When you decide to prepare a manuscript, gather that materials you wish to publish and edit, edit, edit. The more care you put into your work, the better the presentation will be.

For best results (if you are worried about poem/story length), set a word processor document to this setup, using a 12pt font: 5.4” x 8.4” page size, .6” & .6” top and bottom margins and .5” & .5” left and right margins. For short/flash stories, an average of 350 to 375 words will fit per page should there not be a number of paragraph breaks. Multiply an average of 350 words per page times the number of pages that best suits your needs for publication. (A 10pt font can be used to create more room or allow longer pieces to fit onto one page.)

Normally allow a title and poem of 32 lines in length (including line/stanza spacing) or less per page. Should your poem be longer than 32 lines, it may run over onto additional pages. Poems consisting of lines longer than 65 characters (including spaces) may run over onto the next line. It is important to keep your poems as “skinny” as possible to prevent line drops during formatting. If you want more than two poems per page, inquire about alternative formatting.

Shadow Poetry prefers manuscripts to be sent electronically (email). Payment may be made by PayPal online or through the mail when sending the chapbook publication and agreement form.

1) Choose the number of pages you would like your chapbook to have: 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, or 40 pages. Remember, introduction pages do not count against the number of pages you chose for content. If you chose 36 pages, then you will have 36 pages for poems, short stories, songs, recipes, etc.

2) Select the introduction pages you wish to display at the beginning of your book. If you want a dedication page, acknowledgements, and/or an author bio, you must write these sections yourself. Shadow Poetry will not write these for you. (If you want the author bio page in the back of the book, this will take up one page available for content.)

3) Select a chapbook cover design from the selections Shadow Poetry offers and a cover paper color. The cover design numbers are over the sample graphics on the Cover Designs page. If you want to design your own cover or already have a photo or piece of art to use, you may submit your design via email or by mail (disk, original photo, sketch, etc.) Should photos/graphics from an outside party be used, the photographer/artist will need to sign and return a release form. Please send requests by mail or email to obtain one of these forms. If submitting drawings or photos, please do not submit anything larger than 8.5” X 11” and do not bend. Shadow Poetry can scan photos or drawings for covers, but extra charges will apply.

4) Choose the font you wish to have your title printed in for your chapbook cover. This font should match or enhance the graphics and theme of your book. Next, choose the font style your content will be printed in.

5) Decide between the page header/number designs.

6) Should you wish to have a different interior paper color other than plain white or would like to have a color insert, please select the colors that most compliment or enhance the appearance of your chapbook. Extra fees will apply.

7) Gather the poetry, short/flash stories, or other content your chapbook will contain. Shadows Ink prefers the chapbook content to be submitted via email or on a *floppy disk, zip disk, or CD through the mail to lessen the amount of typos that could be made during the preparation process. These methods also allow for a faster turnaround time. Shadow Poetry will also accept typed or neatly handwritten manuscripts through the mail, but the turn around time will be much slower, and there will be a $100.00 typing/retyping charge. Poems should be placed in the order in which you wish them to appear if there is a preference.

*Poems submitted via email, floppy disk, zip disk, or CD must be saved with a file extension of .doc (Microsoft Word) or .txt (Notepad or compatible). Sorry, we cannot accept Macintosh compatible files/disks; PC only. Poems may be typed in individual file documents or be combined into one file. Special introduction material and graphics need to be saved in separate files.

8) Print out the complete chapbook agreement and order form. Select all the features you wish to add and calculate the total chapbook cost. Please, take your time in filling out this form and gathering your chapbook material. The fewer the mistakes will result in a faster turn around for your order.

9) Once you have completed the order form and gathered all the material needed to publish your chapbook, place it and your payment in a padded envelope addressed to: Shadow Poetry, 1209 Milwaukee Street, Excelsior Springs, MO 64024. Once Shadow Poetry has received your manuscript, we will send you a confirmation email or letter. If any problems should arise, we will be in contact with you. If you are submitting your manuscript via email, please mail only the agreement form and payment and payment if not made through PayPal.

10) When your chapbook is ready for proofing, Shadow Poetry will mail you one or more proof copies for you to review and edit. Should adjustments need to be made, please mark corrections in red ink and/or type out a detailed list of changes. Send the proof/list back by mail or send the list of changes via email. If there are more than 15 corrections to be made, Shadow Poetry will charge a fee of $0.50 per error to fix. Once the editing process is complete, you may request an additional proof. (Two to three proofs are a normal amount to request during the editing process. If more than three proofs are requested or needed, there will be an additional charge of $5.00 per proof afterwards.) If an additional proof is not needed or the second proof has been approved, the finished product (X # of copies) will arrive by mail within 10 to 14 business days. Along with your order, Shadow Poetry will provide two additional copies of your published chapbook for copyrighting. We will send these copies in a pre-addressed envelope to send your books to the US Copyright Office (Library of Congress) as well as the proper forms to submit. The fee to copyright your chapbook is $45.00. Shadow Poetry does not pay for copyrighting.

The entire process of publishing a chapbook usually takes three to six weeks or less depending on the proofing time and availability of papers. Copyrighting your book will take an average of 3 to 9 months, but your book can be sold during this time.


What Shadow Poetry Will Not Publish

Shadow Poetry prefers to publish and sell material that is suitable for general audiences, meaning everyone from children to seniors.

• Shadow Poetry will not publish sexually explicit, porno-graphic or extremely violent material of any.

• Having strong religious and/or political views is everyone’s personal right; however, it’s not always welcomed by readers. If you have a manuscript that is teaming with religious or political opinions, we will not accept your manuscript.

• foul language is frowned upon. We believe that some works may need the vulgarity to express the author’s anger, sadness, what have you; however, cussing is not always needed. If the work(s) can be changed to be cleaner, we highly recommend it. Shadow Poetry will not sell any manuscripts containing over 3 vulgarities within its pages.

• Published books/chapbooks that are offered or sold elsewhere will not be considered.

Authors seeking to publish works heavy in religion or political themes or vulgarities may seek permission to print through Shadow Poetry for personal use only. Send requests and manuscripts via mail or email. We reserve the right to reject any manuscript. If printed, we also reserve the right not to put any of our publishing information or logo on the books that are printed with the questionable items listed above.Please note that love poetry is acceptable as long as it is not sexually graphic in nature, and Christian poetry is welcome.

Should you have questions to whether Shadow Poetry will accept your manuscript/chapbook for its online bookstore, you may inquire by mail or email. A copy of the completed manuscript must be included/attached.