TEEN MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS
We’re going to publish books that TEENS want to read!
Stories that they can relate to, stories where they grow with the characters, and stories that fill them with a range of emotions – sadness, excitement, frustration, hope, despair, inspiration, shock, surprise, anger, love.
AND OUR SURPRISE ELEMENT?
We don’t want adults writing for the Young Adult reading market. We want TEENS to write books for their FRIENDS and FAM.
After all, they know what life is like as a young adult. They know and experience things today that even someone in their late-20s cannot imagine.
So …
Are you between the ages of 15 and 20 years old (as at 31 December 2022)?
Do you devour books in your spare time?
Do you love reading any book that is marketed as a Young Adult read?
Do you love English at school, and even more especially the creative writing component of this subject?
Do you have an idea in your head and think you can write a book where the characters and storyline are so compelling and so authentic, that your friends will be transported into the world on the pages?
Do you want to make money, young and budding author (or collaborating teen authors), because of your storytelling talent?
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Then we have exciting news for you …
We want YOU to write a novel, or you can COLLABORATE WITH SOME OF YOUR FRIENDS to write a novel.
But …
You need to be original in how you approach your storyline. You can choose the time-setting for your writing – it could be a novel set in modern-day times, or ‘olden-day times’, or perhaps even in a dystopian world. And you can decide on the genre, for example – romance, adventure, diary-format, mystery, fantasy, friendship, family, crime thriller, humour, coming-of-age, identity, societal issues.
CRITERIA
You must be between the ages of 15 and 20 years old (as at 31 December 2022).
Your manuscript needs to be well-written and between 40 000 and 50 000 words.
Your story needs to be written in English.
Your reader must be able to identify with the content you are writing about.
Your story needs to be a page-turner. We want teens, who read a chapter, and despite saying to themselves, “This is the last chapter I am reading tonight; I really need to go to sleep,” find themselves reading five more chapters because they cannot wait to see what happens next!
Your plot and characters, ideally, should lend themselves to two more books (ie a trilogy). Think, while you are writing, about taking the main character forward in book number 2 and 3, killing off a few characters, expanding on the life of a sub-character, introducing some new people, introducing some new lived experiences.
You need to keep in mind WHO your ‘reading audience’ is … they are between the ages of 13 and 21.
THE MOST IMPORTANT CRITERIA …
Trust us; we know that writing a book is NOT easy! But, guess what? That is just the beginning of any author’s life, regardless of whether you are 15 or 45. The real effort comes AFTER the book is written and published. Your book’s success depends on how YOU and YOUR FRIENDS promote it, market it, and sell it on your social media platforms!
And that’s where we hope you have had enough lessons at school on how to be an entrepreneur ☺
Are you on TikTok?
Are you on Instagram?
Important social media platforms for the Young Adult Book Market are TikTok (especially the category of BookTok), Instagram, Discord, Twitch and Snapchat. The more you, and your followers, talk about your book, the more it will sell – you need to create the INTEREST and the DEMAND.
And this is where thinking as a young entrepreneur comes in – you need to think about your writing as a business. If you sell just 50 copies of your book, direct to your friends and followers, you will make in the region of R3 415 profit (and you will also earn royalties on the books that are sold in bookshops, through Incwadi Yothando).
And if you market both yourself and your book well, like you would need to for any business that you have started, you could go on to sell HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS, of copies.
Pretty cool pocket money, hey?
DEADLINE and INFO for SUBMISSIONS
Our deadline for submissions is 31 July 2022, and we hope to offer THREE publishing contracts to THREE talented teen writers (be it individually, or as ‘collaborative teams’).
So guys, get going, and best wishes on your writing journey!
On, or before 31 July 2022, email your final manuscript to us (submissions@incwadiyothando.co.za) as a Word document, formatted as follows: Calibri 11 points, 1.5 line spacing, ranged left (not justified).
Include a synopsis of your book in your email – this is an outline or summary of your story, plot outline, character development and story/conflict resolution.
Tell us who you, or who you and your collaborating co-authors are, and motivate why we should offer you a publishing contract.
Provide us with your current social media URLs, and give us your marketing plan on how you are going to grow your fan base in each space.
Click HERE to download a one-document information sheet for our ‘Call for Teen Submissions’.
SEND US YOUR MANUSCRIPT
Include a synopsis of your book
3 PUBLISHING CONTRACTS
We hope to offer 3 publishing contracts to 3 talented writers
DEADLINE
31 July 2022
