How to Format a Poem for Submission
Quick answer: How to format a poem for submission: one poem per page, a readable 12-point font, single spacing, your contact details, and the etiquette editors expect.
Format a poem for submission with one poem per page, a plain 12-point font such as Times New Roman or Garamond, single spacing with a blank line between stanzas, and the title in plain text at the top. Put your name and contact details on the page only if the venue is not judged anonymously; for blind contests, strip them from the document and the file name. Left-align everything unless the poem's shape is deliberate.
The purpose of all this is invisibility. An editor should meet your poem, not your design choices, and a submission that looks like every professional submission lets the language do the work. The exceptions are poems whose layout is the point, concrete poems, staggered lines, deliberate white space, and for those you format exactly as the poem must appear and often add a note saying so.
The standard page, item by item
Editors read hundreds of files, and the conventions below are what their eyes expect. Deviating rarely helps and sometimes gets a submission binned unread.
Anonymous contests are a different discipline
Blind judging means the poem file must carry no trace of you: no name on the page, no initials in the file name, and no author metadata in the document properties, which many poets forget to clear. Contests disqualify for this because fairness is their whole offer. When Writory or any scored competition says identifying marks void the entry, the judges mean the header you pasted from an old submission too.
The safe habit is keeping a template: one clean anonymous version and one named version of every finished poem, so you never edit in a hurry on deadline night.
Cover letters and the small courtesies
Keep the cover letter to three or four sentences: which poems you are sending, a line of biography with two or three credits if you have them, and thanks. Do not summarise the poems, explain their meaning, or mention how long you have written. If the venue uses Submittable or a form, paste the letter where asked and trust the system.
Follow the arithmetic in the guidelines exactly: number of poems, line limits, simultaneous submission policy. Editors say, with feeling, that a third of submissions fail an instruction on the guidelines page. Formatting is the easiest test in publishing to pass.
What poets can take from this
- Reread the venue's guidelines immediately before sending, not from memory.
- Clear document metadata before entering any anonymous contest.
- Name files plainly: poem title and nothing else for blind venues.
- Never send a photo or screenshot of a poem unless explicitly invited.
- Keep cover letters under a hundred words.
- Print your submission once; formatting errors hide on screens and jump off paper.
Try it yourself
Write a poem in which the white space carries the meaning, then write one sentence explaining its layout to an editor.
Questions
Should a poem be single or double spaced for submission?
Single spaced, with a blank line between stanzas. Double spacing is a prose manuscript convention; in poetry it destroys the stanza shape editors need to see. Follow any venue-specific instruction over this default.
Do I put my name on a contest entry?
Only if the rules say the contest is not judged blind. Anonymous contests require the poem file to be free of your name, contact details and document metadata, with your identity supplied separately in the entry form.
How many poems should I send in one submission?
Whatever the guidelines state, commonly three to five for journals and one per fee for contests. Sending more than invited reads as not having read the rules, which is the first quality signal editors receive.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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