Calling all writers! Submit your novel to Jonathan Ball Publishers
Jonathan Ball Publishers is accepting fiction submissions from 1–15 November 2019.
What do I need to submit?
See ‘How to submit a manuscript’ below for what to send.
Where do I send my submission?
Send all submissions to fiction.submissions@jonathanball.co.za.
When will I hear the outcome of my submission?
Jonathan Ball Publishers needs 2–3 months to read and review manuscripts. They will email you to let you know the outcome.
From Jonathan Ball Publishers:
Guidelines
What we publish:
At Jonathan Ball Publishers, we have three imprints: Jonathan Ball Publishers, Sunbird Publishers and Delta Books. Under these imprints, we publish in the following genres, among others:
- South African non-fiction, in particular biography, history, business and politics;
- natural history; illustrated; food; lifestyle; and wildlife, pertaining to South Africa, and
- military history.
Al drie van ons drukname aanvaar ook voorleggings in Afrikaans. Unfortunately, we only publish books in English and Afrikaans. Submissions in any other language will be rejected.
Our submission guidelines are the same across the three imprints.
WE DO NOT PUBLISH THE FOLLOWING:
- children’s and young adult books
- educational and academic books/textbooks
- coffee-table books and photo portfolios
- poetry
- short stories
- novellas
- science fiction
- fantasy
- plays or film scripts
- religious or motivational books
Manuscripts submitted in these genres will not be considered and we will not respond to your correspondence.
Please note: we do not take on the distribution and marketing of self-published books.
How to submit a manuscript:
Submissions that do not comply with these guidelines will be discarded.
What we need from you:
- A 200–300 word summary of the manuscript.
- Your contact details.
- Three sample chapters (this is essential and can be any three chapters), or your full manuscript if available.
- Your biographical details, including any previous publications and any educational background or qualifications relevant to your manuscript.
- A detailed table of contents (list of chapters).
The following are not essential, but including them will help us when assessing your manuscript:
- Details of any comparable/competitive books.
- Estimated length of entire manuscript (word count or number of pages).
- Time scale you are working towards: When could the final manuscript be ready?
- For illustrated titles only: Portfolio of photographic/illustrated work, via email or on CD.
We receive many submissions – it will usually take us 2–3 months to assess your proposal. Please be patient.
Where to send your manuscript:
Email submissions should be sent to Aimee Carelse: Aimee.Carelse@jonathanball.co.za Please note that email is preferable due to the large amount of manuscripts we receive.
Do not email submissions to other members of staff at Jonathan Ball Publishers or our Customer Care service. This will only delay the submission process.
Submissions can also be sent via post to the following addresses:
Aimee Carelse
Jonathan Ball Publishers
Office C4
The District
41 Sir Lowry Road
Woodstock
7925
OR
Aimee Carelse
Jonathan Ball Publishers
PO Box 43265
Woodstock
7915
If sent by post, please send a copy of the original work. We will only return your manuscript if a self-addressed envelope (SASE) is included.
We do not arrange meetings with authors before receiving a full submission as detailed above.
Follow the guidelines above to have your manuscript assessed as quickly as possible.
For sale of rights, please contact Aimee Carelse at Aimee.Carelse@jonathanball.co.za.
For all other permissions, please click here.
Categories Fiction Non-fiction South Africa South African Current Affairs
Tags Book Publishing Jonathan Ball Publishers Publishing Writing