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Purple Ink Press (Gold Star Program) Gold Star

We are a small, independent non-profit press. We are BIPOC founded and aim to publish what is unusual and work about in-between spaces. We are a nonprofit registered in Florida, and our 501(c)(3) status is pending with the IRS.

Our anthologies aim to shine to highlight unexpected and wonderful places. We champion voices that might otherwise remain shadowed. We love work about the homes we make, wherever that might be, in the people we know, the homes we have made, the music we love, in the friends we make family.

We especially seek to amplify BIPOC and Queer voices.

Send us your best poetry, flash, fiction, non-fiction, and your weird, passionate, hybrid babies. Poetry and prose together, prose and art, work we have never seen before, work we couldn’t imagine exists. Surprise us!

Chapbook Contest 2024

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Chapbook Contest Guidelines

The inaugural Purple Ink Press’s Chapbook Contest is open. We are doing things a bit differently. We hate binaries. We don’t believe in only one winner. We believe in bringing as many people to the table as possible, so the contest will have up to three winners. The prize is $500 plus publication and ten copies of the chapbook. If there is more than one winner, the monetary reward will be increased and distributed among the winners. All winners will receive ten copies of their chapbook. Prizes are awarded at publication.

We are thrilled to have Chen Chen as our inaugural judge this year.

About Chen Chen:

Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (2022), and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (2017), both published by BOA Editions. His latest chapbook is Explodingly Yours (Ghost City Press, 2023). His honors include two Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and United States Artists. He lives in Rochester, NY, and teaches for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College, Stonecoast, and Antioch.

Also about Chen Chen:

Chen Chen is both dramatic and yearning. He is always having A Week. Due to personal reasons and much like the moon, he writes poems and is gay.

We approve, as we are also dramatic and yearning.

What is Chen looking for:

“I’m looking for poems that sing, that surprise, that offer deep insight into self/world, that move, that fly through the air like figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, that land as he does—with grace and maybe some sexy flair, too. I’m also looking for, when it comes to the chapbook form, a strong sense of cohesion, though I also love formal range and variety in subject matter—so, it comes down to how persuasively the collection is shaped. In other words, convince your reader that these poems truly belong together. Oh, and weird—I’m looking for weird. By which I mean an idiosyncratic language and attention. Please be weird.”

Chapbook guidelines

All manuscripts will be considered for publication. We encourage both new, emerging, and established writers to submit. We are looking for unpublished chapbooks of poems or hybrid manuscripts of poems and visual art between 16-30 pages in length.

Submissions are anonymous. Manuscripts are reviewed without identifying information by our readers, editors, and our judge. Please remove all identifying information from your manuscript, including the file name and the “title” field in Duosuma. Identifying information from the poet should. If your name is in the manuscript, please remove it or make a substitution. You will have the chance to edit your name back in if selected for publication.

The entry fee is $12, and submissions are through our portal on Dousuma. We are not able to accept submissions via email or postal mail. We have a limited amount of fee waivers available. Please message [email protected] for consideration.

Your manuscript should include a title page with the name of the work, a table of contents if needed, and, when appropriate, an acknowledgments page. Manuscripts should have page numbers and be formatted in Garamond, Georgia, Times New Roman, or Calibri. Manuscripts should be 16-30 pages in length of poetry and or images. These 30 pages do not include your title page, table of contents, or acknowledgments. The manuscript should be single-spaced except for intentional spacing choices.

You can include a bio in your submission. Your bio will only be considered after the final selections are made.

Previously published poems within the manuscript are fine. Please note where your poems were published in an acknowledgments page. We do not accept chapbooks that appeared in this entirety or up to 50% in another work, like a full-length collection. We do not accept previously published chapbooks, including self-published, online/digital publications, and publications in a small, limited-edition print run.

