Dancing Girl Press: Doesn't Send Out The Chapbooks After Payment
This is a little different to our posts about literary magazines, journals or retreats, because Dancing Girl Press is a publishing outfit that solicits and "publishes" work from writers. The problem is that the press doesn't actually ship the chapbook out after receiving payment. This is hugely disappointing for writers and readers alike.
Here's a screenshot from Dancing Girl Press' Duotrope page, calling the project one of the Most Unresponsive Poetry Publishers in their database:
And, perhaps most damning of all, here's just a taste of some of the Yelp reviews left by writers and readers who've had poor experiences with Dancing Girl Press:
It seems they will be opening for submissions again on 1 June 2025.
Did you submit your work to Dancing Girl Press? If so, please share your experience in the comments below, or fill out our contact form. Anything you submit can remain anonymous if you wish, but it helps us share literary magazines, publishers, journals and writing retreats that are suspected of treating writers poorly, whether that be through unethical, rude correspondence, or simply never responding to a writer at all.
2 Comments
I was so proud to have Kristy publish my first chapbook. I admire so many of the writers she's published and am a fan of her own work. That said it was such a disappointing, even stressful experience. I had to field multiple emails from friends and family who never received books or waited months for them. She was so late in responding. And in the end the quality was just terrible. I had to ask her to reprint a bunch for me and even those were only slightly better. So unprofessional looking. Had I designed and published the book myself, I could have produced a really nice chapbook and happily given it out for free to family and friends or sold it for a super affordable price at readings, etc. What would have been the difference? Mine would have been so much nicer. I have tons of ugly copied I've completely forgotten about. Press name recognition be damned!
ReplySadly, my experience is the same as others have shared. Because the press has published so many other poets I admire, I was delighted when my chapbook was accepted by DGP. But the delight soon ended. While I was generally satisfied with the look of the chapbook and received my own copies in a (relatively) timely manner, the process of getting books into readers’ hands was disastrous. Friends and readers placed orders, sent money, and received no books. For several years, I fielded emails from people frustrated with me because they’d tried in good faith to order my book but received nothing. I finally took to sending out free copies from my own stash of books to compensate those who received neither book nor refund. I don’t even list this chapbook anywhere on my website or professional sites because it’s too frustrating to have anyone try to get a copy even if they wanted one. It’s despicable and so disheartening. I’ve wrestled with whether or not to go public with my experience because anyone in poetry publishing is doing a labor of love and I know firsthand it can be a thankless job, but I’m frankly glad someone is calling out this press for its terrible practices. DO NOT SUBMIT to DGP. I know so many poets who have had similar experiences. Save your time and submit elsewhere.
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