By joining CLMP as a publisher, you not only gain access to a multitude of CLMP services and opportunities, but you also become an active part of a mutually-supportive community of organizations ensuring that our literary landscape remains diverse, vital, and vibrant. What all CLMP publishers have in common is a focus on publishing literature and a commitment to doing so ethically. Read our Eligibility Guidelines for more information.
Full Membership is for those who have published at least one issue or title prior to applying and publish at least one issue or book title per year on an ongoing basis. Associate Membership is a single-year for those who intend to begin publishing soon. Associate Members may renew as Full Members once publishing has started. One-time annual fee of $50.
Full Membership Dues (based on annual budget)
| Budget | Annual Dues |
| Under $50,000 | $125 |
| $50,001 – $350,000 | $225 |
| $350,001 – $999,999 | $500 |
| $1,000,000 – $1,999,999 | $1,000 |
| $2,000,000 and Above | $1,800 |
Membership Benefits
| Benefit | Full Membership | Associate Membership |
|---|---|---|
| Consultations with CLMP staff (in person or virtual), including assistance with funding strategies, marketing and distribution issues, and financial matters. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Password-protected access to our digital Resource Library, featuring monographs, transcripts, tip sheets, and audio and video recordings of our technical assistance events. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Password-protected access to the Media, Funder, and Consultant database, as well as other members-only sections of the website. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Free access to our ongoing technical assistance events, including virtual roundtables and webinars on subjects such as social media strategies, how to form a nonprofit, how to produce audiobooks, contracts and copyright, distribution models, and more. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Free access to regular CLMP networking sessions, both to meet and exchange ideas with other mission-driven literary publishers and to forge relationships with the commercial publishing community and other allies, such as booksellers, translators, librarians, and literary event programmers. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Free subscription to the twice monthly Member Update newsletter, which includes news about and opportunities for our members publishers. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Free listings in our popular Jobs with Publishers and Calls for Submissions pages on our website. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Inclusion in our monthly and special-themed roundups of books and magazines, featured in our Indie Lit Update, a newsletter delivered to readers, writers, librarians, booksellers, and other literary stakeholders two times a month, and via our social media channels. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Featured listing in the online Directory of Publishers. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Waived or reduced registration costs on select workshops and conferences offered by other organizations in the field, such as the AWP Conference, the U.S. Book Show, the PEN World Voices Festival, the Frankfurt Book Fair, and more. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Discounts for printers and other vendors and service providers. | ✔ | ✔ |
| Discounts and special access to select CLMP Products and Services, including the CLMP Member Submittable Plan, the Firecracker Awards Program, and advertising in CLMP newsletters. | ✔ | |
| Access to CLMP’s members-only Google Groups. | ✔ | |
| Representation at national conferences and trade shows and participation in CLMP-sponsored indie lit fairs. | ✔ | |
| Membership to LitNet. | ✔ |
Software and Consulting Packages
CLMP offers a diverse selection of literary products and services for independent publishers. CLMP members have access to most services at no additional cost. The following are products and services available to publishers for free or for a nominal cost:
Magazine Circulation Database Template
The Circulation Template, designed to work with FileMaker Pro and used by most CLMP magazine publishers, provides a low-cost alternative to stand-alone database systems for managing submissions. The template helps literary magazines better manage their subscriber records, customer service, marketing campaigns, accounting of earned income, and more.
Updated as of September 2019, Submission Manager provides an online system for accepting and managing written submissions for a magazine or press. It’s easy to use, flexible enough to work with any submission and reading process, and available for free.
CLMP & Submittable, the submissions management platform, have developed a low-cost, flexible plan available exclusively to members of CLMP. The plan for new customers costs $39/month or $290/year, which is deeply discounted off regular pricing. Available to CLMP members only.
Eligibility Guidelines
All CLMP members are primarily English- or Spanish-language publishers that:
- are primarily literary in nature (over 50% of work published is fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, drama, and/or literary reviews);
- do not charge authors to publish their work (for example, hybrid publishers, vanity publishers);
- charge no reading fee or a nominal reading fee for standard submissions;
- do not primarily publish self-published work (over 50% of content published must consist of work by authors not on staff);
- do not primarily publish children’s literature and/or children’s work.
Overall editorial, literary, design, and production quality will also be considered. Applicants may either be nonprofit or for-profit, and may be located anywhere in the world, as long as they are mission-driven to publish literature. (*Note: Non-U.S. publishers are ineligible for regrant opportunities.)
