We are looking for fun stories of 400 to 1000 words that are similar to a picture book in writing style, but they need to be understood without images. Think general bedtime stories, fables, fairy tales collections or other short stories for children. The stories should be enjoyable but gentle for easy listening/reading at night and can be more descriptive than a picture book text.
Who are we?
Living Stone Books is a publisher of books for Christian families. Books are produced in print on demand/short run and ebooks and, in many cases, audiobooks. Living Stone Books is a division of Light the Dark Pty Ltd which also runs Wombat Books.
Zenos Kids is a branch of Zenos Media, a not-for-profit organisation that encourages the use of creativity in faith contexts in Australia. The newly released Zenos Kids App brings together some of the best Christian kids music, podcasts, videos and books to encourage meaningful faith moments in the home.
Living Stone Books and Zenos Kids are looking for Australian authors to write bedtime stories that suit read-aloud stories.
Scope of stories
These stories should be obviously Christian in nature, perhaps with characters praying or living their lives honouring God in some way. This collection should help Christian families see themselves represented in these stories with characters sharing their faith.
The stories can be contemporary or have fantastical elements (like animal characters or creatures talking) or historical. We are open to other genres if the story idea works.
Submission guidelines:
Stories should be between 400 and 1000 words each.
Stories are aimed at children up to age 6.
A collection will have four stories per author (up to three authors per collection) with royalties being shared between the authors. The stories should have some synergy to make a collection. Perhaps animal-themed, gentle adventures, historical or fantasy.
Pitch requires one completed story well-edited for submission, plus at least three extra story ideas.
Story ideas can be serial in nature or stand alone. We will enjoy looking at a mix.
Multiple submissions welcome.