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 2026. 

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 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may have been published previously in a chapbook, magazines, journals or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished.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.

$25.00 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.

The winner receives publication and $1,000.

Guidelines

• Submit one piece of fiction or nonfiction in a Word document up to 8,500 words or any number of poems up to 10 pages. Please double-space fiction and nonfiction entries.
• Multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions are welcome, but you must pay a separate fee for each entry and withdraw the piece immediately if accepted elsewhere.
• Entries must be previously unpublished.
• Standard Entry fee: $20. The finalists and winner receive publication in Action, Spectacle. The winner also receives $1,000
• Deadline: October 1, 2025

Submit

• https://balticwritingresidency.submittable.com/submit

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.

Express Edit: Poetry Manuscript Consultation

We 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 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 other poetry collections, 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

We 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 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 other poetry collections, 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.