Chris’s Pretty-much-adopted Smart-ass Submission Policies for Pudding House Chapbooks GENERAL SUBMISSIONS ONLY See "Chapbook Competition" for those guidelines Use email only. If you don't have email you might consider how serious you are about writing beyond a decade ago. We sort by email address, so warn us if your name isn't evident. Be clear that you're submitting a general manuscript and not a competition entry. The reading fee is $15 for either. Chapbooks are the only manuscripts we charge to read because we do give it serious time. General submissions go to Chris; Competitions go to Jennifer. No certified, registered, or any mail that requires a signature. We can't go to the post office to pick up special mail. Besides, we don't take U.S. Mail for chapbooks anymore. Don't use your fame to grant yourself permission to ignore policies. Big names don't turn our heads. We've turned away poems from far bigger names than those we've accepted. Don't use your fame to send us your weaker poems. Give us your pitch, a publications plan and expect good things to happen if you're going to be published by Pudding House. How do you intend to promote/sell your chapbook? What are you willing to do for it? Why would people be interested in it? What are its strong points? This is what the big boys request nowadays. This is your "pitch" and the pitch has been a necessity element from real authors to real publishers for a long time. Prove you know our press. Why do you belong here? Have you read any of our books or chapbooks? We're not a shot in the dark. Learn what we mean about "applied poetry." You can't pay us to publish you. In other words, we're not vanity, subsidy, co-publishing, or on-demand. No small print in the contract. Exhibit that your work has grown beyond writing about parents, roses, or the way the moonlight comes through your bedroom window (or take up my dare to write any of that in a way we've never read before). You might not be successful submitting work to Pudding House if: Your poem starts out with snow on the daffodils, Your hand upon your girlfriend's breast, The way the wheat dances across Kansas fields. Have you read any of that before? Sure you have if you kept reading beyond 4th grade. Read Spreading the Word: Editors on Poetry. Revised and Expanded Edition by Stephen Corey and Warren Slesinger (The Bench Press) and apply nearly every contributor's essay to Pudding House. Even where we act differently, the book will serve you in your efforts here. Provide full name and address block, phone number, and email address on cover page. Poems submitted for specific anthologies should go directly to the editors of those projects only. We do not forward poems to other editors and projects. Send 10 - 32 pages of poems. Include brief author statement or bio, acknowledgments showing original publisher then poem title in quotes, $15 reading fee payable to Chris Groce or Pudding House by check, cash, VISA/Master Card w/exp date. We get back to you promptly. Poems must be 11pt Times New Roman, lines no wider than 60 characters. We do not appreciate slender little lines for no reason at all that take up too many lines down. If a poem runs up to 4 lines over the page, we reserve the right to combine up to six lines in order to fit the poem on a page - it looks better. Cover: is at the publisher's discretion and is nearly always provided by the publisher. Black and white line-drawing only. You've been signed by a professional press; you don't necessarily get your way. This is not self-publishing or vanity publishing. We probably won't use a picture your sister painted or a photograph of you sitting on Santa's lap. Cover art will be selected by Pudding House. Email attachment is the necessary transport. Best to use .doc. Put in subject line: c-last name, first name, title. Put this in subject line as well. Everything in one document. Read us. We can continue to exist only if you order a few copies now and then. If your work is accepted, you are going to hope someone will buy your collection and read it. We ask for nor receive any grants. This is a sole proprietorship and have been in existence over 32 years. To continue, we need the support of readers who still like to hold the book in their hands. Getting to Know You Package: $45 payable to Chris Groce or Pudding House Consists of 4 chapbooks of our choice and one anthology. Value about $58. Brief history: Hardesty Drive, S., Columbus Ohio Jen's name was Groce, then Welch, 60 North Main St., Johnstown Ohio, Jen's name was Bosveld 81 Shadymere Ln., Columbus Ohio, Jen's name still Bosveld Jen: sole proprietor all things Pudding House until September 2010 Pudding House Chapbooks & Music, Chris Groce, President/editor Pudding House Books & Broadsides, Salons, Jennifer Bosveld, President/editor Pudding Magazine: The Journal of Applied Poetry, Connie Everett, Owner/editor POETS GREATEST HITS, Kattywompus Press, Sammy Greenspan, Owner/editor Never believe that because others rejected your work we will too. We love discovering new talent and especially love finding value in what other editors over-looked. Pudding House Chapbooks & Music Chris Groce, President/editor 3252 Parklane Ave. Columbus Ohio 43231 614-638-1379 Jennifer Bosveld, founder 614-986-1881 jen@puddinghouse.com