Stories that you can relate to, stories where you grow with the characters, and stories that fill you with a range of emotions … sadness, excitement, frustration, hope, despair, inspiration, shock, surprise, anger, love.
Are you an aspiring author?
Do you think you can write a page-turning novel?
Do you know someone who is, and who can? (then please share this news with them)
We are on the look-out for the next Dudu Busani-Dube and Takalani M, and our SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN!
Our deadline for submissions is 31 January 2022, and we hope to offer, in our first year of fiction publishing, FIVE publishing contracts to FIVE talented writers. So, get going, and best wishes on your writing journey!
Read our submission criteria and guidelines.
ADULT MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS
Stories that you can relate to, stories where you grow with the characters, and stories that fill you with a range of emotions – sadness, excitement, frustration, hope, despair, inspiration, shock, surprise, anger, love.
Are you an avid reader?
Do you love reading Dudu’s or Takalani M’s novels?
Are you an aspiring author?
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 the reader is transported into the world on the pages?
Do you want to make money, because of your storytelling talent?
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
We want you to write a novel, where the reader will relate to the storyline because of their own lived experience.
But …
You need to be original in how you approach the ‘girl meets boy’ plot.
CRITERIA
Your manuscript needs to be well-written and between 50 000 and 75 000 words.
Your story needs to be written in English.
The plot needs to unfold similar to a soapie/telenova plot (and not some ridiculous, happily-ever-after romance) – think Muvhango, Scandal, Generations, Isibaya, etc. It needs to be real, raw, convincing, and it needs to be set in South Africa.
There has to be a protagonist (your leading lady), and antagonists (the men she meets, the women standing in her way of success and happiness), and there should be ‘supporting characters’ (friends, colleagues, siblings, family).
The reader must be able to identify with the setting. For example: the location, the culture, the times that we live in, the aspirations and struggles of the protagonist, the pressures that we all experience, and the daily habits of the characters (shopping, eating, transport, lifestyle, interests).
Your story needs to be a page-turner. We want people 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:
She is an upwardly mobile and aspirational black woman.
In terms of typical South African readers, think of the people who currently read and devour Dudu Busani-Dube’s The Hlomu series, or Takalani M’s The Royal Mistress trilogy.
She is between the ages of 18 and 40.
We will not be accepting previously self-published novels.
THE MOST IMPORTANT CRITERIA …
Writing a book is only 30% of the effort. The real effort comes after the book is written. Your book’s success depends on how you promote it, market it, and sell it!
We need you to have a dedicated social media following of your book, so that when it is published people will rush to either buy a copy from you, or from their local bookshop.
Have a look at Takalani M’s Facebook page to see how hard she works it: https://www.facebook.com/StoriesbyTakalaniM/
We need you to think about your writing as a business. If you sell 500 copies of your book, direct to your followers, you will make in the region of R43 000 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 any business that you owned, you could go on to sell thousands of copies.
DEADLINE and INFO for SUBMISSIONS
Our deadline for submissions is 31 January 2022, and we hope to offer 5 publishing contracts to 5 talented writers. So, ladies, get going, and best wishes on your writing journey!
On, or before 31 January 2022, email your final manuscript to us (submissions@incwadiyothando.co.za) as a Word document, formatted as follows:
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 are, and motivate why we should offer you a publishing contract.
Provide us with your social media URLs, and give us your plan on how you are going to grow your followers to 30 000 people (not just idle spectators on your pages, but followers who are very interactive and deeply invested in both you, and your characters) before the book is published (tentative release date of August 2022).
AND
Not only are we going to sell OUR author’s books from our site, but we have also listed a select number of BEST-SELLING South African books (fiction and non-fiction) to buy from us, at GREAT prices. Click HERE to have a look at our existing catalogue of books for sale. So far these are the fiction authors that we have listed:
Dudu Busani-Dube
Takalani M
Jackie Phamotse
Busisekile Khumalo
Yvonne Maphosa
Nozizwe Cynthia Jele
And in non-fiction, we have listed the most anticipated cookbook of the year, published by Jonathan Ball Publishers – the new book from best-selling foodie author Mogau Seshoene: Hosting with The Lazy Makoti.
Pre-order your copy TODAY at the awesome price of R289-00 (this book will be available towards the end of October).
Roll on 2022 so we can dazzle you with our INCWADI YOTHANDO books.
Tracey