Submissions
Submission Guidelines for Dithering Chaps Press
Dithering Chaps accepts poetry chapbook submissions all year round. Some organisations list our cut-off dates as competitions, because poets are competing for the chance to have their chapbook published.
To submit, pay the £10 reading fee, then email a ten-page sample from your collection (in either Word or PDF), a 200-word cover note, and the full contents page from your collection to ditheringchaps@gmail.com.
Which poetry publishers give feedback on submissions?
Dithering Chaps does. Every poetry chapbook submission receives 200–300 words of personalised editorial feedback. We want poets to receive something really useful from the submission process, whether or not we offer publication.
Want to know what our poets think? Read what published poets and previous submitters say about working with Dithering Chaps on our Testimonials page.
We usually publish chapbooks that are 30 to 60 pages long, but are happy to consider longer - or shorter - works.
Checklist of requirements for submissions
Here is a checklist of our submission requirements at a glance:
• send us up to ten A5 pages of poems from your collection
• formatted in Arial 11 pt (or similar)
• plus a 200‑word cover note describing the full collection
• a contents page for the full manuscript
• and pay a £10 reading fee (paid before submitting - click on button below to pay)
• attach your submission as Word or PDF
• the preferred file name format for your collection is: [Your Name] – [Title] – [Order Number]
for example, David Herring - The Sheliand - 737
• email everything to ditheringchaps@gmail.com, telling us where you heard about us, please!
Full details of our submissions process and requirements are shown below.
Submission reading periods
We run two reading periods each year:
April to the end of September
October to the end of March
You can submit all year round. All submissions received by the cut‑off dates (the end of March and the end of September) will be considered for the next available publication slot.
For example:
Submissions received between April 2026 and the end of September 2026 will be considered for May 2027 publication.
Submissions received between October 2026 and the end of March 2027 will be considered for November 2027 publication.
First Collection category
Dithering Chaps press are proud to champion new voices. If you have not had a collection published before, this applies to you!
At the end of December 2026, we will consider all the submissions we have received during this calendar year and select one for our First Collection publication slot in August 2027.
If you wish to be considered for this special opportunity, please state clearly in your submission email that you have not previously had a collection published, or mention the First Collection category, and you will automatically be considered.
Unsure if you qualify for our First Collection category? What doesn’t count as a published collection…
We have found it a little tricky to define ‘previously unpublished’ for First Collection purposes. Your work will still be eligible if it falls into any of the following categories:
self‑published collections (print or online)
pamphlets or chapbooks with fewer than 30 pages of poetry
individual poems or sequences published in magazines or anthologies, or
hybrid publications where you covered the costs yourself.
What we are looking for
We love thematically-linked sequences built around a central idea, event, conceit or narrative voice.
Cohesion matters, but rigidity doesn’t. Some of our favourite poetry shape-shifts, changes register and springs chameleonic surprises. We welcome short poems, long poems and poetic prose.
We want to be surprised (even shocked!) by how the pieces work with and against one another.
Previously published poems are welcome. Please add publication details as a footnote on the relevant page.
Please do not submit writing generated by AI. We welcome the responsible use of AI tools for auxiliary tasks like research or proofreading, but all submitted poetry must be the original creation of human authorship—no part of the final text should be AI-generated. If you are unsure whether your submission meets this requirement, please include a brief note explaining why. For more of our thinking on this, please see our August 2026 blog.
We will not publish material that promotes hatred or discrimination. Racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, religious intolerance and other forms of prejudice may be explored critically in poetry, but not endorsed or directed at others.
How to submit your work
Pay the £10 reading fee using the payment button above and make a note of your order number.
Create an email for your submission, addressed to: ditheringchaps@gmail.com
Attach your poems as a Word document or PDF, using this filename format:
[Your Name] – [Collection Title] – [Order Number]
For example:
David Herring - The Sheliand - 737
In your email, include:
your name, payment date and order number;
your 200-word cover note;
confirmation if this would be your first collection; and
where you heard about Dithering Chaps.
You may submit more than one collection, but each must be submitted and paid for separately.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please tell us promptly if your collection is accepted elsewhere. Reading fees are non-refundable.
What happens next
We will let you know the outcome within two months of receiving your submission.
At this stage, we will provide 200 to 300 words of feedback, in which we seek to give a constructive appraisal of each of the ten-pagers you send. We will also let you know if you are in the running for our longlist.
We normally announce a shortlist of around five poets, approximately two weeks after each cut-off date. Shortlisted poets will then be told what happens next.
The poet or poets we select will be offered a publishing contract. Dithering Chaps covers the costs of editing, design, printing and promotion.
Our initial print run is usually 100 copies, including author copies. Authors receive a generous percentage of sales income as royalties.
It’s important for us to stress that Dithering Chaps press will cover all the costs of editing, printing and designing your chapbook, as well as selling and promoting it via our website and social media accounts.
We promote each chapbook through its own website page, our blog and social media, review copies and suitable competitions. Where funds allow, we may also contribute towards a launch event.
Good luck, everyone!