blueprints

Finishing Tools for the Event Itself | 247
to an agreement. It helps if you know whether a poet has a standard fee and
what it is. This is usually negotiable (you should ask before beginning to
barter), but at least it gives you a target. If the amount you can offer is much
lower than this, partnership is still a good option.
Even if you can’t come close to the regular fee, it still doesn’t hurt to try
(remember Mark Strand). Acknowledge that the fee is low, apologize for it,
and be gracious if the poet turns you down.
Work With Agents
Many well-known poets now have booking agents. You might try to
bypass an agent if you or someone in your organization knows the poet
and/or the poet has expressed interest in coming, but do this with care and
sensitivity. Poets with agents may be under contract and legally obligated
not to bypass their agencies. Beyond that, they generally have agents precisely
because they are not comfortable negotiating directly and want to
have someone else do it for them. Poets will not thank you for making
them feel like money meanies when they are paying others to fill that role,
or for getting them to agree to something they really don’t want to do
because they are too nice to say no. If you do approach a poet directly, be
prepared to be referred to an agent. If you are, don’t argue.
If a poet has an agent, there generally is a set fee, and it will be high, but
this too may be negotiable. If it’s out of reach for you or represents a disproportionate
percentage of your budget, don’t be afraid to ask the agent if the
poet might consider either an offer that meets or nearly meets the fee but
bundles several appearances or an offer that is lower but not ridiculously so.
This will give the agent a chance to indicate how much wiggle room there
might be. For this conversation, you should be prepared to float various scenarios.
Remember, it’s the agent’s job both to get the poet work and also to
get as much money for as little work, and as little time on the ground, as
possible, so don’t worry about discouraging noises as long as the agent
doesn’t say flat out that the offer is too low to bother the poet with. If you
find out during initial queries that you aren’t in or even near an acceptable
range, believe it and move on. If the agent gives you a little room and this
event matters to you, go ahead and try—but work hard to put together
your best possible package. If you work as hard as you honorably can to
come up with something good, the worst that can happen is that the agent
shows the offer to the poet and the poet says no. This is disappointing but