FAQ

CONTACT US

 Submission guidelines for collections and pamphlets (see also FAQ's here)

SUBMISSION WINDOWS​

We are not reading submissions at the moment, because in 2023 we are cutting back the number of books we publish, in order to keep up the high standards we set ourselves. 
Our annual competition opens in December 2022 and we shall be offering an increased number of free publishing contracts to the winners of that competition.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————--
We'll read new submissions of full collections and longer pamphlets, outside the Competition, from January 2023. If we accept a book outside the Competition, the following terms apply:

We have an Author/Publisher agreement which we and the Author sign when we accept a manuscript for publication.  This contract will be updated in January 2023.

There are initial costs to the author associated with our publishing their books. Poetry books are normally most effectively sold by the poets themselves and we ask authors to take at least 100 of the copies we print perfect-bound, at 50% of RRP, for their own distribution at readings and through their own contacts. (There is a discount if the author takes 150 books from the first run.) The lowest RRP for perfect-bound books is £8.50. Reprints can be ordered in batches of 50 copies.

​Please note that we cannot sell books outside the UK, and international sales are the responsibility of each author.

What we do...

We reformat files to our A5 format and digitally set out the author's manuscript, design a cover, provide and register an ISBN and send 6 copies of the book to the National Libraries. We keep the book or pamphlet in print for at least 3 years.

We set up and maintain a page for each author's books (those published by us). Sales from our web-pages through Paypal earn 10% of RRP and sales through our AmazonUK inventory earn 5% (paid to the author in April.)

As publishers, we offer as much support for poets as we can: we advertise their books in our weekly newsletters and on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, retweet and share their posts, and in 'normal' times, hold events at the Poetry Café, London, to showcase them, where the authors can sell their own copies at no commission, and we attend Poetry Book Fairs. Since the beginning of the pandemic, which we regard as still ongoing, we can no longer hold 'live' events, but we are offering a Zoom online launch to every author who wants one for their new publication. With the author's permission we video the launch, edit it if necessary and publish it on YouTube for their promotional use.

PRIZES:
​We submit books to the Poetry Book Society's lists for possible selection as Book of the Month (full collections have to be submitted 4–5 months before publication and pamphlets two months in advance.) We submit books to other competitions at our own discretion. We will help authors who want to us to submit their books to the Forward Prizes, the Ted Hughes prize, the Simon Armitage Laurel Prize and others, and will send copies for adjudication if we feel there is some chance of success.

Submitting a manuscript: what you should do: 

PLEASE SUBMIT ONLY FINISHED MANUSCRIPTS. We do not offer to assist you in editing the content of your collection.

Before sending us a collection or pamphlet, please check whether we are considering new manuscripts, by reading our notices on this website.
All submissions should be sent as email attachments in an editable Word-compatible file with a covering letter giving your full contact details, and a short literary CV, including details of any previous collections or pamphlets that you have had published previously. We are inviting collections that have not been published before, though the individual poems may have been published elsewhere (see [3] below)
How to submit your poems to us:
Make a continuous Word file of your poems, in the order that you want them to appear, with a title page and a list of them at the beginning. (There's no need to number the pages or make a Contents page or add a cover image in the Word file — all images must be sent to us as jpeg or png files. The font should be 11 point Times New Roman. Divide the poems, preferably with page breaks (but not from the 'section break' menu on Word, please.)
​We recommend making a conscious decision about using uppercase letters at the beginning of lines, and overriding Word's default setting unless you definitely want a capital letter at the beginning of each line. (In free verse, this is generally inappropriate, in our opinion.)
​​We publish most of our individual collections in A5 format, some in custom formats or Royal. We will adjust fonts, margins, page numbers and page breaks as necessary, when we lay out the book. You will receive drafts as we go along, so that you can approve any changes to the layout that occur as a result of our work on the book.
Please note:

1. The poems should be finished. We do not expect any adjustments to the content of the poems to be requested or made after you have sent us the manuscript, other than punctuation where necessary. (We will consult with you if necessary about adjusting the order of the poems, to ensure a reader-friendly flow by putting longer poems on double facing pages.) We expect to print a book within about three months of the agreement's being signed, and your manuscript should be carefully proof-read for typos and punctuation before you send it to us. We will, of course, alert you and discuss anything in the text that does seem to need adjustment. 
   ​
2. When we have sent you a satisfactory final draft you will be welcome to send the pdf of your book to poet friends and contacts who might write a short encomium for the back cover (about 70 words is an average length, optionally more if only one comment is to be included, less if you have paragraphs from 3 or 4 endorsers.)
   
   
3. In a separate file, please send us: acknowledgements of books or magazines where your poems have previously appeared (titles of journals and dates); a foreword, introduction or epigraph if you want one; a dedication if you want one.  (If you haven't decided about these things, they can be added later if you want them.)
   
   
4. If we publish your book, we will also need a photograph of you for the back cover, if you would like one included, and a short literary biography (about 200 words) suitable to be edited for the back cover, a profile page online and an optional page about you inside the book..
   
   
5. We will make the final decision on the cover design, in consultation with you.  We will try, but can't promise, to reproduce exactly any original painting or photo that you ask us to use on the cover.
   
   
6. We may delay publishing your book after printing it, if you and we agree that a later publication date will be best for promotional reasons.​

Send your files to us at dempseyandwindle@gmail.com, as word (.doc or .docx) attachments in an email headed with your name and SUBMISSION. (Please don't send a pdf.)
In the body of the email, please give your name, address and phone number, your social media details and your website if you have one.
If we are reading manuscripts, you will hear from us within a fortnight, whether or not we can publish your book.