We offer
- open call for full-length poetry manuscripts
- manuscript consultations for poetry
- online and in-person workshops
- chapbook contest
- Action, Spectacle magazine - www.action-spectacle.com
- Annual Action, Spectacle Editors' Poetry & Prose Prize
We are always accepting submissions for all of our offerings.
This is a non-contest open call for poetry manuscripts. We're accepting full-length manuscripts (roughly between 50 and 120 pages) to consider for publication in 2025.
The open category will run on a periodic basis. Typically, when one period ends another will open consecutively or soon thereafter. For deadlines, see our Submittable page.
There are no restrictions on who can submit or what kind of poetry--in English, or in translation into English--can be submitted, regardless of publication history or style. Collaborative manuscripts are also welcome.
Current and former full editors and interns of Action, Spectacle are not eligible.
Individual poems in the manuscript may have been published previously in a chapbook, magazines, journals or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished.
This is not a contest. Please include a cover page with your title, name, email address, phone number, and physical address. Manuscripts are not read blind. Also, include a table of contents. If applicable, please include an acknowledgments page, listing any previous publication for the individual poems in the collection.
The reading fee is $25. All fees go entirely toward making books. The winning poet will receive publication, $1,000 and 30 copies of the book. Every applicant will receive a copy of the winning poetry collection.
No revisions to your manuscript are accepted after you submit it. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Multiple submissions are acceptable, if you submit them separately.
If your manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere, congratulations! And please withdraw it via Submittable.
Thank you for honoring us with your work.
The Action, Spectacle Prose & Poetry Chapbook Contest
Deadline is December 31st.
$1,000, plus publication, and 25 author copies beautifully printed.
$23.00 submission fee.
Send 20 – 32 manuscript pages of poetry or prose (no more than one poem per page). It's fine if individual works have been published elsewhere, but the manuscript can't have been published as a whole before. (translations are admissible)
Include a title page, a table of contents, and an acknowledgements page (if any of the work have been previously published).
Your name and contact info should NOT appear anywhere on the manuscript. And filling out Submittable's "cover letter" field is discouraged.
The name of the final judge is not revealed until the end of the competition. We alternate between a male and a female poet each year as final judge.
The manuscript need not be thematically coherent or narratively related. Co-authored manuscripts are fine. Submitting multiple manuscripts is fine with entry fees for each.
Previous chapbook winners include Matthew Guenette, Nicole Calihan, Zoe White, Maggie Queeney, Mag Gabbert, Rachel Abramowitz, and Jenna Goldsmith.
Email balticresidency@gmail.com with further questions if you have them.
Action, Spectacle is a progressive bi-annual magazine of arts and culture. Our staff and Guest Editors--like Rick Moody, Vu Tran, CA Conrad, Rae Armantrout, Dana Levin, Phillip Lopate, Carl Phillips, Kimiko Hahn, Laura Sims, Cindy Arrieu-King, Bianca Stone, Juliana Spahr, D.A. Powell, Matthea Harvey, Amy Lawless, Simone Muench, Joshua Clover, Jason Koo, and others--select submitted work.
We read general submissions year round, and response time is 1 to 4 months, or less. We have no aesthetic, stylistic or theoretical allegiances or mission. Please submit only once per issue.
All submissions should be in English and previously unpublished online and/or in the United States and Canada. Simultaneous submissions are also absolutely fine as long as we are notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere. Cover letters are not necessary, but be sure to include e-mail contact information. We cannot offer payment for published work.
Below are the file types and sizes that are supported.
AUDIO
MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, WMA, AAC, AIF, AIFF --- file size limits: 50MB. No. of channels: 1 (mono) or 2 (stereo)
~~or WAV, FLAC, M4A (Apple Lossless) & MP3 --- file size limits: 360MB
IMAGES
JPG, PNG, GIF, JPEG, JPE, JFIF, BMP, HEIC, HEIF, TIFF, TIF and WEBP
Notes: Animated WEBP images currently not supported and convert to static images.
Flash files (.SWF) are supported but they must be added to your site using the Flash element.
file size limits: 25MB
VIDEOS
AVI, MPEG, MPG, MPE, MP4, MKV, WebM, MOV, OGV, VOB, M4V, 3GP, DivX, XVID, MXF, WMV, M1V, FLV, M2TS
file size limits: 1000MB. Recommended resolution 1920 x 1080px
Action, Spectacle is a progressive bi-annual magazine of arts and culture. Our staff and Guest Editors--like Rick Moody, Vu Tran, CA Conrad, Rae Armantrout, Dana Levin, Phillip Lopate, Carl Phillips, Kimiko Hahn, Laura Sims, Cindy Arrieu-King, Bianca Stone, Juliana Spahr, D.A. Powell, Matthea Harvey, Amy Lawless, Simone Muench, Joshua Clover, Jason Koo, and others--select submitted work.
