How to Create a Chapbook

With the proliferation of small presses, more and more chapbooks are coming onto the scene. And if you’ve been wondering how to create a chapbook of your own, I’m here to help.

What is a chapbook?

But before we dive into how, let’s define what a chapbook is. A chapbook is a small collection, anywhere between 15 and 50 poems, or 3 to 10 short pieces of fiction. It’s usually soft covered and can be stapled (if it’s very short), or perfect bound. It can be published by a literary press, be self-published, or win a contest and be published.

Whichever way it comes into being, the primary thing you need to know about how to create a chapbook is that it’s not just a willy-nilly collection of your latest work. A chapbook needs to capture the attention of your readers, keep that attention through the middle section and give the reader some satisfaction by the end. Nancy Reddy, poet and fiction writer, says of a poetry chapbook, “The poems should sit deliberately together to create a world.”

Also note that a chapbook is different from a selected and collected full-length book of poetry/short stories—which usually comes out after a writer has an oeuvre of published work/chapbooks, and which does not necessarily need to be as cohesive as a chapbook. I like to think of a chapbook like one might think of a chapter in a longer novel. Everything in that chapter should move the story forward and have a reason to be there. While taking a whole novel into consideration—like a longer collection of selected works—the individual chapters may be quite different in purpose, point of view, etc.

So, let’s look at some things to consider when you create a chapbook.

Before you begin

Your first consideration should be whether you have enough polished poems/stories. Polished until they glow! They do not need to be new. They do not need to be unpublished prior to being included. Some small presses, however, will have limits as to how many can be previously published. So if you are hoping to sell your manuscript to a literary press, or enter it in a contest, do read guidelines carefully!

Your chapbook should have a theme/repeating symbol/over-arching metaphor/overall narrative/timeline. You don’t need all these things, one or two will do. But keep in mind that the book as a whole needs to hold together with some sort of through line that makes it feel complete and purposeful to the reader. Do you have enough pieces that work together?

Content of a chapbook

Consider if you have enough pieces to be able to divide them up into discrete sections that fit within that theme/style/timeline. Chapbooks do not always have sections. But many do, to give the reader a place to pause and to understand that the writer has grouped these pieces for a reason that impacts the overall book. Do you need to write more pieces to fill out sections?

The first few poems/stories should tell your reader know how to read the rest of the book. These should be an introduction to theme and style. Consider a diverse and challenging range of form within those first few pages. This lets your reader know the range of the writer and what kind of book to expect.

Organizing a chapbook

Once you’ve made some decisions about which poems or stories go into which sections, check to make sure the poems/stories sit side-by-side in a way that enriches each other. Make sure a quiet piece doesn’t get lost in shouting.  And consider whether the ending of one piece leads naturally into the beginning of the next. If you’re working with a timeline as a guiding theme (for example, poems/stories about a certain historical period) does that timeline flow smoothly? Or is the book purposefully laid out in a way that reflects a more chaotic theme? Should there be discordant relationships between the poems/stories? If so, be sure it isn’t through happenstance, but through intention.

Print your poems/stories and lay them out over the floor. Stand back and get a bird’s eye view. Are there about an equal number of pieces/pages in each section? Are some sections dense with writing, while others have an overabundance of white space? Have you bunched some with the same form together, but not others? Or are they scattered randomly on purpose? Be intentional! If you’re not sure what order to put your pieces into, ask beta readers to help.

Other items to include

Be sure you have included your acknowledgements of poems previously published, your personal acknowledgments, dedication, table of contents, notes (if needed), and a section about the author. If you have other books out, or due out soon, consider adding a section of blurbs/praise for your earlier or forthcoming work(s).

Print and inspect your table of contents. Look at your poem/story titles and section titles. How do they play off each other? Should you change some titles? Do you look too repetitious when certain poems, or stories, are placed side by side?

Final touches

Be sure you have paginated and laid out your manuscript according to the submission standards of the press, or contest, you plan to submit to. Note: because of the trim size of many chapbooks, line lengths may be affected. If you are writing poetry in which the line length is crucial, double check that the lines will appear in your chapbook as you want them to appear. Check the number of characters and spaces you’re allowed across the page. And note if you have orphans—a line, or two, that carry over to the next page due to the length of the piece. Can you rewrite and tighten? It is quite all right if you have to revise a piece that was previously published. (You would still include such previous publication on your acknowledgements page.) TIP: I like to have longer poems start on the left-hand side of a double page spread and conclude on the right-hand side, so the reader can see at a glance that the poem covers two pages. However, unavoidably, there are times when the reader must turn the page to finish reading the piece.

Finally, do your homework before you create a chapbook. (Reading this post is a start.) A MUST READ is Nancy Reddy’s very specific and wonderfully useful article on making a book out of chaos. (See link below).

When you’re all set, submit according to submission guidelines. Then sit down, take a breather, celebrate, and get psyched to start the next one.

• Nancy Reddy, The Practical Writer: Order Out of Chaos.  Poets & Writers, Nov/Dec 2020.
• How do Poets Organize a Collection by Sarah Blake for the Chicago Review of Books. Nov. 2018.