I've not got the funds, right now, to be able to afford fees to publish my writing. And, even if I ever do, I doubt very much I'll be spending MY hard earned dollars in paying publishers so they can profit from MY poetry!! Thanks Emily, what an eye opening read!
Thanks so much, Emily. I belonged to a collective a few years back. The hard parts are always laying out the by-laws, selecting and motivating the membership. Here's one source of information about these organizations: https://janefriedman.com/author-collectives-coops/
There are 42 presses that don’t require upfront payment for deigning to glance over your immortal verse? That’s way more than I thought. Everywhere I look, it’s fee fee fee. Thanks for laboring over this database. I have to see what’s in it.
What a tremendous resource and discussion — thank you so much! It never occurred to me to think of asking judges to leverage their power by advocating for more accessibility (and probably putting their paychecks where their priorities are) but it's such a great point. I also loved this comment (on the linked update last year): "Compensation needs to be able to put food on the table or keep the heat on." Nothing makes me gnash my teeth more than the old saw "poetry is a gift economy." I understand the spirit of this but economic transparency reveals that phrase for what it is — an aphorism that assumes privilege so you can keep trading in these 'gifts' while others are denied them because of the reality of their lives/costs. We need more honesty about the economics of publishing — this kind of analysis is so critical.
Thanks for this, Elline -- nodding with you re: language about a gift economy, and who that empowers, who that excludes... I really appreciate how you're pointing to this as a kind of cultural value or culture question for the poetry ecosystem. My maybe-too-dreamy hope is that more presses will approach fee support not as a transactional problem, but as a space for thinking about/acting in generosity, mutual and fair exchange, etc... I wonder what that could do for the culture of poetry as a whole. (My optimism and my cynicism are frequently at odds on this though, ha!)
Hi Emily, just came across your post and am excited to read it when I have more time. I have another engagement I have to attend to but will comment more. Don't know if I would fit into any of this as I'm writing for truth about what's really going on in our world and how it affects us all. I don't know...we'll see. The reason I publish on Substack IS specifically to bypass all the gatekeepers, naysayers, suppressors of free speech, critical thinking, independent thought, etc. Will add more later. Thanks and have a nice evening.
Emily, thank you so much for this amazing resource. I'm getting ready to submit my first full-length collection, and have started my own spreadsheet, but this is so much more comprehensive.
Thank you so much for doing this work and sharing all of this! I'm definitely going to limit my submissions to presses/contests that are accessible for all (both in solidarity with other poets and because of my own financial limits).
Oh, dear, oh, dear! I believe there are way more than "42 presses that don't require fees."
Besides when the poetry traffic is headed all in one direction, towards a 42 lane bottleneck, how good do you think your chances are?
I ask because I got a poetry book accepted (in June 2022) by a press who was NOT EVEN TAKING any poetry chapbooks at the time. I convinced the publisher that it was a good idea to take a chance on my manuscript. How did it fare? This book sold 170 copies during its pre-sale, received rave reviews in Ireland, South Korea, Japan, Canada, the USA - - and was nominated for 7 awards.
If you have a very good ms and a good pitch, maybe think about not following the rules.........?
Oops, my first comment sent before I finished the thought -- trying again! Like I shared in the post, this list isn't the entire landscape of poetry book publishing. I focus on full-length poetry books, so it's likely your chapbook publisher is beyond the research I've been doing. It sounds like you found a press that was a good fit for you. I always encourage folks to honor the guidelines of a press and their stated submission windows, as a good practice.
I am finally in serious planning mode for sending out my first poetry manuscript. Your spreadsheet is a godsend, and I also deeply appreciate your attention to how small presses stack up on inclusion issues. As an older lesbian, disabled poet, I am familiar with how many of our voices have yet to find places in the "mainstream." I also want to make informed decisions about where to send my own manuscript and this spreadsheet will help me do that. Thanks so very much for your work.
Thanks so much, Jo... I'm always grateful to know when and how the spreadsheet has been helpful! Sending good thoughts your way as you find a publisher for your book.
Thanks for this question -- it reminds that I need to add an explanation about this somewhere! Some of the reading periods are highlighted in a light gray, which means there's extra info about publishing with them in the "notes" column (the last column on the sheet).
Other reading periods are highlighted in a darker gray just because they're on hiatus or details for submissions this year have yet to be announced.
I'm still figuring out the best way to do this kind of sorting/highlighting, as I'm not sure the current approach is accessible enough. I'll be refining more this year, so let me know if you have any feedback or other questions.
I've not got the funds, right now, to be able to afford fees to publish my writing. And, even if I ever do, I doubt very much I'll be spending MY hard earned dollars in paying publishers so they can profit from MY poetry!! Thanks Emily, what an eye opening read!
Wow, this is great, Emily. A truly generous offering. And lots of data to reflect on as a takeaway. Grateful for this!
