Five ways to submit to Kore Press
1. Open Submissions Period
Kore Press accepts submissions for full-length books during open submission years in the winter. The open submissions period is not a contest; manuscripts are not reviewed anonymously. Please understand we are under no obligation to publish any manuscripts we receive during our open submissions period. We expect to publish five to eight titles a year, including our contest winners.
Deadline: We are not currently accepting unsolicited submissions.
What we look for
We seek book-length manuscripts in poetry, memoir, pesonal essay, short fiction, long fiction, hybrid and experimental work, and other forms of creative nonfiction, written by women,* that reflect the highest standards of literary quality and compel our editors. We are especially interested in work that is genre-bending, innovative, and experimental, and work that is socially relevent.
Reading Fee
Kore Press is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. To offset the cost of the substantial editorial time required to review and respond individually to all manuscripts, there is a non-refundable reading fee of $40, payable to Kore Press. No one receives extra compensation for reading manuscripts. You are welcome to submit as many manuscripts as you like, as long as you send a separate reading fee for each. If the fee increase presents a barrier to submitting your work, a limited number of scholarships are available. Just contact Jussara for more information.
Editorial Review
Each submission is individually read and responded to by an editor. Our editorial panel of experts responds personally with a minimum of 150-200 word observation of your project. Simultaneous submissions are welcome; please let us know in the comments section, however, if your work is submitted elsewhere. If you sent an entry to the poetry or fiction competitions, it is fine to submit the same manuscript during the open submissions period; the review system and the reviewers are different for each process.
What to Submit
For poetry, submit a manuscript via our online submissions system. Poetry submissions should be a minimum of 48 pages and a maximum of 98 pages. For a novel or collection of short stories, submit an excerpt (2 or 3 stories or chapters, but no more than 50 pages). For a memoir or a work of creative nonfiction, send a one- or two-page synopsis plus the first 50 pages. If we’re interested in reading more of your prose, we will ask you to send the rest. Please submit these via our online submissions system. Be sure to include if the work is fiction, non-fiction or poetry in the comments section.
What to include on your manuscript’s title page:
• name
• address
• telephone number
• email address
• title of manuscript
• genre
Manuscripts must be:
• submitted online
• accompanied by a $40 reading fee (Canadian residents add $3 for bank processing fee if submitting in Canadian dollars)
• doublespaced (prose only)
• paginated
• original poetry or prose written by the applicant (unless the work is a translation)
• unpublished at the time of submission (if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere during our deliberation process, please notify us immediately)
• accompanied by a page listing previously publications.
2. First Book Award for Poetry
The Kore Press First Book Award is for a poetry manuscript in English by a woman who has not yet published a full-length book. Recent Winner is Zayne Turner for “Body Burden.” $1500 prize plus publication, $28 reading fee. 2016 judge is Robin Coste Lewis. Click here to review the full contest guidelines.
3. Short Fiction Award
2015 judge was Roxane Gay, winner is Tayler Heuston. $1250 prize plus chapbook and e-publication, $20 reading fee. 2016 judge is Edwidge Danticat. Click here to review the full contest guidelines.
4. Memoir Award
Kore’s new memoir, or memoir-in-essays, Award is judged by Lidia Yuknavitch. $1000 prize plus publication, $25 reading fee. Winner is Ming Holden for Refugee. Click here to review the full contest guidelines.
5. Notes from the Motherfield
Field notes, essays, pieces for the Kore e-column can be emailed to Lisa with the subject line “Motherfield” submission.
Are you a female-identified mother/parent with a burning something inside of you that you gotta yell from the roof tops? We wanna hear it!
Authors do not receive payment at this time. Chosen pieces will run in our monthly column on the Kore website, announced via email (over 6,800 readers), and via on social media.
HOW TO SUBMIT MSS
Submit online here* and if you require further information, please e-mail us.