General Guidelines

Sarabande Books looks for poetry and short fiction that offer originality of voice and subject matter, uniqueness of vision, and a language that startles because of the careful attention paid to it—language that goes beyond the merely competent or functional. We recommend that you request our catalog and familiarize yourself with our books. Our complete list shows a variety of styles and subject matter.

As a small press, Sarabande Books can accept unsolicited manuscripts only two times each year. Agented manuscripts are read throughout the year. Manuscripts submitted outside of the following periods will be discarded. We wish this were not the case, but our small staff and high workload do not allow us to consider work otherwise.

1) Sarabande Books' Open Submission Season

Open submission season is during the month of September only (for writers of creative nonfiction, please skip to the next paragraph). We ask that writers query first with a sample of 10 poems, a single story, or a section from a novella or from a short novel, postmarked in September. Response time is under three months. A self-addressed, stamped envelope is required. After this preliminary reading, we may invite writers to submit an entire manuscript. Please do not send your only or original copy of your manuscript-they will not be returned. After reading, we recycle all manuscripts.

For writers of creative nonfiction, our open submissions are year-round. All queries should contain a cover letter and writing sample (one to two essays or a sample section), along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Sarabande Books publishes complete manuscripts of poetry of 48 pages minimum. We also publish collections of short stories, novellas, short novels, literary creative nonficton or essay collections that fall between 150-250 pages. We do not consider longer novels, memoirs, mysteries, westerns, historical fiction or nonfiction, children's books, chapbooks, adventure, or science fiction, nor do we publish single poems or stories.

2) Contest Guidelines

Sarabande Books holds two national contests: The Kathyrn A. Morton Prize in Poetry and the The Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, judged by well-established writers. Guidelines and required entry form are available from November 1 through February 1 each year. Please send a business-sized, self-addressed, stamped envelope, or download from this site:

The Kathyrn A. Morton Prize in Poetry
The Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction
Required Entry Form

Please note that Sarabande Books does not accept electronic submissions.