Here at The Poetry Box®, we strongly believe great literature is meant to be accessible and enjoyed by everyone. Poetry is all around us. We invite you share in the experience, to become an active witness to the beauty, the struggle, the joy, the sorrow, and the ordinary brilliance of life. Through these carefully crafted observances we call poems, we as humans are led to the well of compassion and invited to get drunk on its language.
As a boutique publishing company, The Poetry Box® enjoys providing a variety of publishing options for both established and emerging poets and writers to share their work — their words, their imagination, their artistry — with the world.
The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize - 2025
Submissions Open: Feb 1 - Mar 15, 2025
Our annual chapbook contest is open to writers residing in the United States.
Three Winners will receive publication of their chapbook with worldwide distribution and the following:
- Grand Prize Award: $500 plus 10 copies of their published chapbook
(chosen by contest judge for 2025: To Be Announced in Fall/Winter 2024) - Editor's Choice Award: $100 plus 10 copies of their published chapbook
(chosen by The Poetry Box founding editor: Shawn Aveningo Sanders) - Designer's Choice Award: $100 plus 10 copies of their published chapbook
(chosen by The Poetry Box founding designer: Robert R. Sanders)
Winner Announced: July 2025
Publication/Release Date: Winter 2025/26
For more details and past winners, visit:
https://thepoetrybox.com/the-poetry-box-chapbook-prize
Cooperative Publishing for Chapbooks, Poetry Books and Poetry Collections with Artwork
We read manuscript submissions for poetry collections year-round in our Cooperative Publishing Program. This is a fee-based publishing model, where the publisher and author share the cost and rewards. We created The Poetry Box® Cooperative Publishing Program to offer poets a professional, trustworthy, and affordable option for publishing their full-length poetry collections and chapbooks. We began offering our selective hybrid model of publishing in 2015 and have produced 130 poetry collections under this paradigm so far (as of July 2024) by writers from varied backgrounds and level of experience—both prolific and promising.
Types of Publications include:
- · Poetry Chapbooks
- · Poetry Chapbooks with interior artwork (color or b&w)
- · Full-length Poetry Collections
- · Full-length Poetry Collections with interior artwork (color or b&w)
For Complete Details, visit: https://thepoetrybox.com/cooperative-publishing
Submissions Open: Year-Round
We created The Poetry Box® Cooperative Publishing Program to offer poets a professional, trustworthy, and affordable option for publishing their full-length poetry collections and chapbooks. We began offering our hybrid model of publishing in 2014 and have produced over 130 poetry collections under this paradigm so far (as of July 2024) by writers from varied backgrounds and level of experience—both established and emerging.
(Please note: we are only accepting submissions from U.S. based authors/poets at this time)
Please read all contract details and full submissions guidelines HERE before submitting.
Submission Checklist:
1. Cover Letter containing:
- Proposed Book Title
- Legal Name of Poet
- Poet Name as it should appear on the cover
- Brief synopsis/description of the collection (approx 100-150 words)
- Contact Information including: Email Address, Mailing Address
- Phone Number
- Social Media links, if applicable (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Author Website, YouTube Channel, etc).
- Why you’re interested in having The Poetry Box publish your work.
- Whether or not this is a simultaneous submission.
2. Manuscript containing:
- Table of Contents (list of poems in order as they appear in manuscript)
- All poems in order, with each poem beginning on a new page. (Generally 20-32 pages)
- Acknowledgments for any previously published poems.
- Author Bio written in 3rd person, noting any literary awards, publications, and anything you’d like to share with the readers as it related to the topic of your book, etc.
Guidelines:
- Accepted file formats: WORD (.doc or docx) or RTF (rich text format). We will also allow a PDF (but require manuscript as Word Document or RTF upon acceptance)
- Please use a standard readable font in 12pt.
- Do NOT use ALL CAPS for poem titles.
- Start each poem at the TOP of a new page.
