Send your writing out � markets!
Lauri Kubuitsile | Friday August 18, 2017 15:40
l Penguin Random House South Africa
Penguin Random House South Africa is a merging of lots of different book publishing imprints.
They are made up of the imprints: Penguin Books South Africa, Struik Kinders, Struik Lifestyle, Struik Nature, Struik Travel and Heritage, Umuzi and Zebra Press. Penguin Random House South Africa (across all of the imprints) will consider submissions in the following categories:
l General and literary fiction
Narrative non-fiction (politics, current affairs, history, military history, sport, true crime, biographies/autobiographies, health and well-being, humour, business and personal finance
Illustrated non-fiction – nature guides and general books pertaining to nature and environment; children’s nature; travel and heritage; cookery, health, gardening, etc.)
l Children’s books
For fiction manuscripts, the imprints are Penguin Fiction and Umuzi . Fiction submissions can be sent to fiction@penguinrandomhouse.co.za.
They will not publish: poetry, short stories, religious fiction, education or academic work, scripts of any sort, fiction manuscripts that have been self-published, novellas, science fiction, fantasy or young adult fiction.
When submitting a manuscript send: three sample chapters, a one page synopsis of the plot (this is not a blurb, it is a summary of the plot with the ending included), and a short author biography. They also accept children’s fiction (books only) in English and Afrikaans and these can be sent to childrensbooks@penguinrandomhouse.co.za.
They accept nonfiction manuscripts as well. Follow the guidelines above, but send to the email addresses below. For all general nonfiction submissions email: nonfiction@penguinrandomhouse.co.za.
For lifestyle submissions (including cookery books): Linda de Villiers (LdeVilliers@penguinrandomhouse.co.za) For nature, travel and heritage submissions email: Pippa Parker (PParker@penguinrandomhouse.co.za).
(Although most writers know this, I will repeat it because I get asked this question so many times. You do not pay anything to submit a book manuscript to a traditional publisher (as Penguin Random House is). If they choose your manuscript to publish, you still do not pay anything. Once it is published, the publisher will sell the book and pay you, normally, between 10% and 15% of the money that they receive for the book.)
l Broken Pencil
According to their website: “Broken Pencil is looking for works of fiction that conform to no principles, no guidelines, and no preconceptions. We want work that hurts you to write, and us to read. Stories should be no longer than 3,000 words. Payment varies, depending on the status of our finances. Right now we pay $100 for pieces that appear in print”.
You can submit your story through Submittable from the link at Broken Pencil’s website here: https://brokenpencil.submittable.com/submit/12754/fiction-submission
l Red Room
Red Room is looking for “dark, disturbing, extreme horror and hardcore dark crime”. For short stories they accept stories up to 4,000 words that are well plotted. They pay 3 cents per word up to $120. They also accept similar poetry.
They have specific reading periods and the next one is from December 1 to 31, 2017 for their issue in April 2018. Very specific guidelines can be found here: http://cometpress.us/redroom/guidelines/. They also accept book reviews and nonfiction.
Submit via email to redroom@cometpress.us. In the body of the email include: the author’s name, title of story, a short description of the work, a short bio, and the word count. Attach the manuscript.
l Frontier Poetry
It’s not common to find a fairly good paying market for poetry. Frontier pays $50 per poem, but this is only for emerging poets. According to their website: “Submissions for our poetry category are open year round. It is open to any new and emerging author who has not published more than one full-length collection of poetry. New Voices are published online only and will feature a number of poems from new authors each month”.You can submit at their website using Submittable (https://www.frontierpoetry.com/submit). More detailed guidelines can be found there as well.
l The Introspectionist
From their website: “The Introspectionist publishes more intelligent and in-depth articles than your average woman’s magazine. We expect thought-provoking insights, uniquely informative pieces, and above all else, for you to show your work. Every article should have footnotes and links to where the reader can find more information. Reference peer reviewed articles from journals, books, and other high quality material”. They do not accept completed articles, only pitches. Each issue has a theme and on their website you can find their editorial calendar (http://www.theintrospectionist.com/Home/Submissions). They publish creative nonfiction, essay meant to persuade the reader to a certain position, and in-depth informational pieces. You can send your pitches to: submissions@TheIntrospectionist.com. They will not read already completed articles.