There’s more than one way to put a chapbook into the world, and none of them is the wrong one. You can win a contest and have a press publish you. You can send your manuscript to a small publisher and hope they say yes. Or you can publish it yourself and keep every copy and every decision. I’ve done all three. Here’s what each path asks of you and what you get back, so you can pick the one that matches what you actually want.
First, get the manuscript ready
Whichever route you take, editors and readers want the same thing: a tight collection that hangs together. Pull together 16 to 24 of your strongest poems that share a thread. Order them with care, because the sequence is doing quiet work on the reader. Give it a title that means something. Then set it aside for a week and read it cold before you send it anywhere. If you want help with the arrangement, I wrote a separate guide on ordering the poems in a chapbook manuscript.
Path one: chapbook contests
Many small presses run yearly chapbook contests. You pay an entry fee, usually somewhere between ten and twenty-five dollars, and the winner gets their chapbook published, a handful of author copies, and often a modest cash prize. The fees fund the prize and the printing, so read the terms before you enter.
Contests are competitive, and a single win carries real weight because a judge chose your manuscript out of a stack. If you go this way, enter a few that suit your work rather than pinning everything on one, and keep writing while you wait. Results can take months.
Path two: submit to a chapbook publisher
Plenty of presses take chapbook submissions outside of a contest, sometimes during open reading periods, sometimes year-round. You send your manuscript, they read it, and if it fits their list they offer to publish it. There’s usually no prize money, but often no entry fee either, and you get a publisher’s name and distribution behind your booklet.
Read each press before you submit. Buy or borrow a chapbook or two they’ve published and see whether your work would sit comfortably beside them. A press that loves formal verse won’t be the right home for loose experimental work, and vice versa. I keep a list of chapbook publishers that accept submissions to get you started, and Prolific Press reads work through its submissions page.
Path three: publish it yourself
Self-publishing a chapbook is honorable and old. Poets have printed their own booklets for centuries, and the chapbook is arguably the form most suited to doing it yourself. You keep full control of the design, the print run, and the copies, and you don’t wait on anyone’s yes.
You can make the booklets by hand or have them printed. For a polished result without a press’s imprint, Prolific Press will print your chapbook at about five dollars a copy, and you sell or give away every one. If you’d rather craft them yourself, the guide to making a chapbook covers layout, printing, and binding start to finish.
Which path is right for you?
Ask yourself what you’re after. If you want the credential and the validation of being chosen, enter contests and submit to presses, and be patient. If you want the booklet in your hands this month, on your own terms, publish it yourself. Many poets do both over time, self-publishing a first booklet to share at readings, then submitting the next one to presses once they’ve found their footing. There’s no ladder you’re required to climb. Pick the path that gets your poems to readers.