How to publish your poetry collection
What I've learned from writing two chapbooks
You’re reading Soft Hobbies, a weekly newsletter for imperfect artists with perfectionist tendencies. I’m Auzin, a Seattle-based writer in the fiction, poetry, and tech writing spheres. To see more of my work, go here. And if you hit the heart button on this post, it will help others discover my writing and also make me super happy <3
Hi softies,
When I first started submitting my writing for publication in 2019, everything I submitted was poetry. Since then, the majority of my publications are poetry, I got my writing residency from poetry samples in 2023, and whenever I’ve done a live reading, I’ve read poetry. I was a poetry editor at Hecate Magazine for a year and Longleaf Review for a year after that (RIP to both!). I have two poetry chapbooks with Bottlecap Press, one published in 2022 and one published in 2024. I believe in poetry, its relevance and beauty and sheer power as an artform, and I always will.
Clearly, poetry has been a huge part of my journey as a writer, but I’ve begun a slow pivot towards fiction in the past year. That’s not to say I’ll never write poetry again — I definitely will! But I’ve been hiding behind the short form to avoid writing the long form, which has always been my big dream. So these days, I scribble and scrabble at prose more often.
Are you a poet too? Do you want to publish a poetry collection? Let’s talk about it.
First off, some terminology. I refer to my poetry collections as “chapbooks” or “chaps,” because that’s the common modern parlance for small, independently published collections of poetry in the USA. Here’s more info about the origin of this term. They don’t have ISBNs or glued spines or glossy covers, and they’re not typically stocked in bookstores or libraries. I’ve also heard “zine” and “booklet” used for this kind of thing, although that has a more scrappy, DIY connotation. In Europe, they’re sometimes called “pamphlets.”
Technically, my chaps aren’t “poetry books,” because poetry books are a minimum of 35 pages (usually more). Personally, I’m fine with any term. I’ll know what you mean :)
A step-by-step guide for publishing your chapbook:
Pull it all together. Collect the poems you’re most proud of, whether they’re published or not.1 Most independent publishers want a chapbook to be 15-25 pages, so aim for that range. It’s okay if some poems are super short; mine are often a single page or less. Both my chaps are under 25 pages.
Look at each piece with a critical (and loving) eye. Are they all as strong as they can be? If not, you have some revising to do.
Check for throughlines, whether thematically or in terms of language. What connects all these poems together? Which ones seem to be speaking to each other?
Put your poems in order, based on your work in the previous section. The best way to go about this is to print them all out, lay them out on the floor in front of you, and start moving them around. This is super fun, so don’t be afraid to experiment! What order feels right to you? What order feels surprising, or scary, or jarring? Once you’ve landed on the best order, make sure your digital file looks the same as the physical arrangement.
Get feedback. Nobody is infallible, including publishers, and you’d be surprised at how many typos I see in published works. But this step isn’t just for an editorial review — you want to make sure your poems work well together, that each of them is saying what it needs to say in the best way possible, and that your work is resonating in the way you want it to. Try to get edits from somebody who reads and writes poetry. Stay open to working more on your collection.
Tack on the bells and whistles. Once you’re happy with the contents of your chapbook, it’s time to give that beautiful thing a title! Then, write a 3-5 sentence summary to hook the publisher (and eventually, the readers). Make sure your author bio and photo are up-to-date and an accurate representation of you as a writer. If you’re fancy, get some blurbs and think of some book/author comps.2
Search for places to submit your collection. The best places to search are Chill Subs, Submittable, Emily Stoddard’s resources, and Poets & Writers. Don’t just submit anywhere, because you’ve worked hard on this collection and it deserves to be treated well!
Think about what’s important to you in this process. Do you want to get paid for publication? Keep in mind, it won’t be much. Do you want the maximum number of eyeballs on your work? Submit to bigger, more competitive magazines and journals.
Here was my criteria for chapbook publishers: I wanted a press that focused on emerging writers, charged minimal submission fees, did some social media promotion for me, allowed simultaneous submissions,3 and had a reasonable response time (less than six months). Your criteria may be different, and that’s great!
Submit your work and track your submissions. Once again, I recommend Chill Subs for this, or a spreadsheet. The important things to track are: when you submitted, where you submitted, how much it cost, and the average response time (which should be written on their website). Tracking submissions is super important for future reference, so make sure to stay on it.
Communicate clearly and quickly. You don’t need to respond to rejections. But on that happy day when you get an acceptance, don’t forget to respond to the email before you start celebrating. You will have to read and sign a contract, as well as any other materials the publisher has for you. Don’t make them wait, even though they made you suffer in anticipation for months. Publishing is a loooong process. Do your part to make it faster!
Keep hope alive, and keep working on other projects. Like I said, publishing a collection is a lengthy process. While you wait for your poems to find a home, don’t stop writing. Find a new project to get excited about, and rejections will hurt less. Your hard work won’t be in vain, I promise.
I hope this helps! If you’ve ever published a poetry collection, how was the process for you? Leave a comment and let me know :)
I’m always happy to answer questions about getting work published, which is needlessly opaque and surprisingly unique for each person. If you want one-on-one help from me with your poetry manuscript, or with finding places to submit to, respond to this post or send me a DM.
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If you want to put a previously published poem in your chapbook, make sure to check with your previous publisher. Every literary magazine handles this a different way, so check the contract they sent you or the rules on their website. If you can’t find the info, email them and ask.
I know this step seems like a lot of jargon and possibly too much work, but I promise that taking your writing seriously is worthwhile. I can discuss any of these topics in more depth if there is interest.
Simultaneous submissions are when you submit one piece or collection to multiple markets. Some markets are okay with it, some markets are not. I prefer the former.