Frequently Asked Questions:

Your Open Competition requires a reading fee? Why?

We'd like to have a large grant cover all the costs of printing and distributing this book, or better yet, have commercial sales pay all our bills. But we're not quite there yet. So, we charge a modest reading fee to offset many of our expenses and we try to provide a reasonable service for the fee:

• First, all of the money from entry fees goes directly into producing the anthology. Not a penny goes to support outside projects.
  
• Second, we do this because we believe in helping emerging poets, not to make money. The series editor volunteers his time, and the editor receives only a nominal sum. Each member of the reading pool gets a modest stipend of a few hundred dollars.
  
• Third, we keep our side of the bargain. We make every effort to show you the status of your manuscript throughout its time with us, and work hard to keep you informed of the reading pool's progress through our blog. We're trying not to be "just another contest," and we're happy to consider your suggestions on ways to improve our process.
  
• Last, we think our current fee of $3.50 is pretty reasonable--a modest donation on your part to help us help emerging poets like you.

Do the magazine and program nominations also pay an entry fee?

No. Those are free nominations. We briefly thought about asking them to sponsor their nominations with a nominal fee but decided that magazines and programs are 1) generally broke, and 2) encumbered by bureaucratic processes that make paying such fees difficult. We wanted broad participation and decided that some free nominations were essential, and also a good way to reward the organizations that support emerging poets.

Who reads my work and what feedback will I get?

Former Meridian staff and editors form the backbone of our reading pool. They rate your material in an online database. Alas, we cannot show you their brief remarks. We receive hundreds of submissions and have to move through them as efficiently as we can. Workshopping poems or having to craft a response that an author might read would slow down our readers too much.

How does your judging process work?

We normally have 4-5 readers take an initial cut at the submitted manuscripts and rank them. The readers review the manuscripts blindly and do not know their entry source (open competition, program nomination, magazine nomination). We pass somewhere between 120 and 200 finalists to the editor, who selects our 50 winners. Again, the editor sees no name on the poetry, only a tracking number. He/she then reports the 50 winning numbers back to the series editor, who "unblinds" the entries and contacts the winners. Every manuscript gets at least one reading. Some receive additional readings when the first reader wants a second opinion or believes another reader's aesthetics might judge the poem more fairly.

Do you publish the names of all the finalists who go to guest editor?

No, we do not publish the names of the finalists who go to the editor, only the 50 winners. While it is true that some magazine competitions do publish the names of their finalists, this is usually when they have one winner and a handful of finalists, not 50 winners and hundreds of finalists. We do sometimes quietly contact a few runner-ups in case we have a winner who later turns out to be ineligible.

What kind of poetry do you like?

Each pool of readers has its own range of eclectic tastes. We do like poetry that is accessible to a broad audience; after all, we're producing a book that is sold commercially. We're also looking at thousands of submissions, so a quiet poem about a solemn walk in woods has trouble competing against something more creative and energetic.

Who fares best, entrants from the Open Competition or the nominations from literary magazines and writing programs?

In 2008, we selected 24 of our 50 poems from the Open Competition. The numbers from our 2006 and 2007 editions were comparable. You can read a complete demographic breakdown of the 2006 edition here. Statistically, nominations from literary magazines have the greatest percentage of acceptance, but this makes sense: these poems have already been published by some of North America's best magazines.

What are my odds?

It's hard to predict how each year's group will fare. We suggest you look at the breakdown of the 2006 edition here. We have changed our eligibility rules slightly in 2007, barring 2006 winners from the 2007 anthology. The same policy applies for 2009: poets featured in our 2008 version must sit out for one year.

I'm unpublished, do I have a shot?

In 2005, two of our Open Competition winners were writers who had never before published a poem in a literary journal. In 2006, one was. In 2007 and 2008, none were. So it's possible ... but if you're just starting out, you might try literary magazines first, then us. If you jump directly to Best New Poets, you'll be facing stiff competition.

I published a chapbook. Does that make me ineligible?

No. Chapbooks are wonderful, but for the purpose of this anthology, we do not consider them "book length," so you can enter.

What is your distribution?

Depending on income and sponsorship, we expect our 2009 print run to be about 3,000 copies. Thanks to a partnership with the University of Virginia Press, we are distributed through Ingram and Baker & Taylor directly to bookstores. You will see the 2008 anthology on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and all the usual online outlets as well.

Who publishes this book?

The book is currently produced by Meridian and Samovar Press, a press founded by the series editor to produce Best New Poets.

Yeah, yeah ... but I'm still skeptical. I've entered contests before and never heard back. Do I get treated like a poet or like dirt?

Well, if you won’t take our word for it, here's what some people have e-mailed the editor about Best New Poets 2005. Let's start with someone who didn’t make our 2005 finalist list and was none-too-happy about our notification e-mail:

I doubt any of the poems that were selected are better conceived or expressed than the two I submitted. Let's just say they were not to yours or your readers' taste, and leave it at that. But spare me your feeble and insincere explanation. I doubt you regret the fact that my poems were not among the finalists. Or, if you do regret it, I hope it worth a year of bad dreams.
--An unhappy entrant

But here’s what two other poets who didn’t make our 2005 finalist list said:

I want to thank you for the respectful manner in which you have treated the poets with entries in this contest. I felt as though I was kept up to date throughout the entire judgment process. Thank you for making a timely decision.
--Poet #1

Thanks for the gracious turn-down, and congrats to the finalists and winners!!
--Poet #2

And from a few of our winners:

I received my copies over the weekend, and I have to tell you how wonderful they look, how absolutely terrific the poetry is. Congratulations on all of your hard work.
--Winner #1

[My books] came in today, and they look absolutely fantastic. Many thanks for all the hard work. I'm honored to be a part of such a fine project.
--Winner #2

And a few reviews of past Best New Poets:

From BookPleasures
From ForeWord