Open in May, June, and July to all poets writing in English. In 2024 we have extended the deadline to August 15.

Use our general Guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact editor@wordworksbooks.org. 

Since 2014, the editors had accepted manuscripts from our community of writers, and in 2020 for the first time we opened this submission period to all poets. We select up to five manuscripts for publication over the next two years.

In addition, we use this reading period to review submissions from our own authors, and aim to publish two books per year from that group.

There is a reading fee of $20, or you may purchase a book and forward the receipt to editor@wordworksbooks.org, and your submission will be parked as Paid. (Just ignore the PayPal prompt completely when uploading your submission online. We’ll toggle your entry to Paid once we receive a note from you with the receipt.)

Selection Process

Nancy White reads every manuscript submitted and discusses with a small team of readers which varies from year to year. Submissions by our past authors are reviewed by the editorial board. new