Eligibility: Open to any poet writing in English regardless of publication history.

Submissions accepted online only.

Please read the following instructions carefully:

General Guidelines (for all submitters)

We will accept submissions for thirty-one days, or until we hit three hundred submissions. Whichever comes first.

Submit a previously unpublished, full-length poetry manuscript, in English.

The Submission Fee is $16 and non-refundable. You may submit multiple manuscripts, but each must be treated as an individual submission, submitted separately, and each requires an entry fee of $16.00 per submission. Each must have complete contact info, etc.

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may have been published previously in a chapbook, magazines, journals or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished.

You may include a list of acknowledgments if you wish.

Please use a legible 12-point font.

We are open-minded about hybrid manuscripts but poetry/text must make up the majority of the manuscript. Rights and permissions for any imagery must be acquired by the author.

Previously self-published books are not eligible.

We will publish a call specifically for manuscripts in translation. For now, please no translations.

There are no length requirements save that book-length collections of poetry usually run between 48 and 80 pages of text. While there are no aesthetic parameters, you might want to familiarize yourself with our catalog.

Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. 

Manuscripts will be read anonymously by an Octopus editorial board. Selections for publication will be made by Octopus editors without knowledge of poets' names. Your work will be disqualified if your name or contact info appears on the manuscript. Our online form via Submittable will capture your contact information.

While there is a place in the publication world for AI generated manuscripts, for this current call, using AI to generate your manuscript, in whole or in part, will be disqualifying. Such manuscripts will be rejected outright and no refund will be offered.

In the event of a condition beyond our control (website down, internet down, power outage, or other extreme circumstances), the deadline will be extended and notice will be given along with the reason for the extension.

We only offer editorial feedback to manuscripts we select for publication.