- Please keep in mind that our books are typically printed in 6 x 9 size, so do consider how your poems are currently formatted and adjust accordingly.
- Individual poems of the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, journals, or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished. Poems that are previously published should be included in "Acknowledgments" section.
- Simultaneous submissions are permissible; please notify us immediately if a manuscript has been accepted/committed elsewhere.
- A reading fee of $10.00 — payable through Submittable (submission manager system).
- We will acknowledge receipt of your manuscript immediately via automatic email.
- We aim to respond with a decision regarding your manuscript within 60 days
If you have any questions, you can contact the editor, Shawn Aveningo Sanders via Shawn@thePoetryBox.com.
We look forward to reading your work!
We created The Poetry Box® Cooperative Publishing Program to offer poets a professional, trustworthy, and affordable option for publishing their full-length poetry collections and chapbooks. We began offering our hybrid model of publishing in 2014 and have produced over 130 poetry collections under this paradigm so far (as of July 2024) by writers from varied backgrounds and level of experience—both established and emerging.
(Please note: we are only accepting submissions from U.S. based authors/poets at this time)
Please read all contract details and full submissions guidelines HERE before submitting.
Submission Checklist:
1. Cover Letter containing:
- Proposed Book Title
- Legal Name of Poet
- Poet Name as it should appear on the cover
- Brief synopsis/description of the collection (approx 100-150 words)
- Contact Information including: Email Address, Mailing Address
- Phone Number
- Social Media links, if applicable (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Author Website, YouTube Channel, etc).
- Why you’re interested in having The Poetry Box publish your work.
- Whether or not this is a simultaneous submission.
2. Manuscript containing:
- Table of Contents (list of poems in order as they appear in manuscript)
- All poems in order, with each poem beginning on a new page. (Generally 20-32 pages)
- In order to show illustrations, you can include the images in the manuscript document or pdf. Upon acceptance, we will provide instructions for sending high-res, print quality image files to incorporate into the layout.
- Acknowledgments for any previously published poems.
- Author Bio written in 3rd person, noting any literary awards, publications, and anything you’d like to share with the readers as it related to the topic of your book, etc.
- Artist Bio (for illustrated books or chapbooks with art, when artist is not the author)
Guidelines:
- Accepted manuscript file formats: WORD (.doc or docx), RTF (rich text format), PDF (Upon acceptance, will require text portion of manuscript as WORD Document or RTF )
- Please use a standard readable font in 12pt.
- Do NOT use ALL CAPS for poem titles.
- Start each poem at the TOP of a new page.
- Individual poems of the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, journals, or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished. Poems that are previously published should be included in "Acknowledgments" section.
- Simultaneous submissions are permissible; please notify us immediately if a manuscript has been accepted/committed elsewhere.
- A reading fee of $10.00 — payable through Submittable (submission manager system).
- We will acknowledge receipt of your manuscript immediately via automatic email.
- We aim to respond with a decision regarding your manuscript within 60 days
If you have any questions, you can contact the editor, Shawn Aveningo Sanders via Shawn@thePoetryBox.com.
We look forward to reading your work!
We created The Poetry Box® Cooperative Publishing Program to offer poets a professional, trustworthy, and affordable option for publishing their full-length poetry collections and chapbooks. We began offering our hybrid model of publishing in 2014 and have produced over 130 poetry collections under this paradigm so far (as of July 2024) by writers from varied backgrounds and level of experience—both established and emerging.
(Please note: we are only accepting submissions from U.S. based authors/poets at this time)
Please read all contract details and full submissions guidelines HERE before submitting.
Submission Checklist:
1. Cover Letter containing:
- Proposed Book Title
- Legal Name of Poet
- Poet Name as it should appear on the cover
- Brief synopsis/description of the collection (approx 100-150 words)
- Contact Information including: Email Address, Mailing Address
- Phone Number
- Social Media links, if applicable (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Author Website, YouTube Channel, etc).
