Every summer, the team at Hardie Grant Egmont throws open the doors and puts out a call for real-world YA manuscripts by unpublished writers. It’s called the Ampersand Project, and we get really, ridiculously excited about it.
The goal of the Ampersand Project is to find new writers to work with and great manuscripts for our YA fiction list. It’s not a stunt or a competition. If we fall in love with a story, the writer gets a real contract, an advance and serious editorial development to bring their book to market – plus the opportunity for us to work together on their next book.
Why do the books have to be set in the real world? We think these kinds of stories are hard to find at the moment, so we’re keeping a special corner of our list just for them. We don’t mind if the stories are funny, dramatic, gritty, romantic, heartbreaking or challenging, so long as they’re brilliant.
Why do the writers have to be unpublished? HGE has a long history of working with fresh talent, and we’re happy to make it official. We know it’s hard for unpublished writers to get noticed in the slush pile, so that’s what the Ampersand Project is for: we give them a new way in.
Please note: submissions for the 2012 Ampersand Project close at 5pm on 27 February 2012. We will re-open submissions in November for the 2013 Ampersand Project.
The writers
There are only two rules for the Ampersand Project. The first is that the submission must be set in the real world. The second is that the writer should not have published a novel under their own name with a mainstream trade publisher, for any age group.
Submissions will open each year in late spring, and close at the end of the Australian summer. Writers should send a complete manuscript and a pitch to ampersand@hardiegrant.com.au. The pitch must give a clear indication of plot and character development, and be no more than a page long. Announcements will be made each year during the Emerging Writers Festival in Melbourne, and a notice will be put in the Weekly Book Newsletter.
Please refer back to this page for updates, or send queries to ampersand@hardiegrant.com.au. Media queries should go to HGEpublicity@hardiegrant.com.au.
Please note that even if you are ineligible for the Ampersand Project, you are still welcome to query us via our unsolicited submissions page.
Please note:
- Manuscripts can be any length, though 50-80,000 words is a good fit for the YA market.
- Speculative elements are also welcome, so long as they adhere to the rules of the current state of this world. The difference is in the execution; for example, Tomorrow When The War Began is a real-world exploration of war as it could occur today, but The Hunger Games is not.
- Due to the number of submissions, the Ampersand editors may be unable to give personalised feedback as to why a manuscript isn’t suitable for this collection.
- Eligibility for this collection is at the editors’ discretion.