The Process
Project Proposal
We read on a rolling basis. Please send 10 pages of poetry via our Submittable page. Provide a 500-word max. description of your work-in-progress and its current editorial needs.
There is a $20 reading fee, and you will receive editorial feedback.
Interview & Full Manuscript
If we decide to move forward with your manuscript, we start with a face-to-face interview. This is to ensure that we can easily communicate, and to set expectations for both writer and editor.
Ahead of this meeting, you send us your full manuscript and Tulipwood sends you a questionnaire to help center our conversation.
Editorial Meeting
Meet with a Tulipwood editor to discuss your goals for this work. Maybe your manuscript feels nearly finished, and you want another eye on the collection in order to push harder on prosody, emotion, and image. Or maybe you want to find structure for a loose collection of work. We make a plan in service of your voice and Tulipwood’s poetics. At this meeting, we also discuss contract details and editorial timeline.
Editorial Letter & Line Edits
After reading your manuscript, Tulipwood annotates the document with line edits and queries. We also write an editorial letter outlining our thoughts on current poetic successes, emotional connectivity, and opportunities for change and growth.
For language reference: we follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Our in-house dictionary is Merriam-Webster Unabridged.
Poet’s Response
You review the editorial feedback and respond to it. This is the most dynamic part of the editorial process, where the manuscript sees the most change and begins to solidify into its final form. Tulipwood is available for questions and discussion as you work toward a second draft.
At the end of this phase, you send a revised draft to Tulipwood.
Round 2 Edits & Response
This phase is a repeat of the first round of edits. Tulipwood reads your revised manuscript, answers your questions, and offers further suggestions for the fine-tuning of poetic craft.
Once you receive the second annotated manuscript and editorial letter, you respond in kind.
This can be the final step in manuscript editing, or sometimes we’ll move into additional rounds.
Additional Edits & Response
Since this is a process that’s tailored to the needs of the poet and their collection, we hold space in the process for additional rounds of edits. It’s typical to need to go back-and-forth a few times in order to perfect the manuscript.
Once all parties are satisfied, we move towards publication.
Design & Proof
Tulipwood sets the manuscript into InDesign publishing software and creates a proof copy for proofreading.
As necessary, we correct the proof and send that corrected copy to the poet for final review.
During this time, Tulipwood also designs a cover for the book. Authors have final approval over their cover.
We will ask your assistance in obtaining blurbs from your poetry community, for use in the book design itself and for further promotional material.
Author Approval
We did it!
You give your final approval and we send your book to our print shop.
Time to take a little rest, and get ready for the book launch!
Preorder & Printing
After your book is complete, we turn our focus toward generating buzz for your launch.
We ask you to reach out to your community and encourage them to preorder your book on our website.
This preorder period is an important part of the production process. It helps us determine how many books to print.
For our single-author collections, we follow a print run model (rather than a print-on-demand model) because it follows publishing traditions. We’re a little bit fancy that way. This model also ensures that the cover and trim is consistent across all copies of the first edition, first run book.
This is one of the ways that we create books as works of art, rather than as product.
Book Launch
Tulipwood releases our books annually at the AWP conference. We try to launch at an AWP offsite event, but we’re flexible.
Maybe your launch party takes place in your home city. Maybe you want to launch your book in Tulipwood’s beloved Seattle, a Unesco City of Literature.
All ideas are welcome!
At this time, Tulipwood is not in a position to fund travel for our authors. We wish we could!
Sales & Distribution
You are the most visible advocate for this book. The more public readings you give, the more you post on socials, the more you show genuine excitement for this incredible creation—all of it will translate to sales. We do the same, and more.
We work with local bookstores to place your book and support it with readings. Book fairs are always on our calendar. Whenever we travel, your book is in our backpack so that we can introduce it to new markets. It’s a great way to make friends, and it keeps us healthy!