  • Deadline: October 31st.
  • Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please withdraw your manuscript in Duosuma if accepted elsewhere.
  • Multiple submissions, that is, the submission of more than one manuscript for the contest, are permitted. You need to pay a submission fee for each submission.
  • Collaborative works are welcome with the permission of the authors.
  • Hybrid poetry and visual art submissions, including photographs, are welcome and encouraged.
  • Currently, we are not accepting translations.

Contest results: A list of semi-finalists, finalists, and winners will be announced after the contest closes. The contest is scheduled to close on October 30th, with winners announced in December. Follow us on social media for updates.

Our chapbooks are distributed worldwide and beautifully laid out. Your cover will be graphic and striking. They are designed in-house by a graphic designer with over twenty years of experience. We publish visually startling books people can’t help picking up. Each chapbook receives ISBN, and sold worldwide, as well local independent booksellers and through larger markets like Barnes & Noble. We create a promotion/publicity plan for each author.

Feedback options are available for your poem(s) and chapbook manuscripts.

We are excited to read your work!

Chapbook Submission: Feedback One Poem

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Chapbook Submission with One Poem Personalized Feedback

At Purple Ink, we understand the importance of constructive feedback in a writer's journey. Our Feedback services are tailored to provide insightful critiques to nurture your creativity.

This submission is for the Purple Ink Chapbook Contest 2024, with personalized feedback for a single poem. Please note this feedback option is for ONE POEM. We have other options for feedback on multiple poems and the chapbook manuscript.
  • please specify one poem from your manuscript up to 2 pages in length.
  • Price: $40

Please specify which poem you would like feedback on. If no poem is selected, we will pick one.

You will receive a one-to-two letter discussing the strengths of your poem and opportunities to improve. You will also receive recommended readings and suggestions on where else to submit your work.

Your fee includes personalized feedback and submission of your manuscript to the chapbook contest. You will receive your feedback letter via email in about 6-8 weeks after submission. A decision about your chapbook submission might come later. Please follow all of the chapbook guidelines below.

Chapbook Contest Guidelines

The inaugural Purple Ink Press’s Chapbook Contest is open. We are doing things a bit differently. We hate binaries. We don’t believe in only one winner. We believe in bringing as many people to the table as possible, so the contest will have up to three winners. The prize is $500 plus publication and ten copies of the chapbook. If there is more than one winner, the monetary reward will be increased and distributed among the winners. All winners will receive ten copies of their chapbook. Prizes are awarded at publication.

We are thrilled to have Chen Chen as our inaugural judge this year.

About Chen Chen:

Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (2022), and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (2017), both published by BOA Editions. His latest chapbook is Explodingly Yours (Ghost City Press, 2023). His honors include two Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and United States Artists. He lives in Rochester, NY, and teaches for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College, Stonecoast, and Antioch.

Also about Chen Chen:

Chen Chen is both dramatic and yearning. He is always having A Week. Due to personal reasons and much like the moon, he writes poems and is gay.

We approve, as we are also dramatic and yearning.

What is Chen looking for:

“I’m looking for poems that sing, that surprise, that offer deep insight into self/world, that move, that fly through the air like figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, that land as he does—with grace and maybe some sexy flair, too. I’m also looking for, when it comes to the chapbook form, a strong sense of cohesion, though I also love formal range and variety in subject matter—so, it comes down to how persuasively the collection is shaped. In other words, convince your reader that these poems truly belong together. Oh, and weird—I’m looking for weird. By which I mean an idiosyncratic language and attention. Please be weird.”

Chapbook guidelines

All manuscripts will be considered for publication. We encourage both new, emerging, and established writers to submit. We are looking for unpublished chapbooks of poems or hybrid manuscripts of poems and visual art between 16-30 pages in length.

Submissions are anonymous. Manuscripts are reviewed without identifying information by our readers, editors, and our judge. Please remove all identifying information from your manuscript, including the file name and the “title” field in Duosuma. Identifying information from the poet should. If your name is in the manuscript, please remove it or make a substitution. You will have the chance to edit your name back in if selected for publication.

