Shadow Poetry/Shadows Ink offers chapbook publication for all types of writing: poetry, short stories, quotes, songs, etc. If you are serious about publishing a small collection of your work, please review this chapbook section in its entirety for formatting options, fees, submission guidelines, and extra services.

We understand not everyone knows what a chapbook is, or how to go about creating one. Over the next few pages, Shadow Poetry hopes to answer any questions or concerns you may have about discovering how unique and rewarding a chapbook publication can be for a poet or writer, and the process you will experience should you be interested in creating your own chapbook with Shadow Poetry.

Chapbooks are a particular genre of pocket-sized booklets, popularized mostly in Europe from the sixteenth through to the later part of the nineteenth century and were sold by chapmen, certain types of peddlers. These books were used to hold stories, essays, children’s literature, nursery rhymes, folklore, poetry, songs, and documents on daily life, and were usually decorated or illustrated with the writer’s sketches or with crude woodcuts.

Chapbooks are making a huge comeback with poets and writers due to the unique design, format, brevity, and affordability of these publications. They are also a lovely way to share the writer’s work with friends and family in small volumes as well as network with local writing groups or online communities. Chapbooks are also a wonderful way to record and document yearly journals and poetry collections.

Shadow Poetry’s chapbooks are decoratively covered 5.5” X 8.5” staple-bound booklets of 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, and 40 pages (not including introduction pages), which may contain an about the author page, dedication, acknowledgements, and a table of contents along with poetry, stories, song lyrics, recipes, artwork, etc. If you are looking to publish a larger collection, then chapbook publication may not be for you unless the work can be divided up into volumes. Most Shadow Poetry chapbooks sell for $8.00 to $10.00 each, which makes owning one of these precious gems affordable for everyone! Many choices in cover designs and color, font styles, and formatting options are offered for a professional and high quality product.

Cover Example:

Online Bookstore: Shadow Poetry goes the extra mile after publishing chapbooks and offers them to customers through its online bookstore. With each manuscript that is published through Shadows Ink, the author has a choice of selling his/her chapbook on Shadow Poetry. Chapbooks do not have to be sold on the web site, and the author has the choice to select this option or not when submitting the manuscript for publication. If you are unsure whether Shadow Poetry will accept your manuscript/chapbook for the bookstore, please mail/email us a copy for possible approval or see the bottom of the "How to Submit" page.

The bookstore pages will feature a full-color display of the chapbook cover, excerpt, and other important information about your publication. Chapbooks are available for purchase to customers worldwide by mail or PayPal (an online payment service). Direct credit card payments are not accepted. Book reviews by friends, family and other customers are welcome, and will be displayed at the bottom of the listings page.

There is a mandatory $10.00 fee to setup and maintain the bookstore listing.

Shadow Poetry reserves the right to remove any chapbook from its online bookstore over time should no sales accumulate, the author requests it, or we are no longer able to contact the author.

By choosing to list your chapbook on the online bookstore, you grant Shadow Poetry permission to sell the chapbook within its web site for $10.00 each, take orders, collect monies from sales, and ship this item to customers at their own expense. Should any of the chapbooks sell from being advertised and sold on the Shadow Poetry site, the author is entitled to 25% royalties from each copy sold at retail. Royalty payments will be sent out quarterly. Each author will receive a personal login to access daily sale activity and check on royalty payments.