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Submissions

Coach House publishes innovative poetry, literary fiction, drama and select nonfiction.

We do not publish children’s books, cookbooks, fantasy, historical romances, memoirs, mysteries, science fiction, or self-help books.

We receive several hundred submissions per year and accept only ten or so. Poet Bob Cobbing says, ‘The only excuse for being a poet today is to add to the quality of poetry, to add a quality which was not there before.’ We agree. We are interested in work that reconsiders or pushes against convention.

If you would like to submit, please take the time to familiarize yourself with the books on our list to make sure that you are a good fit. It sure won’t hurt your case to show that you know what we do and that you support it – maybe even by buying a book!

Please note the following:

  • We publish primarily Canadian authors. The reason for this is that most Canadian-owned publishers, including Coach House, are made viable in part by grant funding from federal and provincial levels of government. Access to these grants requires that we prioritize the publication of Canadian authors.
  • We cannot publish books that have been previously published and assigned an ISBN (including ebooks), or that will be self-published while they are under consideration at Coach House Books. We have found that representing books that have already been on the market presents considerable challenges to our marketing and distribution efforts.
  • We especially encourage submissions from members of diverse communities, including Indigenous writers, writers of colour, writers with disabilities, writers from the LGBTQ community, and writers who identify with other marginalized groups.

Before submitting, please read these guidelines:

  • For fiction submissions, send your complete manuscript, along with an introductory letter that describes your work and compares it to at least two current Coach House titles, explaining how your book would fit our list, and a literary CV listing your previous publications and relevant experience. Please include these all in one file (Word or PDF).
  • For poetry submissions, send your complete manuscript, along with an introductory letter that describes your work and compares it to at least two current Coach House titles, explaining how your book would fit our list, and a literary CV listing your previous publications and relevant experience. Please include these all in one file (Word or PDF). Please do not send us single poems or chapbooks, we are looking for full-length (book-length, at least 60 pages) works to publish.

**We will not be considering drama submissions until further notice.** 

  • For nonfiction submissions, please send a brief proposal and outline, along with your literary CV, and either a sample of the work, or samples of previous relevant writing.
  • Unfortunately, we can only accept electronic submissions via email. We'd appreciate it if you would name your file following this convention: Last Name, First Name - MS Title.
  • Please send your manuscript only once. Revised and updated versions will not be read, so make sure you're happy with your text before sending. If you would like us to direct the manuscript to one of our Editorial Consultants, please indicate that in the cover letter.
  • Please do not mail hard copies of your manuscript. We can only consider digital submissions at this time.

Owing to the volume of submissions we receive, we will not accept more than one manuscript at a time from one author.

Please advise in your cover letter if your work is a simultaneous submission (submitted to other publishers at the same time). Notify us promptly if it is accepted elsewhere.

Be patient. We try to respond promptly, but we do receive hundreds of submissions, so it may take us several months to get back to you. Please do not call or email to check on the status of your submission. We will answer you as soon as we can. 

Please email your submission to submissions@chbooks.com. In one file, attach your cover letter, manuscript/excerpt and literary CV. Please include the genre and title of your submission in the subject of the email. You will receive an email confirmation of receipt within a week or two. Please note that we are only able to consider digital submissions at this time. If you have any questions please send them to submissions@chbooks.com. Thank you!