The entry fee is $12, and submissions are through our portal on Dousuma. We are not able to accept submissions via email or postal mail. We have a limited amount of fee waivers available. Please message [email protected] for consideration.

Your manuscript should include a title page with the name of the work, a table of contents if needed, and, when appropriate, an acknowledgments page. Manuscripts should have page numbers and be formatted in Garamond, Georgia, Times New Roman, or Calibri. Manuscripts should be 16-30 pages in length of poetry and or images. These 30 pages do not include your title page, table of contents, or acknowledgments. The manuscript should be single-spaced except for intentional spacing choices.

You can include a bio in your submission. Your bio will only be considered after the final selections are made.

Previously published poems within the manuscript are fine. Please note where your poems were published in an acknowledgments page. We do not accept chapbooks that appeared in this entirety or up to 50% in another work, like a full-length collection. We do not accept previously published chapbooks, including self-published, online/digital publications, and publications in a small, limited-edition print run.

  • Deadline: October 31st.
  • Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please withdraw your manuscript in Duosuma if accepted elsewhere.
  • Multiple submissions, that is, the submission of more than one manuscript for the contest, are permitted. You need to pay a submission fee for each submission.
  • Collaborative works are welcome with the permission of the authors.
  • Hybrid poetry and visual art submissions, including photographs, are welcome and encouraged.
  • Currently, we are not accepting translations.

Contest results: A list of semi-finalists, finalists, and winners will be announced after the contest closes. The contest is scheduled to close on October 30th, with winners announced in December. Follow us on social media for updates.

Our chapbooks are distributed worldwide and beautifully laid out. Your cover will be graphic and striking. They are designed in-house by a graphic designer with over twenty years of experience. We publish visually startling books people can’t help picking up. Each chapbook receives ISBN, and sold worldwide, as well local independent booksellers and through larger markets like Barnes & Nobel. We create a promotion/publicity plan for each author.

Feedback options are available for you poem(s) and chapbook manuscripts.

We are excited to read your work!

Chapbook Submission: Feedback for Multiple Poems

Temp Closed

At Purple Ink, we understand the importance of constructive feedback in a writer's journey. Our Feedback services are tailored to provide insightful critiques to nurture your creativity.

This submission is for the Purple Ink Chapbook Contest 2024, with personalized feedback for up to seven pages of poetry. We have other options for feedback on single poems and your chapbook manuscript.
  • Please specify which poems from your manuscript, up to 7 pages, you would like reviewed.
  • Price: $150

Please specify which poems you would like feedback on. If no poems are selected, we will pick them.

You will receive a seven to ten-page letter discussing the strengths of your poem and suggestions and opportunities to improve. With this option, you will also receive line notes for each poem. You will also receive recommended readings and suggestions on where else to submit your work.

Your fee includes personalized feedback and submission of your manuscript to the chapbook contest. You will receive your feedback letter via email in about 6-8 weeks after submission. A decision about your chapbook submission might come later. Please follow all of the chapbook guidelines below.

Chapbook Contest Guidelines

The inaugural Purple Ink Press’s Chapbook Contest is open. We are doing things a bit differently. We hate binaries. We don’t believe in only one winner. We believe in bringing as many people to the table as possible, so the contest will have up to three winners. The prize is $500 plus publication and ten copies of the chapbook. If there is more than one winner, the monetary reward will be increased and distributed among the winners. All winners will receive ten copies of their chapbook. Prizes are awarded at publication.

We are thrilled to have Chen Chen as our inaugural judge this year.

About Chen Chen:

Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (2022), and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (2017), both published by BOA Editions. His latest chapbook is Explodingly Yours (Ghost City Press, 2023). His honors include two Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and United States Artists. He lives in Rochester, NY, and teaches for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College, Stonecoast, and Antioch.

Also about Chen Chen:

Chen Chen is both dramatic and yearning. He is always having A Week. Due to personal reasons and much like the moon, he writes poems and is gay.

We approve, as we are also dramatic and yearning.

