According to recent Statistics Canada data, 41% of Canadians reported increased use of social media and messaging services since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also know, thanks to research conducted by BookNet, that 58% of readers reported that they were reading more than they were before the pandemic. With all this extra time spent scrolling our social media feeds and reading books, it seemed like high time to check in on a category where social media followings seem to really move the needle — poetry! With over 52 million posts on Instagram, you’ve likely crossed paths with at least one Instapoet in your explore tab.
As in our previous exploration of poets on Instagram, we aggregated sales for all poetry books by authors who rose to prominence on Instagram and whose follower count on the platform was 50k or higher as of December 2020. We then tracked their sales in comparison to the sales of all poetry books from stores across the country.
While Instapoets' domination of the genre peaked in 2017, with their books making up 80% of all poetry books sold in Canada that year, their presence in the genre remains strong. In 2019, 52% of all poetry books sold in Canada were penned by poets with large followings on Instagram, and in 2020 Instapoets held on to a respectable 49% of all poetry sales across the country.
Share of sales for all poets compared with sales of Instagram poets, 2016 to 2020
If we zoom in on 2020, Instagram-famous poets have remained a significant piece of the poetry landscape, making up on average 42% of all poetry sales throughout the year, while their share increases to 54% in November and 64% in December.
While it’s clear that cultivating an audience online is a winning strategy for modern poets, another group of poets is getting in on the action. Celebrity poets — poets whose main rise to prominence came from other areas of the entertainment industry, like music, film or TV — have become a bigger slice of the category, making up under 1% at the start of the year, but making significant gains, up to 16% in October.
Share of sales for all poets compared with sales of Instagram poets and celebrity poets, 2020
Top 10 Poetry titles of 2020
Home Body by rupi kaur 🍁 (9781501175305) 📷
Milk and Honey by rupi kaur 🍁 (9781449474256) 📷
The Sun and Her Flowers by rupi kaur 🍁 (9781501175268) 📷
Dearly by Margaret Atwood 🍁 (9780771000775)
Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell (9781449489755) 📷
Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass by Lana Del Rey (9781982167288) 🎵
I Would Leave Me If I Could. by Halsey (9781982135607) 🎵
We Hope This Reaches You in Time by Samantha King Holmes and r.h. Sin (9781524855765) 📷
Swimming Lessons by Lili Reinhart (9781250261755) 🎥
The Lost Spells by Robert MacFarlane with illustrations by Jackie Morris (9781487007799)
🎥 Actor | 📷 Instagram Poet | 🎵 Musician | 🍁 Canadian
Will more of our favourite stars of song and screen publish poetry in the coming year? Is the next breakout poetry star among the #poetry posters on Instagram? Only time will tell.
Sales and library circulation data of Cooking titles during the first quarter of 2024.