Alabaster Leaves
Emerging Poets Submissions
Kelsay Books is celebrating National Poetry Month by waiving our Alabaster Leaves reading fee for select submissions received in April 2026.
Guidelines: Qualifying submissions contain no more than 40 pages of poetry. At least 20% of the poems are previously published. Additionally, the author must not have a previous Kelsay Books collection published with any of our imprints. The author can have no more than two collections out or forthcoming with another publisher or self-published. Publication of individual poems in The Orchards Poetry Journal is not disqualifying.
To have your qualifying submission considered by us, please send it with the subject line we will announce here in April instead of the one for general Alabaster submissions. Please also follow the relevant instructions below.
General Submissions
Alabaster Leaves Publishing releases chapbooks under 40 pages. Please submit 25 to 40 pages of poetry.
Unsolicited manuscript submissions are welcome year-round. Your manuscript must be previously unpublished in book form.
Each of our collections receives an ISBN and is printed as a 6x9 book with a glossy or matte cover. Books are listed at Amazon and Kelsay Books, and authors receive 12% royalties on retail sales from each site. Library of Congress registration is optional. Poets also have the option to have their collection published on Kindle.
There is a $12.00 reading fee for chapbook submissions unless you submit a qualifying submission in April 2026. We respond to each submission within fourteen days.
What We Publish
All submissions should be accessible to a general audience; we do not publish intentionally obscure writing. We do not publish poetry that contains religious rants or content that is violent or pornographic. Please avoid using offensive language.
To understand our editorial tastes in poetry, read our sister magazine The Orchards Poetry Journal. We are drawn to work that relies on robust and fresh imagery and metaphor. We love lyrical poetry. Our tastes are very eclectic; however, we may reject manuscripts with poems that require too much unique formatting. Do not submit work that includes drawings or pictures in your manuscript. Alabaster Leaves Publishing no longer accepts poetry manuscripts with images or illustrations in the text.
Please note that due to our cautious approach to copyright, we cannot publish song lyrics, no matter how brief. The author is ultimately responsible for ensuring their work does not violate copyright. By submitting to Kelsay Books, an author assumes the responsibility to remove any non-original song lyrics from their submission.
How to Submit
Submissions should be emailed to kelsay.karen@gmail.com.
To submit, send an email with ALABASTER MANUSCRIPT as the subject line. To submit for a waived fee, wait until April 2026 and then send it with the subject line we will announce on this page at this time. Submissions with other subject lines might be marked as spam by our email filters. Include a brief cover letter in the body of your email with your name, address, phone number, and PayPal receipt number.
Attach two Word documents (not PDFs) to your email: your manuscript and your marketing plan.
How to Format Your Manuscript
Include these elements, in this order:
- The title
- Your name
- A dedication (optional)
- Acknowledgments
- Your poetry
- Your biography
Send these in one Word document attached to your email. Do not send a PDF.
Use 12-point Times New Roman font. Do not insert page numbers or use all capital letters in your titles and headings. Use page breaks between your poems. Ensure your manuscript has been proofread for mistakes and typos.
Reading Fee
The reading fee is $12.00 per chapbook submission unless your submission qualifies for a waived fee and is received in April 2026. Otherwise, you can pay below. Include your receipt number in your submission email.