You have finished a draft of an exciting writing project. You revised and polished it, making necessary cuts that somehow made it say more—and more clearly than before. Now you rejoice as you feel you have found its shape. You love how it does so much in a few pages: It needs to be no shorter or longer than it is. You want to see it out in the world. It is ready, you think as you go to Submittable. It is a great little book, you think as you open the submission guidelines. It is, you realize with trepidation as you continue reading, too short to be considered a full-length manuscript? You eye the copy of War and Peace you are using as a doorstop. So robust, so multifunctional. But you are proud of your new creation just the way it is. What is a writer to do?
Welcome to the world of chapbooks. Often about twenty to twenty-five pages (and sometimes as short as ten pages in the case of micro-chapbooks, or as long as forty or more pages for prose), they may be small, but chapbooks can be mighty. They are not books that wish they could be longer but great objects of art on their own. And luckily for you and your readers, there are editors and presses out there who adore them.
“Chapbooks are a great way for a writer to work on a smaller scale. To shape and organize and create a full project in about twenty pages,” says Roberto Carlos Garcia, president of Get Fresh Books, “sometimes, that’s all you need.” Get Fresh Books accepts poetry chapbooks (along with full-length manuscripts and anthology proposals) during its open submission period, from October 15 to June 30. There is no fee to submit, but the outlet asks that you purchase one of its books or donate to the “tip jar” if you can.
Noah Stetzer and Ross White at Bull City Press like chapbooks so much, they ran a whole podcast series on them (The Chapbook, available from various podcast services including Apple and Spotify). “We can’t seem to shut up about chapbooks,” they say. “Chapbooks serve as stepping stones for emerging writers who are just figuring out how to put together a collection. But they’re also perfect for accomplished writers who want to try something new, who have a preoccupation that won’t sustain a full-length, or who delight in the subversive. They’re a space of experimentation. They’re a space for the joyful outburst. They’re a space for the ephemeral.” Bull City Press is open to chapbooks (eighteen to thirty pages) of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction from May 15 to June 15 each year. That submission period has a “pay what you want” reading fee. The press is also open to micro-chaps—collections between ten and sixteen pages in length—through its Inch series. “These collections focus on brevity and concision: poetry, flash fiction, and flash nonfiction,” according to the editors, who charge no fee for reading these shortest works.
Black Lawrence Press accepts both poetry and fiction chapbook submissions (eighteen to thirty-six pages) during its two annual open reading periods in June and November (as well as hosting a yearly chapbook competition twice a year). In lieu of a submission fee, submitters are asked to select one Black Lawrence Press publication at a discounted price to support the press and its authors.
Another press accepting poetry chapbooks is Cooper Dillon Books. “Chapbooks are vital to the poetry ecosystem,” says publisher and editor Adam Deutsch. “They’re often the raw demos of poetics, or the short films that go on to influence the box office for years to come. Chapbooks are home to innovation, and that’s magnificent.” Cooper Dillon Books accepts chapbook submissions year-round. Submitters can choose to purchase a Copper Dillon book or pay a $10 submission fee. For chapbooks, submissions of twenty-eight to thirty-five pages are preferred. Cooper Dillon chapbook authors include Mag Gabbert (current poet laureate of Dallas), who has published two chapbooks with the press.
And if you have written a chapbook that is a little longer but not quite as long as a full-length book of prose, Split/Lip Press has a prose chapbook open reading period between April 1 and June 1. “We look for chapbooks that are not ‘a taste of a longer work’ but are instead beautiful and complete projects that happen to be done within sixty to one hundred pages,” notes director and publisher Kristine Langley Mahler. The submission fee is $10, and the press offers a fee waiver for writers who need it.
So look at your manuscript again. It may not serve as a doorstop or help you elevate your computer for a Zoom call—but it might fit in a pocket, making it ideal for a shorter reading session. As Diane Goettel, executive editor at Black Lawrence Press, puts it: “As a reader I love chapbooks because I can sit down with a cup of tea and have a full experience with a book, from cover to cover.” There is a place for your chapbook in the world, and readers are ready to love it too.
Ananda Lima is the author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil (Tor Books, 2024), which was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and Mother/land (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the Hudson Prize. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, and Electric Literature; on Poets.org; and elsewhere. She is a program curator and core faculty member at StoryStudio Chicago and a contributing editor of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Author photo: Beowulf Sheehan