SUBMISSIONS

IF YOU HAVE NOT YET PUBLISHED POEMS EITHER IN REPUTABLE LITERARY MAGAZINES OR IN A PAMPHLET FROM A REPUTABLE SMALL PRESS, DO NOT SEND US YOUR WORK.

Bloodaxe is one of Britain's leading poetry publishers with an internationally renowned list of writers. We do not publish anyone who has only recently started writing. Every poet we take on already has a track record of magazine or small press publication.(These opening comments are set in bold type because 90% of the people who read this page to check our submissions procedure ignore the advice given below.)

Bloodaxe now publishes over 300 poets, and we need to keep up with their collective output. This won't be possible if we take on too many new authors, so we are only able to pursue publication in very few cases.

North American poets: Bloodaxe is maintaining its programme of publishing books by leading poets from the US and Canada. However, our programming does not permit us to publish more than four North American poets in any year (which is four more than most UK publishers!), and our commitments in that area now cover the next few years. We now receive hundreds of unsolicited submissions from American poets because we are one of the few British publishers with an American poetry list. Regrettably, we can no longer consider unsolicited submissions from American poets. We are continuing to develop our American list, but our future publication of American poets will be by invitation or recommendation only. So sorry you guys: you've flooded us with your stuff and we just can't handle this volume of work we are never going to be in a position to publish, excellent though the work may be.

Coming back to Britain and Ireland, please note: If we aren't able to publish your poetry this may have nothing to do with the quality of your work; it's more to do with the restrictions of poetry publishing. However, Bloodaxe is continuing to introduce new poets, and we're still bringing out first collections every year as well as editions introducing major poets from overseas and anthologies aimed at broadening the readership of contemporary poetry. We have been publish around 30-35 new books of poetry a year, and it has not possible for us to do more than that. We will not usually be in a position to publish more than one or two first collections per year. And now that Arts Council England has cut our annual funding by 15%, we will not be able to publish as many new titles. This means it will be even more difficult for new authors to have their books taken on.

Although we have a policy of publishing new authors, these are invariably poets whose work has appeared in magazines or pamphlets and who have built up a publishable book-length collection over a period of time. If you have not yet published poems in reputable literary magazines or in a pamphlet from a reputable small press, please do not send your manuscript. We receive up to 100 manuscripts or offers of publication each week, and most authors submitting to us will have a track record of previous publication in magazines or pamphlets. If you do not have a track record of previous publication of this kind, do not send us your work.

There are certain firms which charge writers to publish their work or which require the writers to pay for copies of anthologies in which their work appears as a condition of publication: please note that this type of publication does not count as a "track record of previous publication". Listing such publishers and anthologies when submitting work to reputable publishers will be counterproductive: it gives the editor an immediate indication that this writer's work has been published not because of literary merit but because the writer has paid to have it printed. For more information about so-called "vanity publishing", see the advice offered by the Society of Authors.

If you wish to submit your work, please send a sample of up to a dozen poems from a book-length collection with return postage. But there's no point in sending a handful of poems if that's all you have.

You must enclose return postage, a stamped addressed envelope or International Reply Coupons if you want a response. Because of the volume of enquiries we receive, we cannot accept submissions by e-mail (or on disks) and we cannot respond to posted submissions by e-mail. Manuscripts sent without return postage go into the recycling bin. We are aware that IRCs are not available in some countries, but regret we are unable to do anything about this.

For hints on how to get published and how to submit work, please read this page.

Submissions should be sent with a stamped addressed envelope (the right size!) to: Submissions, Bloodaxe Books, Highgreen, Tarset, Northumberland NE48 1RP, UK.

N.B. No emails accepted! No correspondence by email!

You must enclose return postage or International Reply Coupons if you want your manuscript returned.

For hints on how to get published and how to submit work, please read this page.

POETRY PUBLICATION:
SOME POINTERS

CRITICAL RESPONSE:
We regret that we aren't able to offer detailed criticism of poetry submitted for publication. That's not the publisher's "job". But there are specialist organisations offering critical services (e.g. the Poetry Society) and others which organise writers' courses and workshops (e.g. the Arvon Foundation and the Poetry School). The links page of the Bloodaxe website lists many more poetry organisations offering a variety of services.

READING:
If you do not read much contemporary poetry, or if you write poetry 'as a hobby', we're unlikely to be interested in your work. You may disagree, but we believe that no one can write poetry of quality unless they read other poets and are in touch with the literary culture.

MAGAZINES:
It is usually advisable to submit poems to magazines before thinking about putting a book together. Such a "track record" is not used by publishers as a guarantee of quality, but as an indication that the writer has spent time building up a publishable collection. Poets under 30 can apply for a Gregory Award from the Society of Authors. This can be a good stepping-stone to publication. For a comprehensive listing of poetry magazines, see these two websites:
Poetry Library (UK)
http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/
Poetry Magazines
http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/

MARKET:
Don't submit to publishers unless you've read their books, or to magazines unless you're familiar with the kind of work they publish. Every imprint is different, and you will not be able to publish much unless you research the field and send to the publishers or magazines whose output you like and respect. You can read back issues of many of the leading British poetry magazines on the Poetry Library's poetry magazines site (see above).

OVERSEAS AUTHORS:
Unless your work has already been published in book form in your own country or the country where you have lived for some years, there is no point in seeking book publication elsewhere.
All the poets we publish from North America, Europe and elsewhere have already published books and established a critical reputation as well as a readership in their own countries. If you've only been published in American magazines or chapbooks, it would be premature to seek book publication in Britain.

If you'd like to gain a greater understanding of the editorial process, we recommend this article by Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley offering advice to new authors in a Guardian poetry guide, available online here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/21/publishing.poetry.neilastley