Shearsman Books

Submission guidelines

Shearsman Books publishes poetry, plus some essays and literary criticism focused on poetry, and occasionally memoirs by poets already published by the press. Fiction, children's books (including poetry for children) and works of a religious nature are not wanted. Books with illustrations are published only in very rare circumstances, almost never with colour images. What to send: Send an introductory letter with a biographical note and a list of prior publications (magazines or otherwise), and state why the work is being sent to Shearsman. Submissions with no accompanying letter are rejected immediately (from 1 March 2026). Track record: The majority of the manuscript should already have appeared in UK, Irish, Antipodean or North American magazines of some repute, whether online or in print. Publication paid for by the author (e.g. in anthologies) does not count. Word count: A manuscript needs to fill at least 60 pages (A5 or half-letter size, 11-point font, standard spacing). First-time submitters should send only 6-10 pages from the manuscript, not more. How to send: Postal submissions go to Shearsman Books Ltd, PO Box 4239, Swindon SN3 9FN, England. Alternatively, send the manuscript as a PDF via the form on the contact page. Electronic submissions may be made by embedding the text in the body of an email sent to the editor; attachments should be avoided unless in PDF format, as other attachments will be destroyed unread. Postal submissions: Return postage with sufficient value and British stamps must accompany postal submissions, or manuscripts will be destroyed unacknowledged and not returned. Scope: The press mainly publishes poetry by writers located in Britain, Ireland, India, North America and the Antipodes, plus poetry in translation from any language, with a particular interest in German, Spanish and Latin American poetry. For translations, availability of translation rights should be clarified in the initial approach.