UPDATED  10/12/2024

The individual listings below are the chapbook publishers I found which do not charge submission fees, reading fees, or contest fees. Several are currently open or always open, which I’ve noted below.

Many chapbooks are published via contests and do typically require a fee from $10 – $25. Research each market thoroughly and make sure submitting is worth the fee. Many will provide prize money along with several copies of the chapbook for you to sell and otherwise promote your work.

My most recent chapbook Almost Famous was published by Yavanika Press, listed below. You can download it for free and read more about it here.

To check out my online chapbook free downloads, click here.

NO FEE Chapbook Publishers

Anvil Press

Notes: Canadian residents only, Postal submissions only

About: Anvil Press is a literary publisher interested in contemporary, progressive literature in all genres. We must stress that we are a small publisher, publishing 8 to 10 titles per year. In general, we are planning at least 12 months in advance and, at present, are only considering work by Canadian authors. We are not interested in seeing formulaic genre novels: Sci-Fi, Horror, Romance etc.

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/listing/1258

Back Room Poetry

About: “We publish poetry chapbooks, our first came out in November 2022. We are a small time, low scale publishing press. We are very much DIY. All chapbooks will be printed, folded, and stapled in the back room.”

The Braag Press

Notes: Poetry pamphlets 15 – 30 pages of poetry and micro-chapbooks of 1.5K – 2.5K words. Writers must be currently based in the UK.

Reading Periods: Submissions have CLOSED for this year, but we’ll reopen Summer 2025.

About: “We want to develop emerging artists and pay them fairly for their time, as well as working alongside more established writers. It’s important to us that emerging artists—whatever that means—don’t stay that way forever, and at a time where the gap between “emerging” and “established” is wider than ever, we support artists from underrepresented backgrounds to help them get where they want to be.”

Payment: Pamphlet authors receive 10% royalties and five copies of their book. Further books can be purchased by the author at trade discount (50%). Micro-chapbook authors receive a £15 honorarium and a copy of their micro-chapbook, alternatively they can request a further five free copies of their micro-chapbook in place of an honorarium.

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/publisher/the-braag-press-35756

Bull City Press

Notes: The reading fee for our summer reading period is “pay what you want.” You set the reading fee. This year, as we navigate the debilitating costs associated with the collapse of Small Press Distribution, we hope that those who have the means to be generous will do so.

Reading Periods: The Summer Chapbook Open Reading Period is May 15 – June 15.

About: “Bull City Press is an independent small press with fifteen years of publishing experience.  We select manuscripts through an open reading period. Manuscripts of poetry, fiction (particularly flash fiction), and creative nonfiction are welcome during this process.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/publisher/bull-city-press-10070

Bullshit Lit

Notes: 15ish-100ish pages

Reading Periods: Submissions open 2025

About: “BULLSHIT is a one-person operation! Well, one person plus all of the really cool people who submit their shit and who write books and stuff.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/publisher/bullshit-lit-press-34615

Fifth Wheel Press

Notes: “Looking for chapbooks of any kind, longer poetry collections, hybrid prose manuscripts, photography or lens-based art publications, and experimental works. Our taste veers towards the unconventional and we’re really into conceptual publications, as well as anything that bends genres. Our EIC likes writing with hypersensory imagery and a strong command of lyricism and lens-based work that explores light, body language, and/or composition. Publications (especially art pubs) that address queer experience are also a sweet spot.”

About: “Originally founded by editor-in-chief nat raum in 2019 as a photobook press for lens-based artists of marginalized genders, fifth wheel press is a space for those who are historically underrepresented in creative communities. We aim to publish dynamic art and writing by queer, trans, and gender variant creatives in the form of monographs, zines, anthologies, chapbooks, and more. We believe a truly inclusive space must be intersectional; as such, we welcome, celebrate, and prioritize submissions from those who belong to other marginalized groups in addition to the queer community, including but not limited to BIPOC, disabled, and neurodivergent artists and writers.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/publisher/fifth-wheel-press-34916

Game Over Books

Notes: No page lengths are given but it appears they do publish chapbooks as well as full length books.

About: “Founded in 2017, Game Over Books is a small Boston-based press run by nerdy artists. Our mission? Print books from diverse voices that push creative writing forward into the Next Level. From acceptance to publication, we give continual guidance to writers as they continue to gain experience points, grow their craft, and navigate the world of publishing.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/publisher/game-over-books-34353

Glass Poetry Press

Reading Periods: Open reading period is from October 1 through October 31 annually

About: “Glass Poetry Press is a micro-press in Toledo, Ohio that publishes poetry chapbooks. We also publish the online poetry journal, Glass: A Journal of Poetry. Our chapbooks are hand-bound and side stapled with full-color card stock covers. Each chapbook is assigned an ISBN. Initial print run is 100 copies and each chapbook will be kept in print as long as there is sufficient demand, to be determined by the press. In 2016, the journal published a single poem each week. Beginning in 2017, the journal will publish monthly issues of five to ten poems. Interviews and reviews are also published on a rolling schedule.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/listing/19918

Grey Book Press

Notes: “Manuscripts should have between 16 and 24 pages of poems.”

About: “Grey Book Press publishes high-quality poetry in a lovably ramshackle way. In accordance with an unpredictable schedule and a near certainty that everything is temporary.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/listing/13724/grey-book-press

Grey Borders Books

Notes: There are no length restrictions; however, we are looking for full manuscripts for trade publication as well as smaller works for chapbook & ebook publication.

