It's been eight years since GA has featured a poetry anthology, so if you'd like to see them continue, please consider participating and supporting this one. April is National Poetry Writing Month, so this is a perfect way to celebrate!  The guidelines for participation are featured below and will also be posted in the Anthology portion of the Writer's Circle. 

2023 Poetry Anthology - Due: April 1, 2023

The 2023 Theme is “Exploration”

Feel free to interpret the theme in any way you want. The anthologies are not exclusive, but inclusive, so don't worry if you think your entry has only a tangential link to the theme. If you are inspired, then write some poetry!

Please read these submission guidelines carefully.

You may address this theme in any poetic style. Be creative! However, please note that this anthology, UNLIKE the other GA anthologies, is an anthology of poems. Therefore, no prose allowed, unless it is prose poetry.

Who may participate:

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. However, you must be a member here at GA with author or poet status (which is free and can be purchased through the Activities tab: Store link).  Please RSVP to the 2023 Poetry Anthology – Exploration event (can be found by accessing the activity tab, then events) to receive reminders and also to give the anthology team an idea of number of participants.

Submission Guidelines

Submission Date: April 1, 2023

Please Note:  Anthology submissions must be uploaded into Stories and the link posted in the 2023 Poetry Anthology Exploration Links topic, which can be found under the Anthology tab in the Writer’s Circle Club, by midnight EST April 1, 2023.   

Your entry must include the following:

• At least one poem – there is no upper limit; however, submissions may not exceed 10,000 words total.
• Posted as a single story submission
• A maximum of five chapters may be included (“chapters” may consist of multiple poems).
  • Due to site limitations, if there are multiple chapters submitted, one chapter will post every 24 hours. This is not something we can change.
  • When submitting multiple chapters, do not set a date for the ‘story’ or the chapters.  Site staff will set the dates for you once they are moved to the anthology category. The ‘story’ and first chapter will publish on the anthology release date, and subsequently, additional chapters will post every 24 hours after that.

Submission Procedure *Please read carefully*

Once your poetry collection is complete and has gone through your beta and editing team, please complete the following steps:

• Submit your poems into the GA Stories Archive. For help, please read How do I upload my anthology entry into GA Stories?
  • Make sure the story stays unpublished (DO NOT click on either the publish  or publish now buttons for the story itself or later when adding a chapter/chapters.)
  • Select “Fiction” as the category. It will be moved later by staff. 
  • Mark your story status as COMPLETE. Only completed works are allowed in the anthologies.
  • Please note that once you submit an unpublished story for the anthology, it will NOT show up in your list of stories for readers until the anthology has gone live.
  • Copy the URL for your story (not any chapter page) and paste it in the announcement topic so your submission may be checked to ensure it meets submission guidelines and can be moved to the anthology category. 

[*]Please do a visual check of your story once it has been uploaded to ensure that it posted correctly. If it did not, contact @Cia. 

IMPORTANT: Please DO NOT do ANYTHING with your story once it has been submitted to the anthology. We lock edits to anthologies, but we can only lock so much and making ANY changes can cause issues with the system. If there is something with your story that absolutely needs fixed, added, etc, PLEASE contact @Cia. Thank you!

Extensions

Occasionally things happen that prevent an author from meeting the deadline. If you need an extension, contact @Valkyrie or @Cia before the deadline (not the day of or after), and something may be able to be worked out.  If you have NOT made arrangements prior to the deadline, your anthology entry will not be included. You are welcome to post your poetry independently and include a story note stating it was originally meant to be part of the anthology.

Poem Titles

Please do not use the anthology themes or your GA Username as a title. Be as original as you can. In case of duplicate titles within the anthology, we will request that titles be changed. No foreign language or ALL CAPS for the titles, please.

Unacceptable entries & Content Warnings

Entries that are obviously unedited (containing many errors) or that violate site guidelines will be either declined or changes may be requested as a condition of entry. For information on what is considered to be unacceptable, please see the Story Content Rules FAQ. 

Please include a Content Warning in the story notes if your story contains sensitive content, e.g.: abuse-physical, mental, sexual, extreme violence, taboo topics, etc... 

Previously posted stories/poetry (whether at GA or elsewhere) are not eligible for inclusion into the GA anthologies.

Editing

All entries MUST be edited prior to being uploaded. If you need an editor, please visit the Writing Support Requests forum to request one. We recognize that poetry sometimes breaks the rules when it comes to grammar and wordplay; therefore, it is not a requirement for poetry to go through the Anthology Proof Team.  If you would like your poems reviewed for obvious misspelling, misused words, or something specific to the form you’ve attempted, then please contact Valkyrie and a proof team member will review your submission.

PLEASE do not format text beyond bold and italics unless absolutely necessary. Changing the font color, size, etc… or other excess formatting breaks the custom GA reader controls which are helpful to those who may have visual impairments.

Copyright

As with all content in GA Stories, the rights remain with the individual authors. Your story will post with a simple 2023 copyright notice, using your GA user display name. If you have another preference (for example, a different name, or a Creative Commons license, or specific copyright wording you'd like to use), please include that with your submission.

However, with this anthology, by submitting your poetry, you are giving GayAuthors.org first worldwide rights with 14 days exclusivity. What that means is you are giving GayAuthors.org permission to archive your story on its website, distribute it via RSS, kindle, iphone, ipad, eyeball…. And you agree not to publish it anywhere else for 2 weeks.

If you later decide to post your story at another site, please mention at the beginning or end of the story that it was first published as part of the 2023 Gay Authors Exploration Poetry Anthology and include a link back to GA if possible.

If you have any questions, please post them in the Anthology Forum or PM Valkyrie.