The Virtual Artists Collective editorial committee operates by consensus, meaning that we seek "the sense of the meeting"--not a majority vote, not a unanimous vote, not a vote, but a decision we all support.

We operate as a collective--a virtual one--and that means there is no executive editor or editor-in-chief, no single voice that carries more weight than any other.

We publish poetry, so it is probably redundant to say that there is no profit in it ("ain't no money in poetry," as Guy Clark says, "that's what sets the poet free..."). Our first criterion is excellence and we accept for publication only the best work that is submitted. We do not accept subsidies from authors to publish their books. We do not require "reading fees" to read a manuscript. We do not sponsor or run "contests" for publication.

We do, however, ask that you query before submitting a manuscript. Send us a brief description and two or three poems. If we like what we see, we'll ask for a complete manuscript and give you guidelines for submitting it electronically.

Our review of submitted work may take several months. Every manuscript we receive goes to every member of the editorial committee, except for manuscripts submitted by members of the committee. If a member of the committee submits a manuscript, s/he steps out of the decision making process.

As soon as at least two members of the editorial committee have responded with a "yes," the entire committee is then contacted again for final input. If anyone says "no," the manuscript is (gently) rejected. We ask each member of the committee to give reasons to the other members either for accepting a manuscript for publication or for rejecting it. While we don't give detailed critiques to authors, we do try to give reasons for rejections.

If no one on the committee says "no," we go ahead with the project, working closely with the author on every aspect of publication. We currently publish five books each year. Our books are perfect bound paperbacks, printed on good quality acid-free paper, beautifully designed and with four-color covers.

As a collective that seeks to publish the very best poetry we can find, we are acutely aware of the cost of publishing books. We use Lightning Source, a subsidiary of Ingram, as our printer. They print books digitally, as they are ordered: on demand. They deal with bookstores and publishers, not individual consumers. In this way, we are able to maintain our backlist almost indefinitely. This printing arrangement saves us warehousing costs and various other "overhead" fees, and that is why our books are reasonably priced.

Our goal is to produce beautiful books of wonderful poetry, and we're confident that the books we've published so far speak for themselves in that regard.

Please take a look at our books, ask your local independent bookseller to carry them, buy them for yourselves and your friends, and get in touch if you have questions: vacteampoetry at earthlink dot net.