Come join the Riot!
Here’s how.
Gap Riot is currently closed for submissions as we publish our tenth season. We will reopen again in the, like, fall-ish? Early winter-ish? Stay tuned!
We aim to publish two seasons of chapbooks per year; seasons range from four to seven chapbooks depending on number of submissions, availability of funds and time, and planetary alignment. All submissions must be submitted electronically in pdf format to gapriotpress@gmail.com.
We do not charge a reading/submission fee so please be kind and rewind yr attitude tape cause girl, we’ll get to it, we promise! We are busy ladies with lots to read and do, so please be gentle and patient with us as we read through submissions. We request that authors not send emails checking in on the status of their submission. We are a small operation and only read for publication once or twice a year.
We also ask kindly that you only submit one work per reading period.
Formatting your manuscript:
Please name your pdf file with your last name and the first few words of your chapbook’s title.
Please submit all poems in one document. Chapbooks should be between 15 and 20 pages (not including title page, acknowledgements, etc), give or take but we’ve been known to play with some smaller and larger specimens.
Include a title page with the title of the chapbook, your name, your mailing address, your phone number, your email address, and a short biographical statement.
Individual poems within the manuscript may be previously published but the manuscript as a whole cannot have been already published.
Collaborative works are welcome.
Unless your poetry is visual in nature, please do not include images with or within your manuscript.
If your work is visual, makes use of unique lineation/typography, or has lines that span the whole page, please consider the document size you are working in. Remember that the chapbook you publish will be smaller than that 8.5 x 11 document size, so that spacing/formatting will change on typesetting!
Our mission is to engage a wider literary community through the publication of formally innovative poetic works. We welcome both new and established writers, but since we are committed to inclusion and equity in publishing practices, we highly encourage submissions from underrepresented voices.
We live for anarchy and disruption in our form and content. So, if you have a raging case of the lyric I or a hankering for tightly wound sestinas, unless you are committed to breaking that shit and setting it on fire, this might not be the press for you. Before submitting your work, we highly recommend that you take a stroll through our archive to see what really gets us fired up.
Initial print runs are 50 unless otherwise negotiated. The chapbooks may be kept in print if there is demand, and at the discretion of the Press, but our well-documented preference is for limited runs.
Authors whose chapbooks are chosen for publication receive ten complimentary copies unless otherwise negotiated. We also pay authors 10% royalties on the retail price after the first 20 copies sold.
Please note that regretfully, we are not able to offer feedback or advice on poetic works.
Thank you for your interest in Gap Riot Press.