Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Untreed Reads - Middle Grade Anthology Call

Untreed Reads has a second Thanksgiving anthology open for submissions.  This one is aimed at middle grade students.  Here's the details as they came through SMFS today.

Why should adults have all the fun? We've done The Killer Wore Cranberry for four years now, but we've left out the most important people. The kids.

Welcome to the Call For Submissions for The Killer Wore Cranberry: Trouble at the Kids' Table.

As in the previous anthologies, all the stories contained within must be about mayhem happening at Thanksgiving, and must feature a typical Thanksgiving dish as a vital part of the story (i.e.: turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie). The target audience for this anthology is the middle grade reader, so ages 8-12. Most importantly…it must be funny! This anthology is all about making middle readers laugh while enjoying a great mystery short at the same time. Think the humor of characters such as Big Nate, Wimpy Kid, Babymouse and others. 

The anthology will be edited by Untreed Reads Editor-in-Chief Jay Hartman. Public and school libraries will be the main market for this anthology.

And now, the rules:

1. All stories must be between 1500-5000 words and aimed at a middle grade reading audience (no YA, no early reader, no adult)
2. Protagonist must be a middle grade aged boy or girl. We all hated being stuck at the kids' table!
3. Deadline for submission for consideration is July 30th, 2014. This is a firm date; no submissions after this date will be considered.
4. All submissions should be sent to Jay Hartman at jhartman@untreedreads.com with the word KIDS TABLE in the subject line.
5. Submissions must be in DOC, RTF or ODT format.
6. We will not be publishing the stories individually. Only the anthology will be available. **NEW THIS YEAR: The anthology will be available as a POD, sold worldwide through Ingram!** You must agree to both our regular ebook contract and our print addendum to be included.
7. Authors will receive royalty, but not upfront payment. Authors will each receive a share of royalties of 50% of net (net = cover price – vendor commission) based on the number of authors in the final anthology.
8. Characters appearing in other Untreed Reads series or other series not published by us are strongly encouraged. If you are published outside of Untreed Reads, please check with your publisher to ensure you have the rights to create a new story for a different publisher with your character(s).
9. Your story MUST have humor in it, feature a Thanksgiving dish and have a great mystery or crime at the heart of the story.
10. Stories not accepted for the anthology may be resubmitted in the future for other submission calls.
11. **NEW FOR THIS YEAR** All stories must be original and cannot have been published or self-published elsewhere or previously submitted to Untreed Reads.
12. There are no restrictions whatsoever on age, race, sex, etc in the work.. Just tell us a great story!
Please direct any questions to Jay Hartman at jhartman@untreedreads.com. We recommend looking at the original The Killer Wore Cranberry and its sequels for an idea of the types of stories we're looking for. Be sure to stop by your local bookshop to see examples of middle grade fiction (Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are two great examples.)
All decisions on material will be made by August 15th, 2014. Every attempt will be made to notify all authors of the status of their submission at that time. Please do not inquire about status prior to September 15th, 2014.
This anthology has an expected publication date of October 15th (quite possibly earlier).
This is an open call, and may be reposted anywhere and everywhere.


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Jay Hartman
Editor-in-Chief
Untreed Reads Publishing

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