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Unbound

Ah. The ups and downs of the writing life. Don't you just love them? Yesterday, I got really excited after reading in my local paper that a publishing company called Unbound (not to be confused with the Glasgow-based independent publishers Unbound Press) had come up with the idea of giving authors an opportunity to pitch their ideas for books online and have them voted for by readers. If the book receives enough votes, the readers pledge to support the author financially in return for various "rewards" such as having their name in the book, being invited to the launch party etc.

Sounds great, I thought and as the particular piece in question was aimed at children and teenagers, I immediately started thinking about how I could promote some of my (as yet unpublished) children's novels on the site.

My excitement lasted approximately 24 hours when my bubble was burst by an article on the same company in the August edition of Writers' News. Although the original article didn't mention this, Unbound is currently only interested in submissions from already published authors or those who have literary agents.

So it's back to the writing board for me but if you fall into either of the above categories and feel that this might be something you could be interested in, then why not take a look at Unbound's website http://www.unbound.co.uk Good luck!    

Comments

  1. Anonymous13 August 2011 at 06:38

    Sounds as if your local paper should have made it clearer what the conditions were. Why should it be restricted to published writers or those with an agent? Surely it would be better for this publisher to encourage new writing - but I suppose that's too risky from their point of view. Material for an article here or at least a letter to WM/WN?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Melissa Lawrence13 August 2011 at 19:27

    I agree! Thanks Vanessa. I'll definitely think about a letter.

    ReplyDelete

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