We read general submissions year round, and response time is 1 to 4 months, or less. Please submit only Word docs. Please do not submit PDFs. Please do not submit chapbooks. We have no aesthetic, stylistic or theoretical allegiances or mission. Please submit only once per issue.
All submissions should be 20 pages or less, double-spaced, in English, and previously unpublished online and/or in the United States and Canada. Simultaneous submissions are also absolutely fine as long as we are notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere. Cover letters are not necessary, but be sure to include e-mail contact information. We cannot offer payment for published work.
Action, Spectacle is a progressive bi-annual magazine of arts and culture. Our staff and Guest Editors--like Rick Moody, Vu Tran, CA Conrad, Rae Armantrout, Dana Levin, Phillip Lopate, Carl Phillips, Kimiko Hahn, Laura Sims, Cindy Arrieu-King, Bianca Stone, Juliana Spahr, D.A. Powell, Matthea Harvey, Amy Lawless, Simone Muench, Joshua Clover, Jason Koo, and others--select submitted work.
We read general submissions year round, and response time is 1 to 4 months, or less. We have no aesthetic, stylistic or theoretical allegiances or mission. Please submit only once per issue.
All submissions should contain 1-5 poems, be in English and previously unpublished online and/or in the United States and Canada. Simultaneous submissions are also absolutely fine as long as we are notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere. Cover letters are not necessary, but be sure to include e-mail contact information. We cannot offer payment for published work.
6 Week Online One-on-One Poetry Workshop
Because these are one-on-one workshops, the start date, and schedule are based on student-needs.
Whether you need motivation to write, want to polish your writing before an agent sees it, receive one-on-one feedback on your first draft, or get guidance on furthering your writing career the Baltic’s consultants are here to provide support and structure for personal and writerly growth.
Wherever you are, our online courses bring the classroom experience to you. As an online student, you're offered dynamic lessons, compelling assignments, readings, and more. Workshops are tailored to the needs of the online student: flexibility in scheduling, ease of interaction with instructors, and meaningful and timely feedback on manuscripts.
Once you have signed up for a class, you'll receive a welcome email from the instructor with any final directions you might need before the class begins. Students in our online workshops need not have any experience taking remote classes, though some familiarity with the internet will make for a smoother experience. To minimize technical problems, students should have access to a reliable internet connection, and an up-to-date browser.
Regular mentoring sessions are arranged to fit your personal schedule and are conducted face-to-face or via email, phone or Skype.
Adam Day is the author of Left-Handed Wolf (LSU Press), A Model of City in Civil War (Sarabande Books), and is the recipient of a PSA Chapbook Fellowship for Badger, Apocrypha, and of a PEN Emerging Writers Award. His poems have appeared in Boston Review, The Kenyon Review, American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, Poetry London, and elsewhere. He founded and publishes Action, Spectacle.
Our goal is to offer support, motivation and inspiration while deepening your sense of a writing community, whether you write poetry, memoir, essay, or fiction, whether you are just coming to writing or you have projects underway. If your goal is to write engaging poems and prose, and perhaps that those writings might find readers in journals and books, then an academic degree isn’t necessary. Writing is a craft rather than a science. Practice and apprenticeship make it flourish.
Accomplished writers and teachers will provide guided exercises and prompts, expert instruction, help in developing your individual works and projects, help you stay on track, and aid you in answering questions about your writing and the publishing. During our hours together there will be productive accidents, discoveries, surprises.
These workshops and consultations are affordable offer up the skills, guidance, attention and professional nurturing that will help you expand your own writing skills and interests, deepen your knowledge of the publishing process, refine your already existing drafts and manuscripts, and help you get those poems and prose out into the world where they can be experienced by an audience of readers.
We will do this by way of unique writing and revision exercises, encountering writing in translation, cross-genre experimentation, discussions of journal and book publication, obtaining an agent, crafting cover letters and query letters, reading works by an array of writers in a variety of styles, and more. .All levels and stylistic interests are welcome: young and old, narrative and conceptual, beginners and experienced writers.
We will enrich our craft by reading and examining the techniques and content of both conventional and innovative published writers. Unique to the Baltic Writing Community, there will be some shared texts, but you will also be assigned some texts specific to your needs and interests. These readings will aid in perfecting voice and tone, dialogue, exposition, imagery, flow and pace, narration, character development, plot, narrative and setting, and more.
Our teachers have decades of collective teaching experience in some of the most highly regarded writing programs, publish with some of the most prestigious presses and literary journals, and have won countless fellowships, grants and residencies. Most importantly, they are fantastic at providing encouragement, a safe environment, and supportive suggestions for writerly change.
