Where to find calls for submissions for poetry anthologies

Since 2020 I was very focused on becoming more widely published as a poet. My original goal was to be published in 6 anthologies so that I could have an official listing on the Poets & Writers‘ directory. By 2025 that number blossomed to 95 anthologies.

I got pretty good at locating opportunities, and began to share them with members of the Vallejo Poetry Society. Because it became too labor intensive, I have taken a step back from local event promotion and searching for these calls, so I am sharing all of my tips and tricks to find anthologies below. My submissions queue is empty due to writer’s block, and I’m taking a break for an indefinite period of time until the muse decides to grace me with inspiration again.

Duotrope’s submissions calendar is a useful in finding anthology calls by reputable publishers, but it requires a subscription. Submittable’s Discover tool will bring up current listings when you type in anthology as a keyword. Both of these services are useful for keeping track of which poem was submitted to what publication.

Some publishers like Moonstone Arts Center and Alien Buddha Press have multiple calls for submission on a regular basis, and have a proven publication history. I’d also recommend checking for submission calls from Vagabond Books, Inner Child Press, B Cubed Press, Colossus Press, CivicLeicester, and Pure Slush. You can see a list of my publications and use your favorite search engine to find their official websites and check for open calls. The non-anthology publications that have featured me the most are Emerge Magazine, the Benicia Herald’s Going the Distance column, and Fevers of the Mind.

Some San Francisco Bay Area groups put out an annual anthology, including the Benicia First Tuesday Poets, the Marin Poetry Center, the Ina Coolbrith Circle , the Redwood Writers Club, the Napa Valley Writers, and the Revolutionary Poets Brigade. Some of these groups require membership and dues prior to submission. Festivals like the Rio Grande Valley Poetry Festival, National Beat Poetry Festival, and Waco Word Fest also publish anthologies.

I found anthology calls on social media by using various search terms like “send poems anthology” or “email poems anthology” or “submissions poetry anthology.” Using Facebook’s search tool limit the search to recent posts within the current year to narrow it down to currently open calls for submission. There are also numerous Call for Submissions groups on Facebook and other social media websites.

Authors Publish, Write.Info, Rick Lupert’s Poetry Super Highway, Deborah Fruchey’s Strictly East, Trish Hopkinson, Erica Verrillo, Cathy Bryant, and Erika Dreifus are great resources for poets looking for opportunities. 

There are so many opportunities out there that if you hold out for the right one, you won’t be paying someone to reject your work. Publishers vary in practice from those who charge a reader fee or ask that you buy a copy of the paperback to those who will pay you for your submission and/or give you a pdf or paperback copy of the final product. It’s up to your budget what opportunities you decide to pursue.

I recommend researching the publisher to make sure the publisher is a legitimate organization with a real web presence run by an experienced editor. If they are looking to charge you a ridiculous fee to be published or charge the reader a hundreds of dollars to read the final book, it is most likely a vanity press or a scam. Winning Writers and the Library of Congress both have a great list of vanity publishers to avoid. Check websites like Writer Beware for the latest news on author scams. They had a great article in 2021 on City Limits Publishing. I was one of the poets who won one of their contests in 2020 and was never paid.

In the 1990s I also fell for the International Library of Poetry scam when I was a child, but my parents were wise enough to never pay them any money. In my 30s I tried to seek out a copy of the handful of out of print anthologies that I was supposedly published in, contacting libraries to confirm and buying used copies from eBay, but my poems were not included nor listed in the index. For a short period of time at the turn of the century their website did have one of my childhood poems published on it, but I never found any evidence it was ever included in a print anthology. I forget which poem.

I feel accomplished enough to let go of my practice of regularly seeking out publication opportunities. I hope the links provided in this post help you find some success.

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