Hey Emily, recently found this and found it very interesting. I'm new to Substack and one of my first newsletters considered submission costs in the UK. https://open.substack.com/pub/coaldust/p/submission-costs?r=2r7rqz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Thanks so much, Emily. I belonged to a collective a few years back. The hard parts are always laying out the by-laws, selecting and motivating the membership. Here's one source of information about these organizations: https://janefriedman.com/author-collectives-coops/
this is so helpful, thank you for sharing!
There are 42 presses that don’t require upfront payment for deigning to glance over your immortal verse? That’s way more than I thought. Everywhere I look, it’s fee fee fee. Thanks for laboring over this database. I have to see what’s in it.
What a tremendous resource and discussion — thank you so much! It never occurred to me to think of asking judges to leverage their power by advocating for more accessibility (and probably putting their paychecks where their priorities are) but it's such a great point. I also loved this comment (on the linked update last year): "Compensation needs to be able to put food on the table or keep the heat on." Nothing makes me gnash my teeth more than the old saw "poetry is a gift economy." I understand the spirit of this but economic transparency reveals that phrase for what it is — an aphorism that assumes privilege so you can keep trading in these 'gifts' while others are denied them because of the reality of their lives/costs. We need more honesty about the economics of publishing — this kind of analysis is so critical.
Thanks for this, Elline -- nodding with you re: language about a gift economy, and who that empowers, who that excludes... I really appreciate how you're pointing to this as a kind of cultural value or culture question for the poetry ecosystem. My maybe-too-dreamy hope is that more presses will approach fee support not as a transactional problem, but as a space for thinking about/acting in generosity, mutual and fair exchange, etc... I wonder what that could do for the culture of poetry as a whole. (My optimism and my cynicism are frequently at odds on this though, ha!)
Hi Emily, just came across your post and am excited to read it when I have more time. I have another engagement I have to attend to but will comment more. Don't know if I would fit into any of this as I'm writing for truth about what's really going on in our world and how it affects us all. I don't know...we'll see. The reason I publish on Substack IS specifically to bypass all the gatekeepers, naysayers, suppressors of free speech, critical thinking, independent thought, etc. Will add more later. Thanks and have a nice evening.
Emily, thank you so much for this amazing resource. I'm getting ready to submit my first full-length collection, and have started my own spreadsheet, but this is so much more comprehensive.
Thank you for putting this together--and asking the questions people need to be asking!
wow this is an unbelievable amount of work, both the deep dive and the spreadsheet! thank you so much!
Thank you so much for doing this work and sharing all of this! I'm definitely going to limit my submissions to presses/contests that are accessible for all (both in solidarity with other poets and because of my own financial limits).
Oh, dear, oh, dear! I believe there are way more than "42 presses that don't require fees."
Besides when the poetry traffic is headed all in one direction, towards a 42 lane bottleneck, how good do you think your chances are?
I ask because I got a poetry book accepted (in June 2022) by a press who was NOT EVEN TAKING any poetry chapbooks at the time. I convinced the publisher that it was a good idea to take a chance on my manuscript. How did it fare? This book sold 170 copies during its pre-sale, received rave reviews in Ireland, South Korea, Japan, Canada, the USA - - and was nominated for 7 awards.
If you have a very good ms and a good pitch, maybe think about not following the rules.........?
Oops, my first comment sent before I finished the thought -- trying again! Like I shared in the post, this list isn't the entire landscape of poetry book publishing. I focus on full-length poetry books, so it's likely your chapbook publisher is beyond the research I've been doing. It sounds like you found a press that was a good fit for you. I always encourage folks to honor the guidelines of a press and their stated submission windows, as a good practice.
I am finally in serious planning mode for sending out my first poetry manuscript. Your spreadsheet is a godsend, and I also deeply appreciate your attention to how small presses stack up on inclusion issues. As an older lesbian, disabled poet, I am familiar with how many of our voices have yet to find places in the "mainstream." I also want to make informed decisions about where to send my own manuscript and this spreadsheet will help me do that. Thanks so very much for your work.
Thanks so much, Jo... I'm always grateful to know when and how the spreadsheet has been helpful! Sending good thoughts your way as you find a publisher for your book.
Thanks so much for the very helpful spreadsheet of manuscript opportunities, Emily. Could you tell me what the yellow highlighting indicates?
Thanks for this question -- it reminds that I need to add an explanation about this somewhere! Some of the reading periods are highlighted in a light gray, which means there's extra info about publishing with them in the "notes" column (the last column on the sheet).
Other reading periods are highlighted in a darker gray just because they're on hiatus or details for submissions this year have yet to be announced.
I'm still figuring out the best way to do this kind of sorting/highlighting, as I'm not sure the current approach is accessible enough. I'll be refining more this year, so let me know if you have any feedback or other questions.
Also, New American Press has EXTENDED to February 16!