What is Chen looking for:

“I’m looking for poems that sing, that surprise, that offer deep insight into self/world, that move, that fly through the air like figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, that land as he does—with grace and maybe some sexy flair, too. I’m also looking for, when it comes to the chapbook form, a strong sense of cohesion, though I also love formal range and variety in subject matter—so, it comes down to how persuasively the collection is shaped. In other words, convince your reader that these poems truly belong together. Oh, and weird—I’m looking for weird. By which I mean an idiosyncratic language and attention. Please be weird.”

Chapbook guidelines

All manuscripts will be considered for publication. We encourage both new, emerging, and established writers to submit. We are looking for unpublished chapbooks of poems or hybrid manuscripts of poems and visual art between 16-30 pages in length.

Submissions are anonymous. Manuscripts are reviewed without identifying information by our readers, editors, and our judge. Please remove all identifying information from your manuscript, including the file name and the “title” field in Duosuma. Identifying information from the poet should. If your name is in the manuscript, please remove it or make a substitution. You will have the chance to edit your name back in if selected for publication.

The entry fee is $12, and submissions are through our portal on Dousuma. We are not able to accept submissions via email or postal mail. We have a limited amount of fee waivers available. Please message [email protected] for consideration.

Your manuscript should include a title page with the name of the work, a table of contents if needed, and, when appropriate, an acknowledgments page. Manuscripts should have page numbers and be formatted in Garamond, Georgia, Times New Roman, or Calibri. Manuscripts should be 16-30 pages in length of poetry and or images. These 30 pages do not include your title page, table of contents, or acknowledgments. The manuscript should be single-spaced except for intentional spacing choices.

You can include a bio in your submission. Your bio will only be considered after the final selections are made.

Previously published poems within the manuscript are fine. Please note where your poems were published in an acknowledgments page. We do not accept chapbooks that appeared in this entirety or up to 50% in another work, like a full-length collection. We do not accept previously published chapbooks, including self-published, online/digital publications, and publications in a small, limited-edition print run.

  • Deadline: October 31st.
  • Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please withdraw your manuscript in Duosuma if accepted elsewhere.
  • Multiple submissions, that is, the submission of more than one manuscript for the contest, are permitted. You need to pay a submission fee for each submission.
  • Collaborative works are welcome with the permission of the authors.
  • Hybrid poetry and visual art submissions, including photographs, are welcome and encouraged.
  • Currently, we are not accepting translations.

Contest results: A list of semi-finalists, finalists, and winners will be announced after the contest closes. The contest is scheduled to close on October 30th, with winners announced in December. Follow us on social media for updates.

Our chapbooks are distributed worldwide and beautifully laid out. Your cover will be graphic and striking. They are designed in-house by a graphic designer with over twenty years of experience. We publish visually startling books people can’t help picking up. Each chapbook receives ISBN and is sold worldwide, as well as local independent booksellers and through larger markets like Barnes & Noble. We create a promotion/publicity plan for each author.

We are excited to read your work!

Chapbook Submission: Feedback Full Chapbook

Temp Closed

At Purple Ink, we understand the importance of constructive feedback in a writer's journey. Our Feedback services are tailored to provide insightful critiques to nurture your creativity.

This submission is for the Purple Ink Chapbook Contest 2024, with personalized feedback on your chapbook manuscript.
  • Price: $295

You will receive a letter, a minimum of ten pages, discussing the strengths of your poems and suggestions and opportunities to improve. With this option, you will also receive line notes for your poems. We will also include insights and suggestions on your manuscript's poem order, themes, and narrative arc. We will also provide thoughts and suggestions on refining the story unfolding in your work, as well as recommended readings and suggestions on where else to submit your work.

Your fee includes personalized feedback and submission of your manuscript to the chapbook contest. You will receive your feedback letter via email in about 6-8 weeks after submission. A decision about your chapbook submission might come later. Please follow all of the chapbook guidelines below.