- Why you’re interested in having The Poetry Box publish your work.
- Whether or not this is a simultaneous submission.
2. Manuscript containing:
- Table of Contents (list of poems in order as they appear in manuscript)
- All poems in order, with each poem beginning on a new page. (generally 50-100 pages)
- Acknowledgments for any previously published poems.
- Author Bio written in 3rd person, noting any literary awards, publications, and anything you’d like to share with the readers as it related to the topic of your book, etc.
Guidelines:
- Accepted file formats: WORD (.doc or docx) or RTF (rich text format). We will also allow a PDF (but require manuscript as Word Document or RTF upon acceptance)
- Please use a standard readable font in 12pt.
- Do NOT use ALL CAPS for poem titles.
- Start each poem at the TOP of a new page.
- Please keep in mind that our books are typically printed in 6 x 9 size, so do consider how your poems are currently formatted and adjust accordingly.
- Individual poems of the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, journals, or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished. Poems that are previously published should be included in "Acknowledgments" section.
- Simultaneous submissions are permissible; please notify us immediately if a manuscript has been accepted/committed elsewhere.
- A reading fee of $10.00 — payable through Submittable (submission manager system).
- We will acknowledge receipt of your manuscript immediately via automatic email.
- We aim to respond with a decision regarding your manuscript within 60 days
If you have any questions, you can contact the editor, Shawn Aveningo Sanders via Shawn@thePoetryBox.com.
We look forward to reading your work!
We created The Poetry Box® Cooperative Publishing Program to offer poets a professional, trustworthy, and affordable option for publishing their full-length poetry collections and chapbooks. We began offering our hybrid model of publishing in 2014 and have produced over 130 poetry collections so far (as of July 2024) by writers from varied backgrounds and level of experience—both established and emerging.
(Please note: we are only accepting submissions from U.S. based authors/poets at this time)
Please read all contract details and full submissions guidelines HERE before submitting.
Submission Checklist:
1. Cover Letter containing:
- Proposed Book Title
- Legal Name of Poet
- Poet Name as it should appear on the cover
- Brief synopsis/description of the collection (approx 100-150 words)
- Contact Information including: Email Address, Mailing Address
- Phone Number
- Social Media links, if applicable (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Author Website, YouTube Channel, etc).
- Why you’re interested in having The Poetry Box publish your work.
- Whether or not this is a simultaneous submission.
2. Manuscript containing:
- Table of Contents (list of poems in order as they appear in manuscript)
- All poems in order, with each poem beginning on a new page. (generally 50-80 pages)
- In order to show illustrations, please include the images in the manuscript document or pdf. Upon acceptance, we will provide instructions for sending high-res, print quality images to incorporate into the layout.
- Acknowledgments for any previously published poems.
- Author Bio written in 3rd person, noting any literary awards, publications, and anything you’d like to share with the readers as it related to the topic of your book, etc.
- Artist Bio (for illustrated books or chapbooks with art, when artist is not the author)
Guidelines:
- Accepted manuscript file formats: WORD (.doc or docx), RTF (rich text format), PDF (Upon acceptance, will require text portion of manuscript as WORD Document or RTF )
- Please use a standard readable font in 12pt.
- Do NOT use ALL CAPS for poem titles.
- Start each poem at the TOP of a new page.
- Individual poems of the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, journals, or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished. Poems that are previously published should be included in "Acknowledgments" section.
- Simultaneous submissions are permissible; please notify us immediately if a manuscript has been accepted/committed elsewhere.
- A reading fee of $10.00 — payable through Submittable (submission manager system).
- We will acknowledge receipt of your manuscript immediately via automatic email.
- We aim to respond with a decision regarding your manuscript within 60 days
If you have any questions, you can contact the editor, Shawn Aveningo Sanders via Shawn@thePoetryBox.com.
We look forward to reading your work!