Poetry Manuscripts

2012 Contest Now Closed 

2013 Early Bird Entries Will Be Accepted Beginning December 1 2012. Early Birds Have the Chance to Receive Editors Feedback, Revise Their Entries, and Resubmit!! Visit Us Again Between 12/1 and 2/1/2012 To Take Advantage of These Opportunities PLUS Recieve an Early Bird Discount on Your Entry!!

Discovering the Undiscovered 2012: Collected Poetry Competition

$450 Grand Prize & Publication Offers for winning manuscripts!

Open to any book-length poetry manuscript or collection of poetry. All Publication offers are optional.

Submission Guidelines:

• Manuscripts between 35 and 200 pages. Our editors will, unlike most book-length contests, make exceptions on length. Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  for special permissions.
• Book-length poetry manuscripts may be any styles and portions may have been previously published.
• All manuscripts must be in a standard 12 point font, reasonably edited for grammar and typographical errors, and sent electronically. We do not accept postal entries. Enough paper is wasted on this planet as it is.
• Judging is blind at all levels. What that means is that the author’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript.
• Submissions should uploaded through our online submission manager and include the author’s name, mailing address, email address, phone Number, and title of entry in the comments section of the submission form. Judging is blind so it’s very important entrants include all required information in the proper place. DO NOT Include this information anywhere within the uploaded manuscript file.
• Initial judging will be conducted by a network of published writers and editors selected by Grace Notes Books. Finalists will be determined by a staff of editors from Grace Notes Books, NOTES Magazine, and Notesandgracenotes.com. Final judging will be conducted by Grace Notes Book’s primary editors.
• All entrants have the opportunity to receive feedback on their entry. If you desire feedback, please be sure to select the correct entry trype. Standard entries will not receive notes.
• A non-refundable entry fee of $17 must accompany each manuscript. While we wish this were not required, we are a fledgling publishing company chasing a dream (in the middle of an economic crisis) and an entry fee is a necessary evil. Entry fees will be contributed to prizes, with a percentage being donated to the free bi-monthly competitions hosted at notesandgracenotes.com, publishing costs for the winning title, and marketing for the winning book. In researching the subject of entry fees in similar competitions, we are confident you will find this fee more reasonable than most. There are competitions that charge as much (Often more!) for the entry of a single short story or poem.

Prizes & Publishing Information

• Winning authors are not obligated to accept the publication offered by Grace Notes Books in order to receive their winnings. This is an optional offer.
• The winning entry will receive a publication offer for their manuscript, a standard publishing contract offer of 15% of the cover price (retail is generally $12.99 for our trade paperbacks), and the choice of either a $450 cash prize or an advance $250 against royalties.
• The winning author will receive 3 contributor's copies of their book upon publication.
• All finalists will be considered by Grace Notes Books for future publication and those offers may be made at the end of the competition.
• In the case of a tie, winnings will be divided among entrants but the publishing options will remain the same and both manuscripts will be published.

All prizes will be paid upon publication of the winning titles. If the winning author turns down the publishing offer, prizes will be paid on the date publication would have taken place.

In the event that the winning author declines the publishing offer:

• Grace Notes Books will select another of the top three entries for the publication offer.
• The winning author will receive the cash and product prizes they are entitled to. The publication offer that is made to a runner-up in this even may or may not come with an offer of advance payment, depending on funding at the time such an offer is made.

Just So We Understand Each Other…

• By entering this competition you are acknowledging that you have read and agree to abide by these rules and that you may be disqualified for breaching these rules without a refund of your entry fee. You are acknowledging that you understand the publishing offers to be presented and that you are under no obligation to accept the publishing offer should your manuscript be selected as the winner.

Our Mission

Grace Notes Books seeks works of quality and we do not believe that genre restricts quality. A great writer is a great writer whether they’re writing staunch literary epics or fun science fiction stories. We really enjoy stories that push the boundaries, blending styles, stories that have a strong entertainment value and are executed in the finest literary styling.  In other words: Send us anything and everything-- as long as it’s wonderful.

We are not interested in pornography for the sake of pornography; graphic elements are acceptable but must be pertinent to the work itself.

Competition Timeline:

• Contest Begins November 1, 2011
• Final deadline October 31st, 2012 EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 5TH!
• Finalists Announced November 20, 2012
• Winners announced November 30, 2012
• All feedback sent by the end of the year
• Winning Book Published February 2013

Our 2012 Competition is now closed. Visit on December 1 for information on our 2013 contests and to enter as an Early Bird for spediscounts as well as the chance to receive early feedback and re-submit revisions later in the contest. Revisions are not accepted from any entrants aside from early entrants.

Click Here to Enter And To Receive FEEDBACK On Your Entry

Click Here To Enter WITHOUT RECEIVING FEEDBACK

Note: Prior deadline dates were an error. Please see the corrected dates for finalist announcements.