Chapbook Contest Guidelines

The inaugural Purple Ink Press’s Chapbook Contest is open. We are doing things a bit differently. We hate binaries. We don’t believe in only one winner. We believe in bringing as many people to the table as possible, so the contest will have up to three winners. The prize is $500 plus publication and ten copies of the chapbook. If there is more than one winner, the monetary reward will be increased and distributed among the winners. All winners will receive ten copies of their chapbook. Prizes are awarded at publication.

We are thrilled to have Chen Chen as our inaugural judge this year.

About Chen Chen:

Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (2022), and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (2017), both published by BOA Editions. His latest chapbook is Explodingly Yours (Ghost City Press, 2023). His honors include two Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and United States Artists. He lives in Rochester, NY, and teaches for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College, Stonecoast, and Antioch.

Also about Chen Chen:

Chen Chen is both dramatic and yearning. He is always having A Week. Due to personal reasons and much like the moon, he writes poems and is gay.

We approve, as we are also dramatic and yearning.

What is Chen looking for:

“I’m looking for poems that sing, that surprise, that offer deep insight into self/world, that move, that fly through the air like figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, that land as he does—with grace and maybe some sexy flair, too. I’m also looking for, when it comes to the chapbook form, a strong sense of cohesion, though I also love formal range and variety in subject matter—so, it comes down to how persuasively the collection is shaped. In other words, convince your reader that these poems truly belong together. Oh, and weird—I’m looking for weird. By which I mean an idiosyncratic language and attention. Please be weird.”

Chapbook guidelines

All manuscripts will be considered for publication. We encourage both new, emerging, and established writers to submit. We are looking for unpublished chapbooks of poems or hybrid manuscripts of poems and visual art between 16-30 pages in length.

Submissions are anonymous. Manuscripts are reviewed without identifying information by our readers, editors, and our judge. Please remove all identifying information from your manuscript, including the file name and the “title” field in Duosuma. Identifying information from the poet should. If your name is in the manuscript, please remove it or make a substitution. You will have the chance to edit your name back in if selected for publication.

The entry fee is $12, and submissions are through our portal on Dousuma. We are not able to accept submissions via email or postal mail. We have a limited amount of fee waivers available. Please message [email protected] for consideration.

Your manuscript should include a title page with the name of the work, a table of contents if needed, and, when appropriate, an acknowledgments page. Manuscripts should have page numbers and be formatted in Garamond, Georgia, Times New Roman, or Calibri. Manuscripts should be 16-30 pages in length of poetry and or images. These 30 pages do not include your title page, table of contents, or acknowledgments. The manuscript should be single-spaced except for intentional spacing choices.

You can include a bio in your submission. Your bio will only be considered after the final selections are made.

Previously published poems within the manuscript are fine. Please note where your poems were published in an acknowledgments page. We do not accept chapbooks that appeared in this entirety or up to 50% in another work, like a full-length collection. We do not accept previously published chapbooks, including self-published, online/digital publications, and publications in a small, limited-edition print run.

  • Deadline: October 31st.
  • Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please withdraw your manuscript in Duosuma if accepted elsewhere.
  • Multiple submissions, that is, the submission of more than one manuscript for the contest, are permitted. You need to pay a submission fee for each submission.
  • Collaborative works are welcome with the permission of the authors.
  • Hybrid poetry and visual art submissions, including photographs, are welcome and encouraged.
  • Currently, we are not accepting translations.

Contest results: A list of semi-finalists, finalists, and winners will be announced after the contest closes. The contest is scheduled to close on October 30th, with winners announced in December. Follow us on social media for updates.

Our chapbooks are distributed worldwide and beautifully laid out. Your cover will be graphic and striking. They are designed in-house by a graphic designer with over twenty years of experience. We publish visually startling books people can’t help picking up. Each chapbook receives ISBN, and sold worldwide, as well local independent booksellers and through larger markets like Barnes & Noble. We create a promotion/publicity plan for each author.

We are excited to read your work!

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