Submitting Your Manuscript to
Broadstone Books

Broadstone Books is always looking for exciting new writers to add to our roster. We’re especially keen to read work by BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and young authors, and are very open to first book proposals and chapbook length manuscripts. We need to hear your voices!

We primarily, almost exclusively publish poetry and poetry-adjacent titles (e.g., memoir, criticism). If you are submitting work in any other genre be prepared to explain in detail on our submission form why you think your work is well-suited to our press and your marketing plans for it.

Be advised we typically do not publish children's literature, self-help, religion and spirituality, erotica, or technical/ professional subject matter.

We are a book publisher and do not accept individual poems or stories for publication.

At this time we publish books in print only, not as e-books.

Fiction: We publish relatively little fiction, and while we are open to submissions please note that as primarily a publisher of poetry, we are keenly interested in language, far more so than plot and characters. If your work is intended for the mainstream fiction market, you will be better served (and more likely to be accepted) by a publisher knowledgeable of that market (we're not). But if your fiction uses language in an original and compelling fashion, by all means let us take a look. But be prepared to explain in detail on your submission form why you feel your work is a good fit for our press.

Non-Fiction: Bear in mind that we are a literary publisher and thus not likely to be interested in books that stray too far from the world of arts and letters. However, we are open to art, memoir, biographies, critical literary essays, and social and cultural history. Hit us with a query!


We receive far more submissions than we could possibly accept (the ratio is about 10 to 1), and in the end we tend to publish the writing that we like and that we feel will have a readership we can help you reach. If we reject your work as not a good fit for our press, that doesn't mean we think your writing is bad. Most often it simply didn't appeal to us, or we didn't feel we could promote it effectively.

Poetry: The primary mission of our press is the promotion of poetry, but we have our own editorial prejudices. While we are happy to read your work regardless of style or subject, you have a better chance of being published if it appeals to us. How can you tell? Try reading some of our titles (which you really should do for any press you are considering).

We are excited by language and are drawn to original and striking imagery, and we are open to both formal and free verse. We are far more interested in how you write than what you write about. Like Emily, we want to feel the top of our head coming off when we read! We favor thematic collections over works that are simply assemblages of individual poems.

While we have no minimum or maximum page count, if your manuscript is longer than 60 pages of verse, then why do you need that many pages to say what you have to say in this collection? Are all of those poems equally good? Or equally necessary?

You probably didn’t create your manuscript on a typewriter, so why are you still formatting poems to fit on an 8.5”x11” sheet of typing paper? Our standard book page is 6” in width, and allowing for margins you have a little more than 4” of width for text. If your lines are longer than that, or spaced across a full 8.5” page, they will need to be reformatted for book publication. Save us the effort and format your work accordingly.

We are more interested in your use of language and in what you have to say than in poems that look “poetical” with eccentric spacing. Think about what purpose the appearance of your poem serves in conveying your meaning, and especially how it would read aloud.

Your manuscript should contain your name and address on the title page, and include your bio at the end along with any dedication, acknowledgments, and notes that will be part of the finished book.

Finally, carefully edit your work for spelling, grammar, and word choice before sending it to us. (Spell-checking software is no substitute for very careful proofreading!)

The basics: You will improve your chances of acceptance by reading about our editorial preferences and the process for submitting your work.

We accept submissions in English (translations and bi-lingual manuscripts are welcome), from authors living at least part of the year in North America. While we appreciate the wealth of global literature, as a small press with very limited marketing resources we do not feel that we can serve the needs of authors elsewhere in the world.

Submissions are accepted exclusively through this website beginning with completion of our submission form. Please attach your full manuscript, in doc, docx, rtf, or pdf format, in the field indicated on the submission form. (If you are unable to submit your manuscript electronically, please contact us about alternative arrangements to consider your submission.)

Please do not submit more than one manuscript at a time, or while we already have your work under consideration, unless you have queried us first and received approval to do so.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your work is under consideration elsewhere, and let us know IMMEDIATELY if it is accepted by another press. (Failure to let us know of acceptance elsewhere until after we have responded to your work may result in our refusal to read further submissions from you. This is a serious lapse of professional courtesy - which occurs far too often - and a waste of our very limited time.)

We rarely publish verse that is gratuitously sexual, self-therapeutic, or too self-consciously about poets writing poetry. Poetry about illness, aging, death, and grief can be helpful to write, but it’s hard to say anything very original about such universal subjects. Likewise nostalgic poetry about growing up in the 1950s/60s/70s - really, it’s been done, so what do you have to add?

We have a deep suspicion of the personal pronoun, and of poets who want to tell us how they feel about anything in particular - instead, poetry should make the reader feel something.

Now more than ever, we believe that writers and artists of all sorts must be engaged in the world, and certainly this moment calls for activism. We are open to, and indeed encourage work that deals with contemporary issues and social justice; however, there is a difference between poetry and polemics and we publish the former, rarely the latter. We are looking for work that responds to our time but will also stand the test of time.

Note that we do not provide editorial services beyond the final preparation of accepted manuscripts for printing. We ask that you please do not query us until you have a finished work for consideration.

We read manuscripts in the order received. We may take up to three months (or longer) to respond. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

If your manuscript is accepted, you will receive a contract from us that outlines the terms and conditions under which you work will be published, covering aspects such as rights, royalties, and responsibilities of both parties. You can review a Sample Contract here. While we are willing to consider some modification to these terms, in fairness to all of our authors we are not likely to depart from this contract in any substantive fashion. If you feel these terms are unacceptable, please spare us all the time of considering your manuscript.

If we accept your work, be aware that as a small press we do not have significant promotional resources and we will expect you to assist in the marketing of your book through readings, book fairs, social media, and other efforts to find your readership. Publishing is the easy part; selling, not so much. It is therefore helpful if you offer suggestions at the time of submission as to how you would propose to assist in the marketing of your book.