*Full refunds available up until 14 days before the start date of the workshop; after that, your registration may be used for a seat in a future workshop or you may always transfer your seat to a friend..
Question? Contact the Baltic at balticresidency@gmail.com
Weekend Poetry Workshop (6 hours; two days; includes snacks)
Whether you need motivation to write, want to polish your writing before an agent sees it, receive one-on-one feedback on your first draft, or get guidance on furthering your writing career the Baltic’s consultants are here to provide support and structure for personal and writerly growth.
In a weekend workshop, writers have two days to dig into a broader element of craft, through generative
exercises and on-the-spot feedback sessions. Want to learn how to pitch an agent, master the fractured narrative, or better approaches to transforming a draft into a finished poem? These three-hour
sessions hone in on a single aspect of the writing process or the writing life.
Adam Day is the author of Left-Handed Wolf (LSU Press), A Model of City in Civil War (Sarabande Books), and is the recipient of a PSA Chapbook Fellowship for Badger, Apocrypha, and of a PEN Emerging Writers Award. His poems have appeared in Boston Review, The Kenyon Review, American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, Poetry London, and elsewhere. He founded and publishes Action, Spectacle.
Our goal is to offer support, motivation and inspiration while deepening your sense of a writing community, whether you write poetry, memoir, essay, or fiction, whether you are just coming to writing or you have projects underway. If your goal is to write engaging poems and prose, and perhaps that those writings might find readers in journals and books, then an academic degree isn’t necessary. Writing is a craft rather than a science. Practice and apprenticeship make it flourish.
Accomplished writers and teachers will provide guided exercises and prompts, expert instruction, help in developing your individual works and projects, help you stay on track, and aid you in answering questions about your writing and the publishing. During our hours together there will be productive accidents, discoveries, surprises.
These workshops and consultations are affordable offer up the skills, guidance, attention and professional nurturing that will help you expand your own writing skills and interests, deepen your knowledge of the publishing process, refine your already existing drafts and manuscripts, and help you get those poems and prose out into the world where they can be experienced by an audience of readers.
We will do this by way of unique writing and revision exercises, encountering writing in translation, cross-genre experimentation, discussions of journal and book publication, obtaining an agent, crafting cover letters and query letters, reading works by an array of writers in a variety of styles, and more. .All levels and stylistic interests are welcome: young and old, narrative and conceptual, beginners and experienced writers.
We will enrich our craft by reading and examining the techniques and content of both conventional and innovative published writer. Unique to the Baltic Writing Community, there will be some shared texts, but you will also be assigned some texts specific to your needs and interests. These readings will aid in perfecting voice and tone, dialogue, exposition, imagery, flow and pace, narration, character development, plot, narrative
and setting, and more.
Our teachers have decades of collective teaching experience in some of the most highly regarded writing programs, publish with some of the most prestigious presses and literary journals, and have won countless fellowships, grants and residencies. Most importantly, they are fantastic at providing encouragement, a safe environment, and supportive suggestions for writerly change.
*Full refunds available up until 14 days before the start date of the workshop; after that, your registration may be used for a seat in a future workshop or you may always transfer your seat to a friend..
Question? Contact the Baltic at balticresidency@gmail.com
Express Edit: Poetry Manuscript Consultation
Our consultants offer rigorous, energizing
feedback, including:
An intensive reading of your manuscript by an
experienced, highly-qualified reader.
Thoughtful written comments, with suggestions
for revision and next steps ahead.
Depending on what you and your consultant of
choice prefer, a meeting in person or via phone or Skype to discuss next steps.
Express Edit = $750 (10 hours) - $1,150 (15 hours) This is a less intensive version of the comprehensive edit, which can range from a focus on content inclusion and ordering, or line editing, or a combination, where we discuss overall weaknesses and strengths, and offer specific line edits for a number of example pages, allowing you to revise the manuscript with those suggestions in mind. We will also offer ordering suggestions which will be more general or more specific, depending on which price/hourly commitment you choose, and suggest what, if any, content should be cut or if some might be added. We will also give advice on whether or not we think
the manuscript will be ready to submit for publication after revision, and if so, my suggested potential venues for publication.
The 10 to 15-hour options include a free 30-minute telephone consultation upon my receipt of the balance owed, wherein we can discuss your manuscript, revision challenges, culled content, writing going forward, manuscript submission strategy or other publishing concerns that you wish to discuss.
Please note that all manuscripts submitted to consultants must be 12pt. font.
You will pay a non-refundable deposit now of $250, and pay the remainder to the Baltic by PayPal or by check once we have received your manuscript and give you an estimate of the total cost.
This edit does not guarantee publication, but depending on what stage you are in in your work as a writer, how willing and able a reviser you are, and what your publishing goals are, it should bring you closer, possibly much closer. It will also assist your writing going forward.
