more foundational work--before ending with featured and themed selections.
The segments include New Bestsellers (titles appearing on Circana lists or trending across retailers), Viral (poets with strong online momentum), Accessible (proven, high-volume sellers with lasting appeal), Experienced Readers (award-winning and academically rooted poets), Classics (foundational voices), Local (regional and small-press standouts), and a rotating Themed Section.
Each segment balances new releases, steady performers, and essential backlist titles. The shelf schematic shows approximate space allocation--not as a rule, but as a visual guide to proportion and flow.
The Themed Section is especially important. While you can add in some new titles, I encourage booksellers to re-merchandise from existing stock--refreshing the shelf visually while tying poetry into cultural moments, heritage months, or in-store tables elsewhere in the shop.
At its heart, The Poetry Shelf is about confidence and discovery. Poetry sells when it's easy to browse and easy to fall into. If this framework helps even a few bookstores rethink their poetry shelves--and sell a few more collections along the way--then it's doing what I hoped it would. I'm often asked why one publisher would put this much work into supporting books that aren't even their own. For me, the answer is simple: this is about lifting up the entire category and giving readers what they're looking for, without forcing them to an online retailer. It's about recognizing that poetry buyers are different and, even for small stores, helping them offer a meaningful selection of what's out there--still curated by the bookseller.
For the February edition, I've focused on the lead-up to Valentine's Day and Galentine's Day. The featured suggestions include both recent and classic titles that explore love in many forms: romantic, self, familial, cultural, and friendship-based. I recommend starting with classics like Shakespeare's Sonnets, Neruda's Love Poems, and Rumi's Love Poems; adding in older titles such as June Jordan's Haruko/Love Poems and Nikki Giovanni's Love Poems; and rounding out the section with newer work by contemporary poets including Keetje Kuipers (Lonely Women Make Good Lovers), George Abraham and Noor Hindi (Heaven Looks Like Us), and Iain Thomas (I Wrote This for You).
You can find out more about this project at our website. And if you're interested in talking directly with me, I'll be at Winter Institute again this year at Publishers by Appointment and Meet the Presses. And if not, feel free to e-mail here. --Michelle Halket