We believe that much good, even excellent, poetry remains uncollected mainly because of the cost of publishing.
Unlike a number of other small presses, many of which are businesses, SVP offers a non-profit alternative.
Essentially, poetry doesn’t usually sell in sufficient quantities to make money – thus the publisher’s charge to poets. You will be aware that some reputable publishers are asking for up to $6,000 from the author for a “slim volume” of poetry (say 60 to 70 pages) in today’s market.
In contrast to this, SVP’s approach is to assist poets to publish quality poetry in books, chapbooks etc, rather than to publish it for them in the traditional (or commercial) way.
Sudden Valley Press provides a guarantee of quality (through its assessment and editorial processes); guidance through the details of production, publicity, and distribution; and a postal address and a bank account to take care of the business side.
Our Process
When a manuscript is submitted to us it is first assessed by our editors (David Gregory & Joanna Preston). After assessment we make one of four responses.
An acceptance – perhaps accompanied by a small number of editorial suggestions. (Literally “suggestions”, i.e. we will not generally insist on them, but would like to discuss them with you.)
If the manuscript is close, or perhaps close-ish, to being publishable, we will suggest that the poet considers hiring the services of a highly experienced poetry editor. (We have the services of such an editor at our disposal, but the poet may consult whomever they wish.) If an author agrees to that general approach, we will then send the manuscript to the editor and ask for an exact cost for working on the manuscript. (Generally in the low to mid hundreds of dollars.) Note: We do not guarantee acceptance of such a re-worked manuscript. It will still need to be reassessed by SVP editors.
Not a publishable manuscript in our view, but interesting. This poet may well have a publishable manuscript in two or three years’ time. In the meantime we’re confident they’ll keep publishing/developing and perhaps re-submit at a future date.
That in our opinion these poems are not generally of a publishable quality. We strongly encourage the poet to continue developing his/her craft via wide reading of modern poetry, submissions to magazines etc.
Our process continues with the raising of funds from local and/or national agencies; followed by the production, publicising and distribution of the book.
SVP is a non-profit, voluntary organisation – i.e. we are not being paid for our services. We therefore expect poets to make every effort to carry out every task he/she can (and they are many). We can guide poets through these, and our oversight (and approval of details) is a necessity for all accepted MMS.
Sudden Valley Press 