Questions? Contact the Baltic at balticresidency@gmail.com
Adam Day is the author of Left-Handed Wolf (LSU Press), A Model of City in Civil War (Sarabande Books), and is the recipient of a PSA Chapbook Fellowship for Badger, Apocrypha, and of a PEN Emerging Writers Award. His poems have appeared in Boston Review, The Kenyon Review, American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, Poetry London, and elsewhere. He founded and publishes Action, Spectacle.
Comprehensive
Edit: Poetry Manuscript Consultation
- Our consultants offer rigorous, energizing
feedback, including: - An intensive reading of your manuscript by an
experienced, highly-qualified reader.
- Thoughtful written comments, with suggestions
for revision and next steps ahead.
- Depending on what you and your consultant of
choice prefer, a meeting in person or via phone or Skype to discuss next steps.
Comprehensive Edit = $1,700 (20 hours) -
$2,700 (32 hours) It includes detailed line editing (basically, we note everything we see that could be polished or improved, line by line), inclusion, ordering, title brainstorming, and discussion of overall strengths and
weaknesses, and whether or not we think the manuscript will be ready to submit for publication after revision, and if so, our suggested potential venues for publication. This option includes a free 60-90 minute telephone consultation upon our receipt of the balance owed, wherein we can discuss your manuscript, revision challenges, culled content, writing going forward, manuscript submission strategy or other publishing concerns that you wish to discuss, including how to partner with your future publisher for an optimal experience.
We estimate that a 50 to 70-page manuscript (including front and back matter) should take between 20 and
32 hours ($1,700 - $2,700). The range is wide because the hours required vary greatly, depending on the page count, how much work needs to be done, the accessibility of the style, and on how dense the writing is on the
page, &c.
Please note that all manuscripts submitted to consultants must be 12pt. font.
You will pay a non-refundable deposit now of $500, and pay the remainder to the Baltic by PayPal or by check once we have received your manuscript and give you an estimate of the total cost.
This edit does not guarantee publication, but depending on what stage you are in in your work as a writer, how willing and able a reviser you are, and what your publishing goals are, it should bring you closer, possibly
much closer. It will also assist your writing going forward.
Questions? Contact the Baltic at balticresidency@gmail.com
Adam Day is the author of Left-Handed Wolf (LSU Press), A Model of City in Civil War (Sarabande Books), and is the recipient of a PSA Chapbook Fellowship for Badger, Apocrypha, and of a PEN Emerging Writers Award. His poems have appeared in Boston Review, The Kenyon Review, American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, Poetry London, and elsewhere. He founded and publishes Action, Spectacle.
DO NOT SUBMIT HERE UNLESS SPECIFICALLY TOLD TO. This is a hardship application, and must be confirmed before submission.
Comprehensive Edit: YA & Novel/Novella Manuscript Consultation
Our consultants offer rigorous, energizing feedback, including:
- An intensive reading of your manuscript by an experienced, highly-qualified reader.
- Thoughtful written comments, with suggestions for revision and next steps ahead.
- Depending on what you and your consultant of choice prefer, a meeting in person or via phone or Skype to discuss next steps.
Please note that all manuscripts submitted to consultants must be 12pt. font, double-spaced, with the exception of poetry and screenplays/plays.
Comprehensive Edit
1 hour for every 30 pages read (1 page = 275 words), with limited line-edits, plus
1 hour for written critique plus
2-hour consultation, either in person or via phone or Skype.
For example, a 58,000-word novel (approximately 211 pages) would be: 7-hour read plus 1 hour for a written critique plus a 2-hour consultation. Total: $1,250.
You will pay a non-refundable deposit now of $500, and pay the remainder to the Baltic by PayPal or by check once we have received your manuscript.
Questions? Contact the Baltic at balticresidency@gmail.com
Express Edit: YA & Novel/Novella Manuscript Consultation
Our consultants offer rigorous, energizing feedback, including:
- An intensive reading of your manuscript by an
experienced, highly-qualified reader.
- Thoughtful written comments, with suggestions
for revision and next steps ahead.
- Depending on what you and your consultant of
choice prefer, a meeting in person or via phone or Skype to discuss next steps.
Please note that all manuscripts submitted to consultants
must be 12pt. font, double-spaced, with the exception of poetry and
screenplays/plays.
Express Edit
1 hour for every 30 pages read (1 page = 275 words), with
limited line-edits, plus
1
hour for written critique plus
2-hour
consultation, either in person or via phone or Skype.
For example, a 58,000-word novel (approximately 211 pages) would be: 7-hour read
plus 1 hour for a written critique plus a 2-hour consultation. Total: $750.
You will pay a non-refundable deposit now of $300, and pay the remainder to the Baltic by PayPal or by check once we have received your manuscript.
Questions? Contact the Baltic at balticresidency@gmail.com