What is a chapbook?

The term “chapbook” is derived from chapman, the itinerant merchants who sold them from the 16th–18th centuries. The prefix chap- comes from the Old English cēap, which means “barter” or “dealing.” Early chapbooks most often contained stories of popular folklore, children’s literature, ballads, and poetry, or tracts—political or moral. These chapbooks had a simple structure, most often bound with a pamphlet or saddle stitch. Several centuries later, the chapbook has been taken up as a form by presses for literary publications that are shorter than full-length collections and usually printed in smaller editions.

What’s a typical length for the chapbooks published by Moon in the Rye Press’s chapbook initiative?

We use, for our standard print dimensions, a 4.25” x 8” page–roughly, half of a letter-sized sheet of paper. Within those parameters, our page count has ranged from 35-55 pages, including front and back matter (publication page, title page, table of contents, acknowledgements, and colophon). Practically, this has meant about 20-24 pages of poems, in a standard Word document. (This is not a restrictive number, but it does reflect what we typically work with, and what is fairly typical of chapbook presses.)

What’s the process like for creating a chapbook?

Since this is a public arts project, funded for the most part by the state of Utah’s poet laureate program (within the Division of Arts and Museums), the aim of the press is to create a valuable, enriching experience for the author. Each writer assembles a rough manuscript, which serves as the basis of a manuscript consultation with the poet laureate. The feedback from this consultation is the writer’s to do with as they see fit. The writer then resubmits the manuscript in close-to-final form. The author has significant input into the cover and other design features of the chapbook. The Moon in the Rye Press designer, Jem Ashton, creates a draft of the book interior and cover, for feedback from the author. After this iterative design process, the book goes to print. The standard edition for this project is 50 copies per author. The author retains the print-ready design files for their own use, future reprints, and the like.

What about a multi-author chapbook?

We are especially interested in working with writing groups and writing partnerships. The same basic process described above applies. We expand the print edition for multi-author chapbooks, depending on the number of authors involved.

What will my chapbook look like?

We’ve worked in partnership with our printer to find an elegant but simple binding. You can opt for a color cover. We’ve chosen high quality, durable papers both for the interiors and the covers, with the result that the books look and feel professionally designed and executed. Like most chapbooks today and yesterday, ours are bound with a saddle stitch.

Will there be an archive of this initiative?

Yes. This website is a repository of all the works published by Moon in the Rye Press, making the writing herein a snapshot of some of the varied and beautiful written work being made by Utah writers during this period. We also keep a small print archive. 

What if I want more than fifty copies?

You have a couple of options. You can take the print-ready files to another printer and get more copies made. Or you can tell us you want more copies when we make the original printing, and reimburse the Press for the copies–made at cost, no markup.

What might I do with my copies of the chapbook, once I have them?

You can do as you like with them: create a community event to read and share work, donate to little free libraries, sell them, give them as gifts, exchange with other writers…we want to see your writing out in the world, and are happiest when we see that happen. If you have events, give us a shout so we can help you boost and publicize them!

If I want to be part of this project, what do I do?

E-mail us at moonintheryepress@gmail.com, and we’ll get the ball rolling.