Dear Contributor:
Thank you for your interest in Vezani Publishing. Established in 2008, we publish a small and select list of children’s books, and we take great pride in our continued commitment to developing books which positively represent Africa, which bridge the diaspora experience and which will speak to and develop African language skills in younger children.
Due to the limited number of titles we publish, we must be extremely particular about the projects we take on. Often our decision is based on a number of factors apart from a submission’s literary merit. At the moment, our strongest needs are for well-paced picture book manuscripts for both the pre-school and early elementary age levels. Submissions already translated into Setswana, isiNdebele and/or Shona are preferred. We do not accept submissions of material written by children.
We are also seeking:
- Narrators in Setswana, isiNdebele and Shona for creation of audiobooks
- Poetry written for and accessible to children aged 2-7 years in Setswana, isiNdebele and Shona
- Nonfiction books or children’s reference books for readers 3-8
Please send all queries – via email only – to info@vezanipublising.com. If we are interested in your query, we will contact you and ask for more material. In your query, please include the following information *within the text of the email* (please do not send as attachments when querying as they will not be opened):
- Cover letter, with current contact information (including email address)
- Brief CV or bio
- Please send the following within the text of your email:
- A concise synopsis (include how the story ends)
- The word count of the full manuscript
For nonfiction submissions: Please send a detailed proposal and 2 sample pages
For illustration submissions: Please send a link to an online portfolio
- Send your submission by email only. Material sent via regular mail will not be considered. Simultaneous submissions will be accepted, on the condition that it is clearly stated in your cover letter that another publisher is considering your work. Multiple submissions of up to five manuscripts are welcome.
- We will contact you if we are interested in your work.Unless you are a professional artist, please do not send sample illustrations.
Guidelines for Illustrators
*Please note:
- Do not send any email attachments (jpgs, pdfs, etc.) to us. We are only able to accept emails that include links to online portfolios. Please send an email with the subject heading “Illustrator Submissions” to info@vezanipublising.com and include the web address of the portfolio in the body of the message.We publish books for ages 7 and under. Our publishing program includes board books, picture books, chapter books, and nonfiction books. Because our books are written for and from a Southern African context we need to see . We are also interested in seeing illustrations of animals or expressive animal characters.tIf you choose to submit your work to Vezani Publishing, please remember to include a cover letter *within the text of your email*. Attachments will not be opened. If after viewing your online portfolio we feel we can use your work in the future, we will keep your samples on file. Please send all queries and web addresses via email only. Samples sent via regular mail will not be returned.
Thank you for your interest in Vezani Publishing