Editor Interview: River River Books

Attentive, lyrical poetry

University of Nebraska Press, Wave Books, Bloof Books, Ornithopter Press, Birds LLC, Ethel Zine Press, Graywolf Press, University of Pittsburgh Press.

Monica Youn, Eugenia Leigh, Carmen Gimenez, Christian Collier, Marlanda Dekine, Chen Chen, C.D. Wright, Claudia Rankine, Donika Kelly, Nikky Finney, Camille T. Dungy, Jason Myers, Linda Gregg.

We want to elevate manuscripts that are ready for publication—we are not here to mold or shape a book into existence, per se, but to support the books that authors have been working on, often for years. We value transparency and support. Our contract is available on our website.

Read work by the authors whose books are forthcoming at River River Books: Lauren Camp, Jennifer A Sutherland, Rachel Edelman and Carla Sofia Ferreira. See what we love, what writing caught our attention and wouldn’t let it go! Also: don’t reject yourself. Take a chance. Let us read your book!

Legible font. Organized—whether it’s fifty poems or a single, book-length poem (yes, we love those, too). Surprising in how it does its work. Probably not heavily end-rhymed!

So far, not much? We have a tip jar optional submission window in June and July. Pretty simple. Folks tend to send us a note through our website contact form if they have questions.

We DO love a cover letter! And how you articulate your book/project is important. If we accept your manuscript, some of your language may even end up being part of the back cover copy or promotional material for your published book. List of previous publication credits not mandatory, but we like to see journals acknowledged if you’ve published in them!

This is a tricky question, because every manuscript is different. Sometimes a “maybe” manuscript requires MORE reading—ie, more than a single read through! But our general rule of thumb is that if the first ten pages don’t resonate with us, it’s probably not the manuscript for us.

We talk over all of our choices together—that is part of the joy of being in a press partnership. Amorak and I consider whether we are a good fit for the work the poet is doing. For example, our physical books are 6x8; is that a good material fit for the poems themselves?

Children, pets, day jobs! We both read between teaching classes, or in the evenings. We juggle full schedules and many moving pieces, like most small press editors. We often text or message each other while reading submissions.

The four manuscripts we accepted for publication in 2023 and 2024 required only the lightest editorial touches. Our authors had seriously shaped their work, and had very clear attentions when it came to their own poetry. We provide copy editing, proof reading, and line edits where needed. Author approves final edits, and all editing is collaborative.

Yes, we do! In our contract we note how much we will spend in award submission fees (it’s around $100). We believe in supporting our books as much as we can.