What Is a Chapbook?

A chapbook is essentially a short book, traditionally ranging between 20 and 40 pages, most commonly of poetry. The literary chapbook has a history dating back to the 16th century, with the term ‘chapbook’ coined in the 19th century. In the 20th century, the chapbook was revitalized by the Dada movement, avant-garde artists in Russia, and American Beat poets as an inexpensive avenue to make their art and writing more widely accessible. Most chapbooks are published by first-time or lesser known authors; however, numerous established authors got their publishing start with a chapbook.

VerbalEyze’s Young Writers Chapbook Series

Continuing in this long tradition, the VerbalEyze Young Writers Chapbook series publishes the work of emerging young authors. The series considers manuscripts in any genre (e.g. poetry, fiction, graphic novel, plays, nonfiction) that are at least 25 pages in length.

Query Submission Guidelines

We only accept queries and manuscripts electronically. We do not accept queries by snail mail, phone, in person, via Twitter, or through our Facebook page.

The body of your email should contain a one-page query letter about your manuscript. Describe your manuscript in a way that will make us want to read it. Also tell us why you think a person browsing through a bookstore or clicking though Amazon.com would choose to buy your book.

Also in your email provide your name, age, current or most recent school/college attended, and mailing address. (Your age is an important detail as we exclusively publish authors between the ages of 13 and 22. If you do not specify your age in your query, we will assume you fall outside that range.)

Write CHAPBOOK and the title of your manuscript in the subject field of your email. Attach your full manuscript to the email. The manuscript sample should be in 12 point Times New Roman and double spaced.

Send your email to submissions@verbaleyze.org.