Editor Interview: The Northwind Writing Award

Intelligent Vivid Writing

Experimental or Nature-themed

We publish high-caliber writing from underappreciated writers. Our final product is professional and follows old-school publishing rules/guidelines. We prefer timeless work over modern themes.

Take your time and submit your best work.

We love poetry and prose poetry but the real heart of Raw Earth Ink is in storytelling. Short stories, poetry that is larger than the words on the page. Work that sticks with us long after we've finished reading. Nature themes. Humanity that spans the ages versus modern tropes.

We don't need cover letters. The work should speak for itself. But we also recognize sometimes a "back-story" needs to be shared to fully understand where the writer is coming from. We are less interested in previous awards or schooling and more interested in the words themselves and how they move us as readers.

Generally, we read the piece in its entirety before making a decision. Sometimes it takes just a few poems or paragraphs to know it's not going to be a good fit or we fall in love with it. Each submission is unique and so is the submission process.

Each work is individual. Some authors do not want editing done and some want copy editing. We always do basic proofreading. The author makes the final approval before going to printing and publication. We believe in working with each author as much or as little as they need or want. Communication is key. We want a book that we can both be proud of as publisher and author.

We nominate work every year. If an author requests a nomination, we will read the rules to make sure we qualify and nominate as we can.

tara caribou individually fully funds all projects as an act of goodwill and passion for the art of writing and her love of reading. Some judges and editor Candice Louisa Daquin donate their time as well. In the future, we may ask local bookstores and others if they would like to donate to the writing awards, but currently we do not.

We find the best promotions and responses come from the published authors themselves. We do, however, promote in local bookstores and online via multiple social media sites and the website.