First Matter Press Submission Manager

Call for Submissions—2026 Prima Materia First Chapbook Award

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For a writer who is Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color publishing their first chapbook. Recipients of this award receive an honorarium of $300, publication by First Matter Press in a paperback edition, and 20 author’s copies.

First Matter Press is a not-for-profit publishing collective centering community and craft. In dialogue with editors and fellow writers, authors are guided in crystallizing their manuscripts, collaborating with a featured artist on original cover art, and publishing/promoting their book. Our authors own 100% of their copyrights and receive 100% of sales proceeds.

We expect that all authors who apply are open to our community craft editing process and to collaborating with us on the promotion of their book.

While authors may submit from any part of the U.S. (sorry, no international submissions will be considered for this award), we are best able to support authors based in the Pacific Northwest, as our community connections are most robust in Portland and Seattle.

For this submission cycle, our editors feel particularly excited about:

Work that pushes the boundaries of genre–this may be craft that can still be considered poetry, but the poems or structure of the manuscript departs from a typical poetry collection
Hybrid works combining poetry with essay or prose.
Chapbooks focused on a subject or theme

We will accept submissions from March 15 through May 15, 2025 with a release date planned for September 2026.

We are most interested in working with authors who:

Are first-time publishing authors. (We do welcome submissions from authors who sold less than 100 copies of previously self published projects.)
Have participated in a process of reflection and revision in community with other writers.
Have a complete first chapbook ready to publish and are interested in accepting feedback during the final editing process.

Publishing with First Matter may be a good fit for you if:

You currently consider yourself a practicing writer/poet and are ready to become a published writer/poet.
You enjoy developing your craft through community engagement (workshops, feedback circles, submitting to journals and magazines, etc.).
You actively seek out support and reflection from editors and peers but want to maintain creative autonomy.
You have a strong sense of your authorial voice, and the ability to sieve through reflection to determine what feedback fits your manuscript and what does not.

Please attach your submission in a single file (doc/x or pdf) that includes the following:

1. A cover letter that introduces yourself, offers a brief craft statement about your writing and your intentions for your manuscript, and answers the questions below:

What, if any, experience do you have with seeking feedback about your craft? Do you participate in any group workshopping communities?
Do you have a connection with the PNW? What does your network of writing/art community currently look like?
In as many words as you’d like, tell us about your manuscript's origin story. Please include some info around the evolution(s) it has gone through since its first beginnings.
During the editing process, we want you to be empowered to preserve what you feel is working best in your manuscript. What are some things you would like to make sure stays intact from start to finish?

2. A poetry or hybrid manuscript consisting of 20-40 pages of written material (not including table of contents, notes or acknowledgments). Please separate each new poem or section with a page break. Please include an Acknowledgments page if any of the included writing has been previously published or is forthcoming in journals or magazines.

3. A third-person biography (less than 100 words).

Your cover letter, your 20-40 page manuscript, and your biography should be attached to your Submittable submission in a SINGLE doc/docx or PDF attachment. For an example of a submission-ready file, please click here.

We can only consider submissions that include all the above elements. Only complete submissions that follow these requests will be read. If your submission is rejected as incomplete, you are invited to resubmit corrected and complete materials within the open reading period dates.

Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but please notify us promptly if your manuscript has been accepted elsewhere.

Please make sure your email notifications are turned on so you don’t miss a message from us! Please be patient with our all-volunteer reading team. If you haven’t received a response by August 30th, please contact us.

Call for Non-Profit Press Volunteers

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About Us

First Matter Press is a 501(c)3 non-profit writer collective based in Portland, Oregon. We began in 2018 by asking: What if it weren’t so difficult for first-time &/or experimental PNW writers to find a publishing home? This idea birthed a press named after prima materia, starting material for an alchemical reaction that is all around us just waiting to be harnessed. Since then our catalog has grown to 22 titles including those slated for publication in Sept. 2024. You can learn more about the poetry, hybrid and genre-expanding books we’ve published on our website.

Our fully volunteer board of editors supports fellow writers through an annual cohort that engages editors and authors in reflective, horizontal collaboration which we believe is essential to nurturing literary craft. We also foster the intersection of literature and art by selecting an annual local featured artist who collaborates with authors to create custom cover art.

FMP believes alchemizing prima materia among our peers is valuable, necessary work. We are seeking volunteers to fill roles in our growing community. Example volunteer positions include: Screening Reader, Copy Editor, Metadata Coordinator, Library and Special Interest Community Outreach Coordinator, Bookstore Community Outreach Coordinator, Social Media Coordinator, Newsletter Coordinator, Historian, Grant Writing Assistant, and Book/Publicity Design Assistant. You can find descriptions of these roles below. We are also interested in connecting with volunteers who may have other skills not listed here to offer.

Volunteering with FMP may be a good fit for you if:

You have excellent written and verbal communication skills in the English language, a willingness to collaborate with a creative team of writers/editors, and you are friendly and community oriented.
You’re interested in gaining experience in poetry/hybrid publishing, learning how a non-profit literary organization operates, building knowledge of tools and softwares in various areas of book production, and/or seeing first-hand how books materialize from initial submission through the editing process to release and promotion.
You’d like to expand your network by connecting with other writers who are passionate about literary craft and community.
You’re interested in serving as a non-profit board member or editor in the future.
You’d like to contribute to a growing community by donating your skills and time and have a great time doing it!

While volunteers may apply from any part of the U.S., we are based in the Pacific Northwest, and any in-person events will primarily occur in Portland and Seattle.

To share your interest:

Please submit a cover letter that introduces yourself, offers a brief overview of your intentions or goals for volunteering in the literary community, and speaks to the questions below:

What, if any, experience do you have with the literary community and/or publishing?
Which parts of the publishing process are you most interested to learn about?
Which volunteer role(s) interests you most?
What skills do you already have?
What skills are you most interested in learning?
How much time per month do you have available to volunteer?

If you are seeking a school credit internship position, please share more about the requirements in your cover letter and we will let you know if we can meet your school’s needs.

If you have a CV or resume you’re welcome to include it with your cover letter, but it isn’t required.

Please make sure your Submittable email notifications are turned on so you don’t miss a message from us!

EXAMPLE VOLUNTEER POSITIONS:

Book/Publicity Design Assistant

Volunteer Time: 5 to 15 hours a month during our peak book production phase (Mar-Aug); 2-5 hours a month (Sept-Feb)

Tasks:

Assist the press’s designer with edits to cover and interior book files as directed
Create print ready files
Upload files to printer
Assist with creation of egalleys, media kits and other promotional collateral