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Submissions

Full-Length Manuscript Submissions

Please note: Sixteen Rivers Press is a nonprofit, shared-work poetry collective. We are a regional press, and publish only Greater Bay Area authors.

REQUIREMENTS OF AUTHORS:

  • Authors must become members of the collective and make a three-year commitment to it.
  • Authors must live within the Bay Area and be able to attend one and often two monthly meetings.
  • Authors will devote a minimum of ten hours per month to the collective in support of our publication schedule, and considerably more time when their own books are in production.
  • Authors will agree to follow our consensus-based model of decision-making.
  • Authors are responsible for doing the work of a publishing collective, including book design, production and publicity. Collective members are available to help teach these skills.
  • Authors have the final decision on the look and contents of their own book.
  • Authors receive no money from the sales of their books. Profits from sales go toward the publication of the next two authors selected by the press.
  • Authors’ books will be published during the second year of their commitment. The third year is devoted to promoting their books and helping publish the next two authors selected by the press.
  • Submission period is from November 1, 2011 to February 1, 2012.
  • Manuscripts received outside that time interval will not be read.

FULL-LENGTH MANUSCRIPT GUIDELINES:

Manuscripts that do not adhere to the following guidelines will not be considered.

  • Send TWO copies of your manuscript.
  • Manuscript must be postmarked no later than February 1, 2012.
  • Manuscript must be between 65 and 80 pages in length, 1 1/2 spaced lines (NO single spaced poems).
  • Manuscripts must be paginated (pages numbered in order).
  • Manuscript must include a title page without your name and address.
  • Manuscript must include an acknowledgments page listing previous publications of the poems.
  • Manuscript must include a table of contents page.
  • Please do not include your name anywhere in your manuscript, as it is important to us that these be blind submissions.
  • Please clip your manuscripts using a butterfly clip. Do not use folders or any type of binding.
  • Include a one-page personal statement about why you want to work in a collective, including special experience or skills you might contribute.
  • A title page with your name and address, phone number, and e-mail address should be clipped to the personal statement.
  • Manuscripts cannot be returned. If you would like verification of receipt, please clip a stamped, self-addressed postcard to the statement as well.

One to two manuscripts will be chosen by the members of the press through consensus by July 1, 2012. Prospective new member-authors will be notified as soon as possible after that date. We reserve the right to publish no manuscript in any given year. Manuscripts selected will be scheduled for publication in Spring 2014. We appreciate your interest and wish you all the best in your work.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Sixteen Rivers Press
P.O. Box 640663
San Francisco, CA 94164-0663

Tel: 415.273.1303 / Fax: 415.221.5116

Email: info@sixteenrivers.org

2012 SIXTEEN RIVERS PRESS CHAPBOOK CONTEST FOR POETS UNDER FORTY

Sixteen Rivers Press is seeking submissions for a chapbook by a poet under forty years of age, to be published in Spring 2013. All styles and forms are welcome. The winner will receive $500 and 25 free copies of the chapbook. The winner will not be required to become a member of the collective, though he or she must commit to giving three or four readings in the Greater Bay Area to support the chapbook. The final judge for the manuscripts will be Camille Dungy.

GUIDELINES:

  • Send TWO copies of your manuscript.
  • The manuscript must be postmarked no later than May 1, 2012. Authors must be under the age of forty on that date.
  • Former and current students, as well as close personal or professional friends of the judge, are ineligible.
  • The manuscript must be between 26 to 30 pages in length, 1 1/2-spaced lines.
  • Manuscripts must be paginated (pages numbered in order).
  • Include two title pages, one with full contact information, and one with the title only.
  • Do not include your name anywhere in the manuscript, as it is important to us that these be blind submissions.
  • Include an acknowledgments page listing previous publications of the poems.
  • Include a table of contents page.
  • Clip your manuscript using a butterfly clip. Do not use folders or any type of binding.
  • Include a $15 reading fee, payable to Sixteen Rivers Press.
  • Include an SASE for contest results.
  • Send your manuscript to Sixteen Rivers Press, P.O. Box 640663, San Francisco, CA 94164-0663.
  • Manuscripts cannot be returned. If you would like verification of receipt, please clip a stamped, self-addressed postcard to one copy of the manuscript.