Our Imprints

Submissions Welcome

Kelsay Books welcomes unsolicited manuscript submissions year-round. Your manuscript must be previously unpublished in book form.

Each of our titles receives an ISBN and is released in print as a 6x9 book with a glossy or matte cover. Titles are listed through Amazon and Kelsay Books. Authors receive 12% royalties on retail sales from each site. Poets also have the option to have their collection released on Kindle.

Our Imprints

We process submissions through four imprints. Accepted titles will be released under the Kelsay Books label.

Alabaster Leaves Publishing receives chapbook submissions that include or consist of free verse (25 to 40 pages of poetry).  Acceptance rate: 60%.

Aldrich Press receives full-length submissions that include or consist of free verse (41 to 120 pages of poetry). Acceptance rate: 55%.

Daffydowndilly Press receives submissions of poetry written by adults for a child audience (30 to 45 pages of poetry). This is the only imprint that currently accepts manuscripts with images or illustrations in the text. Acceptance rate: 70%.

White Violet Press receives submissions that consist of formal poetry by accomplished formalist poets (20 to 100 pages of formal poetry). Acceptance rate: 80%.

We also accept individual poems for biannual issues of our affiliated magazine The Orchards Poetry Journal.

General Guidelines

To best understand our tastes in poetry, read previous issues of The Orchards. Digital copies are available for free online.

We are drawn to work that relies on robust, 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.

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 We do not publish intentionally obscure writing.

We do not publish poetry that contains religious rants or content that is violent or pornographic. If your work contains depictions of abuse, please review our sensitive content guidelines.

Please avoid using offensive language.

Unless your work is a Daffydowndilly submission and intended for a child audience, do not submit work that includes drawings or pictures.

Your submission must not violate our guidelines on quoted material and AI use. Sending work to us is an implicit agreement to abide by these guidelines. Failure to do so gives us the right to revoke any contract or publishing agreement. (In short: do not plagiarize. Thank you.)

How to Submit

Kelsay Books is an independent publisher that upholds the value of traditional publishing. We do not require authors to invest in or pre-sell their books in order to be published.

To submit your work, follow the guidelines of the imprint for which it is most suitable, as well as the guidelines on this page. We request a modest $12.00 to $20.00 non-refundable reading fee be paid for each submission. This allows us to focus our resources on a quick response to manuscript submissions. We aim to respond within two weeks.

Once a book is accepted, our team is fully committed to helping it become a beautiful book. Many of our collections have been recognized with awards, reviews, and other honors.