blueprints

246 | toolkit: sandpaper, wallpaper, and paint
commanded in the thousands for a reading. Some students from a local
community college phoned Katharine and asked if there were any chance
Mr. Strand would visit their campus. At that point, the going UAC rate for
an in-town reading by a local poet was one hundred dollars, the same for
everyone, and others at the UAC thought the call wasn’t worth making. But
Katharine phoned him and laid her cards on the table: a relatively underserved
local community, a request from community college students, a one
hundred dollar fee (plus, of course, dinner). He immediately agreed and
gave a warm, generous reading, including Q&A.
However, you shouldn’t take such agreement for granted, ever. Simply
give the poet the information and let him or her weigh the different costs
and benefits. If the decision comes down on your side, be an excellent and
grateful host, and don’t forget about dinner. If not, be courteous and understanding.
After all, things might be different next time.
Set Honoraria
Different organizations handle honoraria in different ways. The Utah
Arts Council simply offered set fees when Katharine Coles worked there:
one for Utah poets reading in their own towns, one for Utah poets traveling
within Utah to give readings, and one for poets coming from outside
the state to read. Such a structure simplifies many things, including negotiations.
If you can, say you pay a standard rate. Even if you have tiers for different
kinds of work or, say, numbers of books, the poet can simply do a
cost-benefit analysis and decide whether to participate. Some poets are
grateful when they don’t have to figure out what a reasonable fee is. The
downside is that there will inevitably be poets who routinely receive much
higher fees that the one you offer and who will be priced out of your structure.
One solution for this is partnerships—you might be able to get one or
more other organizations to chip in to increase the honorarium amount for
a single, jointly sponsored reading. For example, your college’s Middle Eastern
studies unit might have funds to chip in for an Arab American poet. You
might be able to add events and sweeten the pot that way (a high school
might have a little money for a classroom visit or an assembly reading, or
your local humanities council might send the poet to a senior center). If
you pile up events, the poet will have to work a little harder, but you might
be able to make a trip look worthwhile.
If you don’t pay a set rate, you will need to work with the poet to come