Submit
Journal
We seek work that resists, interrogates, or experiments with form. Words that describe work that we (editors) have previously enjoyed and may wish to publish (non-exhaustive): poetry, intermedia work, visual and concrete poetry, essays, video poems, translation, hybrid forms, new media, hypertext works, poetry games, poetry in the expanded field, poets’ theater, sound. If your work isn’t described by any of the words above but you still think it might make sense for Ghost Proposal, feel free to send it.
Guidelines:
How to submit:
We only accept work through Submittable during our open reading periods. Click here for our Submittable page.
We are open for journal submissions from September 1–September 30, 2023.
We seek work that resists, interrogates, or experiments with form. Words that describe work that we (editors) have previously enjoyed and may wish to publish (non-exhaustive): poetry, intermedia work, visual and concrete poetry, essays, video poems, translation, hybrid forms, new media, hypertext works, poetry games, poetry in the expanded field, poets’ theater, sound. If your work isn’t described by any of the words above but you still think it might make sense for Ghost Proposal, feel free to send it.
Guidelines:
- Send us up to five pages of work. If your work is in another format (such as video), send us what you feel is the equivalent of five pages worth of work.
- A cover letter is optional, as is a bio. A lack of either will not impact our decisions. If you wish, you may use the cover letter field to give us context for your entry, provide instructions on how to view the piece, or to tell us more about yourself or your work.
- Simultaneous submissions are fine. Let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- There is no need to anonymize your submission; we do not redact poets’ names during our adjudication process.
- We accept translations. We do not require that the original text be published alongside your translations (though we do welcome it) but you must provide proof that you have permission to translate the work.
- We will notify everyone of our decision in advance of our publication of the issue.
- We regret that we are not presently able to pay our contributors.
How to submit:
We only accept work through Submittable during our open reading periods. Click here for our Submittable page.
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Ultraslant Prize
We are open for Ultraslant Prize submissions from September 1–September 30, 2023.
About the prize: Each year or so, the Ultraslant Prize is awarded to one work of visual poetry. The contest is judged by the Ghost Proposal editors. We accept submissions on our Submittable page. We will publish the winning piece as a printed pamphlet in an edition of 75–100. The Ghost Proposal editors will work with the winner to lay out the pamphlet. The 2023 winner will receive $250 and 10 copies of the printed pamphlet.
Guidelines:
- Please submit as a PDF document of no more than six pages.
- Your PDF may include up to two separate contest entries. If you are including multiple entries, please make this clear to us either in the document or in a cover letter.
- Entries must be previously unpublished.
- You are welcome to submit as many entries as you like, but you will need to submit a separate Submittable form and pay a separate sliding-scale fee per packet.
- We will gladly accept works in color—in fact, we strongly encourage them! However, please keep in mind that the colors may come out somewhat differently in print.
- You may include a cover letter along with your submission, but this is in no way required.
Reading fee: As a small journal and press, reading fees fund things like web hosting and printing. We will charge a sliding scale reading fee for this contest of $0–$20. Please choose whatever fee makes sense for you.
FAQs
What is visual poetry? Great question! We would like to find out, too. Send us your best guess.
Okay, but what kind of work should I submit? We are open to a wide range of poems that incorporate visual elements. People may call works like these visual poems, concrete poems, poetry comics, and lots of other terms we are forgetting right now.
Is there anything I shouldn’t submit? As opposed to a broadside competition, the Ultraslant Prize focuses on poetry that already has visual concerns. This is not a contest for poetry with separate illustrations alongside it. We would also discourage you from submitting video, audio, dimensional, or computational works, or other forms not easily translated into print. Finally, if your poem could also be submitted with relative ease and minimal adjustments to a contest whose guidelines read something like: “Please submit your poems in 12-point Garamond font, single-spaced in a Word document,” it is probably not a good fit for this contest.
2022 Ultraslant Prize Winner:
Ty Little for “Body Poem I.” Order the pamphlet here.
2022 Finalists:
P.D. Edgar for “@Beach_Bits” and “Tangelos[t]”
Julianne Neely for “TOODOO”
LORRAINE (duo Anne Marie Rooney + Sam Sheffield) for “Start To”
grace (ge) gilbert for excerpts from “holly”
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Ghost Proposal Chapbook Contest (currently closed to submissions)
Note: we will not be holding the Ghost Proposal Chapbook Contest in 2023.
We hold a chapbook contest every year or so. We seek cohesive manuscripts. We are especially interested in work that challenges genre/formal conventions. Visual poems, digital works and interdisciplinary approaches are welcome.
Contest will be judged by the editors. We will accept submissions on our Submittable page. We reserve the right to extend the deadline if a manuscript is not selected from the original reading period.
Reading fee: In 2022, this contest had a sliding scale reading fee of $0–$20. As a small journal and press, our reading fees fund things like printing and web hosting. Your choice of fee has no bearing on our decision-making process. Please choose whatever fee makes sense for you.
Contest Details:
- Manuscripts should be chapbook-length. Aim for something between 16 and 44 pages. If your work falls slightly outside of this range, it’s all right—please use your best judgment.
- Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please inform us immediately and withdraw your submission if the work is accepted elsewhere.
- No edits to the manuscript are allowed during the reading period. The winning manuscript(s) may be edited in conversation with the editorial staff during the publication process.
- Collaborative manuscripts are allowed. In the event that a collaborative manuscript is selected for publication, each author will receive 10 copies.
- Multiple submissions are fine if submitted separately with a reading fee for each.
- Images and visual poems are permitted and welcomed.
- You may include an acknowledgements page that lists previous publications, but this is not required.
- Manuscript excerpts may have been previously published. However, the chapbook manuscript as a whole should be previously unpublished.
- This contest will not be judged anonymously.
- We will notify all entrants of our decision before we publicly announce the winner and finalists.
We may choose to publish additional manuscripts as "Editor's Choice" selections.