About: “Grey Borders Books is a Canadian literary publisher founded in 2002 and based in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Starting with Grey Borders Magazine, we have created several imprints over the years including House of Gryhm, Silver Line Editions and Cubicle Press. From June 2011-2016, Grey Borders created and produced a region-wide festival called the Niagara Literary Arts Festival.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/listing/22028/grey-borders-books

Maverick Duck Press

Notes: No simultaneous submissions. All chapbook manuscripts should be sent as a MS Word file and contain no more than 18 pages.

Reading Periods: Always open

About: “Maverick Duck Press was founded in 2005 to help give a voice to undiscovered talent in poetry. We are a small chapbook press that publishes limited run, saddle stapled chapbooks. We look for fresh and cutting edge talent with an eye for detail and a powerful voice. Our books are available through this website and via readings from our poets. We do not have the ability to mass distribute like the big publishers, but we’d like to think that we are doing this for art’s sake.”

DUOTROPE: https://duotrope.com/listing/1670

Origami Poems

Notes: Microchaps, previously unpublished

Reading Periods: Submissions are closed July-Aug, otherwise open

Form: Specific format, read guidelines carefully and download their examples

Payment: “There is no payment – upon acceptance we’ll post your book on the Home page & on your own Bio page. We will do our best to ‘announce’ your work on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram unless you say otherwise. And will include your work in the upcoming newsletter. (You may sign up for the ‘OPP Newsletter’ or not – we’ll bcc all the poets in the newsletter in any case.).”

DUOTROPE: https://duotrope.com/listing/7370

Porkbelly Press

Reading Periods:

• chapbooks : January 1 – 31
• micro chapbooks : July 1 – 31

About: “Porkbelly Press’ chapbooks are produced in small & open edition. Our books range in size from micro chapbooks (8-10 pages), chapbooks (12-26 pages), to zines, anthologies, & lit mags. We welcome works from writers all along the identity spectrum; we’re queer friendly & feminist. BIPOC authors welcome.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/listing/21189/porkbelly-press

Querencia

Notes: Minimum of 20 pages

About: “Querencia Press is an independent publisher, seeking to amplify overlooked voices. We want to create a safe space for writers and artists to share their stories. We are especially interested in work that may have been looked over in the past for shouting too loudly. We want you to shout. We want you to make us listen.

Querencia accepts poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and hybrid work. We welcome submissions from emerging and established voices, alike.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/publisher/querencia-press-34529

Rinky Dink Press

Notes: Microchaps, micropoems

Reading Periods: rinky dink press accepts unsolicited “micro-manuscripts” during the months of June and July.

About: “Rinky Dink Press is on a mission to get poetry back into the hands (and pockets) of the people — each of our single author collections can fit in your pocket, but we never sacrifice craft, and despite the tiny format, we refuse to sacrifice style. In short, we’re a microzine press that marries a DIY attitude with skilled poetics and fine-art aesthetics. POETRY: Submit thematically related micropoems (i.e. poems consisting of between 25 & 40 words). Poems can form a cohesive narrative or adhere loosely to a theme of your choosing. Most importantly, we privilege finely-crafted verse, conscientious in its intent. FYI, micropoems are not haiku.”

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/listing/21001

Tenpenny Books

Notes:

• Set in, based on, or in any way about Chattanooga, the Tennessee river valley, or Appalachia — this is the only required part. (If you’re from or live in any of these places, that counts!)
• Right now, the max physical size of a book is 24 pages in a 5? x 8? trim size. Whatever you submit will need to fit in that.

Reading Periods: Always open

About: “Tenpenny Books is an independent traditional publisher. We are focused on books about Appalachia, honest work, and making sense of this world. We’re just getting started.”

Seven Kitchens Press

Notes: This press has several chapbook series with separate guidelines and different reading periods.

About: “Launched in the fall of 2007, Seven Kitchens Press has published over 200 chapbooks through eight series: the Keystone Series (focusing on the work of poets with Pennsylvania roots), the Robin Becker Series (showcasing LGBTQIA poets), the ReBound Series (bringing well-deserving out-of-print chapbooks into new, updated editions), the Editor’s Series (soliciting manuscripts by invitation and “rescuing” worthy contenders which didn’t place in our other series), the Rane Arroyo Series (honoring the memory and work of the beloved writer and professor), the Summer Kitchen Series (featuring three to five limited-edition chapbooks published over the hot summer months), and, most recently, the A.V. Christie Series for women writers over the age of 50 and the Allison Joseph Series for BIPOC women writers.”

Duotrope: Each prize is listed separately.

Whittle Micro-Press

Notes: Digital micro-chapbooks. Collections should be 8-12 pages of poetry.

Reading Periods: Always open

About: “We are a digital press for micro-chapbooks of poetry. We have an open, year-round submission window. We seek manuscripts from established and fledgling authors alike, and encourage submissions from those who experience marginalization. Whittle plans to publish five to six manuscripts per year.”

Payment: All proceeds go directly to authors. We do not charge reading fees but highly encourage the purchase of one or more of our titles prior to submitting, so that you can see what attracts us; collections are only $5 and are instantly downloadable. Submissions are open year-round.

Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/publisher/whittle-micro-press-36682

If you like this post, please share with your writerly friends and/or  follow me on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. You can see all the FREE resources my site offers poets/writers on my Start Here page.