Chapbook Summer

Craft a manuscript you can submit with confidence!

This program is for poets who are ready to move from scattered drafts to a finished, submission-ready manuscript. Over five weeks, you’ll clarify your themes, shape your arc, and leave with a small book that carries real weight.

What does the class involve?

Together, we’ll explore the art of assembling a small book of poems: writing new work, revising old drafts, discovering the throughline, shaping the order, finding the title, and getting it ready to share with the world.

Whether your chapbook becomes a submission-ready manuscript, a self-published zine, or the foundation for something bigger, you’ll leave with something real. Something finished. Something yours.

You’ll get weekly guidance and prompts via email, short videos, and thoughtful encouragement inside my private Circle space. There will be a community thread to share progress, and two live calls where we can brainstorm and share our work together!

Why learn from me?

I’m Alix Klingenberg, a published poet, artist, creative coach, and earth-centered teacher with over a decade of experience helping others bring their work into the world.

This course is rooted in my own experience as a poet and a reader of poetry. It blends the practical (how to order a manuscript, what contests to submit to) with the poetic (how to find the throughline, how to honor what you’ve written). It’s not about making your work more marketable. It’s about making it more fully itself.

I’ve published 4 poetry collections; 2 self-published, and 2 traditionally published (including my forthcoming collection, Quietly Wild, which is out this fall from Mandala Earth Publishing!)

My poems have been featured in literary magazines, anthologies, in commercial ads, and all over social media. I’ve taught workshops to hundreds of writers, from first-timers to MFA graduates, and I cannot wait to see your books coming together. 

I understand the vulnerability of putting your work out there. I also understand the deep satisfaction of finally seeing it in print!

What’s included?

  • Five weeks of carefully crafted emails that walk you through the Chapbook process step by step

  • Two live Zoom calls: an opening session to gather, brainstorm, and orient—and a final celebration and poetry reading!

  • Three recorded video lessons, each packed with editorial guidance, publishing insights, and ideas for structuring and editing your book.

  • A private community space on Circle for sharing progress and connecting with others in the program (this is not where course content lives, it’s purely for community)

  • Optional VIP track: personalized editorial feedback from me on up to 20 pages of poems (limited to 5 participants)

Pricing

  • General enrollment: $225

  • Discounted rate for paid Earth & Verse subscribers: $175 (feel free to subscribe over there first and you’ll get the coupon code for $50 off!)

  • upgrade to VIP track (includes detailed editorial feedback from Alix): $200 extra (so $425 total)

    Spots for the VIP track are limited to 5 and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.