Fiction Guidelines

Have you written a novel? Instead of submitting your entire manuscript, please send us your book proposal by completing the following steps:

1. Please write your book proposal according to the guidelines below.

2. Please send your book proposal as well as the first chapter of your manuscript to fiction@penguinrandomhouse.co.za.

If, based on your proposal, we would like to consider your manuscript for publication, we will request your full manuscript. Please make sure you send your proposal in the format below and do not leave out any sections. Proposals not sent in this format will not be considered.

Due to the high volume of book proposals we receive, we can’t respond to each one individually. If you don’t receive feedback within eight weeks of your submission, please consider it unsuccessful.

Please also note the following:

• We publish English and Afrikaans novels which will sell in the South African book market. Originality, high writing standard and market appeal are therefore essential.

• We do not publish poetry, short stories or graphic novels.

• Manuscripts should be between 60 000 and 100 000 words

A book proposal consists of the following:

Title (What is your book called?)

Example: The Milk Tart Murders

Genre (Is your book a thriller, a love story, historical fiction, literary fiction or something else?)

Example: Cosy crime with a love drama.

Target market (Who will buy this book?)

Example: Women who enjoy local fiction, crime fiction, love stories and cooking.

Similar books on the market (Which book/s can your book be compared to? In which section of the bookshop would your book be placed?)

Example: The Thursday Murder Club / Crime fiction.

Mini-biography of the author (How would you summarize yourself in a paragraph on the back cover of the book? Please specify if you are a debut author.)

Example: Sally Andrew is the author of the bestselling Tannie Maria mysteries, books that have been translated into fourteen languages across five continents. She lives in a mud-brick house on a nature reserve in the Klein Karoo with her artist partner, a giant eland and a secretive leopard. Sally also spends time in the wilderness of southern Africa and the seaside suburb of Muizenberg. She holds a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Cape Town. Before settling down to write full time, she was a social and environmental activist.

Tag line (What sentence could you see on the cover of your book, summing it up in one striking sentence?)

Example: Tannie Maria ditches her veldskoene for a date at Oupa Frik’s vintage bioscope, but things take a dark turn …

Blurb (How would you summarize your story in a few paragraphs on the back cover of the book to encourage the reader to buy the book?)

Example:

Who knew a Marilyn Monroe movie could kill you? When Oom Frik of Oom Frik’s Fantastiques dies during a vintage movie screening in Ladismith, Tannie Maria and her policeman boyfriend Henk are on the scene.

Ja, the old thrift-shop owner had a heart condition, but was there more to his demise? It’s rumoured that among Frik’s junk are valuable treasures, and the grumpy, paranoid old guy frequently altered his will.

When a second body turns up, there’s a clue: a letter addressed to Tannie Maria asking for advice – and a milk tart recipe. Fifty-plus agony aunt Maria and feisty young journalist Jessie conduct their own treasure hunt and murder investigation. The police are looking for the perpetrator too, but the amateur detectives have unique skills, and Tannie Maria’s food is a powerful incentive to get people to talk.

Maria and Jessie step into deep danger, but all is not doom and gloom. Spring has arrived in the Karoo, and Henk and Maria discuss moving in together, even though his home is full of his late wife’s stuff. Maria knows food has a way of filling the dark spaces, for better or for worse. Perhaps, once the Klein Karoo crime-buster’s work is done, she might follow her own advice and try a healing recipe.