THE PRESS – The Braag Presents

As a result of receiving funding from New Writing North, The Braag will be expanding into poetry and speculative fiction publishing!

We want to build on our micro-journal, Carmen et Error’s ethos of small things done well (and strangely!). We are now CLOSED for submissions, bit will open again June 15th through to July 31st 2024.

Submissions Guidelines

Poetry Pamphlets:

A submission of 15 – 30 pages of poetry in a .docx or .pdf format in a sensible font and size. Please include a brief synopsis (up to 250 words) and a brief biography (up to 100 words).
Simultaneous submissions ok – but please withdraw your submission immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.
Writers must be currently based in the UK.
50% of your submitted work must be previously unpublished, this includes blogs and social media.
Translations are accepted where work is either copyright has expired or permission can be secured in advance from the writer or their estate. I am most interested in publishing translations that are closer to re-imaginings or re-writes of known texts.
Collaborative submissions are considered.

Prose Pamphlets / Novellas:

A submission of between 8000 – 20,000 words of flash fiction, short stories, or novella (novella should be 10k words plus) in a .docx or .pdf format in a sensible font and size. Please include a brief synopsis (up to 250 words) and a brief biography (up to 100 words).
OR a submission of around 3000-5000 words plus a 500 word synopsis/pitch of the work. Writers submitting this way must undertake to provide a completed manuscript by April 15th 2025.
This is our most experimental publication format, and we’re open to experimental and cross-arts work. Try us, why not?
Simultaneous submissions ok – but please withdraw your submission immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.
Writers must be currently based in the UK.
50% of your submitted work must be previously unpublished, this includes blogs and social media.
Collaborative submissions are considered.

Micro-Chapbooks

Chapbooks are nine pages formatted in a6!
They may contain poetry, microfiction, or a single speculative short story (of around 2.5k words)
Please submit your manuscript in a5 or a6 format.
Simultaneous submissions ok – but please withdraw your submission immediately if it is accepted elsewhere.
International writers are welcome to submit.
50% of your work must be previously unpublished, this includes blogs and social media.
Translations are accepted where work is either long-out of copyright or permission can be secured in advance from the writer or their estate. I am most interested in publishing translations that are closer to re-imaginings or re-writes of known texts.
Collaborative submissions are considered.

You may submit once in either of the pamphlet categories and once in the microchapbook category

Okay but what are you actually looking for?

Poetry: Look through Carmen’s past issues! I like poetry that is sprawling and speculative, where the last wolf in England may be hiding in stanzas thick as ancient woodland. Towering smokestacks are just as welcome, the landscapes do not have to be pastoral, they can be emotional—tapestries of family ghosts, spells, glimpses out of a moving train. I prefer richness of language over sparsity but can be convinced! High concept pamphlets (and especially micro-chapbooks) welcomed.
Poets I adore: Rebecca Tamás, Richard Skelton, Malika Booker, Jen Hadfield, Chen Chen, Jacob Polley, Harry Josephine Giles, Rishi Dastidar.
Pamphlets I’ve adored: Malkin by Camille Ralphs, Rootstalk by Ella Duffy, Reconstructions by Bradley Trumpfheller, A Protection of Ghosts by Natalie Linh Boldterston, The Firth by John Glenday
Hard sells: rhyming ballads, people who don’t read modern poetry (it’s obvious!).

Prose: Think Kelly Link, David Southwell’s “Hookland”, Italo Calvino, Susanna Clarke, Jeanette Ng, Natalia Theodoridou, Em Caroll. Strange and folkloric with a lyrical clarity. Anything a little gothic. Historic fiction with a speculative edge is welcomed. Remote snow covered cabins, distant planets with lush vegetation, witches penning the Voynich manuscript, faeries interfering with Venetian merchants, wyrms shedding their skins in deep wells, rotting seaside towns, spirits hiding in smokestacks, anything that could begin with “Once upon a time” or “back when tigers smoked tobacco”.
Hard sells: Hard sci-fi, excessive gore, non-gothic horror (zombies, axe murderers etc.,), portal fantasy, “it was all a dream”.

I’m particularly keen on working class narratives and work by global majority, disabled and/or LGBT+ writers! If you use any of these labels, please don’t self-select out of submitting. Writers based in the Raven King’s Country / North of England are strongly encouraged to submit work.

Contract

Transparency is very important to me, and an essential part of The Braag’s ethos—how can we remove structural barriers that prevent underrepresented writers from having a platform if we can’t talk about the things that are stopping them? You can request to see the full terms of our contracts at any time (this will not affect your submission in any way!).

Pamphlet authors recieve 10% royalties and five copies of their book. Further books can be purchased by the author at trade discount (50%).
Micro-chapbook authors recieve a £15 honorarium and a copy of their micro-chapbook, alternatively they can request a further five free copies of their micro-chapbook in place of an honorarium.

Why should I trust you with my manuscript?

I have a deep understanding of the indie press poetry landscape, both from having three pamphlets published and from working with the Poetry Book Society for two years. I keep up with over eighty publishers of poetry.
I have been guiding writers towards publication since 2018, with an excellent track record, four of my mentees have signed publishing contracts for pamphlets in the last year.
Your pamphlet will receive extensive editorial feedback, a launch, and be submitted to all the relevant awards.
Our books are in bookshops across the North and Scotland.
I’m a canny-as-fuck Northern dyke who will fight tooth and nail for you and your book.