Could you be the next author?
Movellas.com and World Book Day have teamed up to give teens the chance to be published alongside established authors.
The partnership aims to celebrate books and reading, and encourages teens to write and read.
Young authors will also be given the chance to submit work and and vote for the best short stories via an exclusive young authors app.
The best story will then be chosen for publication via the World Book Day YA app, launching on 25th February.
Young authors
The initiative comes four months after teen author Emily Baker, writer of ‘Loving The Band’, published her fictional love story inspired by boy band ‘One Direction’ on Movellas.com.
The story ranked up 30,000 online readers who requested additional instalments of the story.
This then sparked mainstream attention, which resulted in Emily being published by Penguin.
Movellas.com, commonly referred to as the YouTube for young writers, allows young authors to compete with their older counterparts such as Dawn O’Porter, Patrick Ness, Sarah Alderson and many more in the book market.
The site allows teens to publish their own stories, to gain feedback, explore different genres and talk directly to the authors and the rest of the community about writing and stories.
Dawn O’Porter, journalist and World Book Day YA app contributor said: “I can’t wait to read some of the competition entries from our country’s next generation of talented writers, and will be proud to see my World Book Day story sitting alongside the cream of the crop.
“I hope members of the Movellas community will be inspired by the new app to continue dreaming up exciting ideas and characters, and developing their own unique voice.”
World Book Day
World Book Day is celebrated in over 100 countries around the world, and is marked in the UK by giving teens a £1 Book Token through their school, which they then exchange for one of eight free books – including new titles by Lauren Child and Cathy Cassidy.
Teens also have the option to redeem the voucher against a book or audio book of their choice costing £2.99 or more.
Yvonne Biggins, Movellas Community and Business Development Director, Commented on the new partnership : “this is the biggest celebration of books and reading of its kind, and to be providing content alongside World Book Day’s brilliant schemes like the £1 Book Token is a privilege.
“Just as we see young people spending thousands of hours each day reading and writing on Movellas.com and our apps, we hope that both the YA app, and the opportunity to appear alongside their writing idols, will encourage teenagers not only to keep up the enthusiasm we all share for stories as children, but also to develop their own writing skills.
The partnership with Movellas is one of the many aspects of World Book Day’s engagement with Young Adult readers.
Teens will also be getting a brand new community space on the World Book Day website in 2013, packed with book recommendations, activities and information on YA book events.
For more information visit www.worldbookday.com
