Publishing Books by Children and Young Adults @Bookosmia- FAQs
Can children and young adults get published in India? Absolutely, that is what we do at Bookosmia – India’s no.1 publisher ‘for kids, by kids’ from 150+ locations
If you are considering publishing a book for your child and young adult, you are certainly a fantastic parent. But you may also be filled with questions. We attempt to answer the most common ones below.
First up, we are NOT a vanity publisher. We know how much creativity, time , effort and commitment a child puts in to complete a book. They are to be celebrated for it as much as an adult author. Our founders are ex-banker, IIM Alum and ex-journalist who is an award-winning author at the commonealth level. We have our heart in the idea of publishing children so that they feel they are heard.
So here are some generic questions on can publish with us-
1) How do I submit my child’s book to a publisher?
Bookosmia is India’s No.1 Publisher ‘for kids, by kids’ across 150+ locations, publishing children digitally every single day. If you are looking to publish a story/poem/blog/artwork etc digitally, it is absolutely free and you can submit here or write to us at sara@bookosmia.com
2) How can I publish my books in India for kids?
We also publish physical books by kids. If you are looking to publish your child’s work as a book, please book here or reach us at +91 76191 27444 for a personalized program for you. Our mentorship program Sprouts by Bookosmia, gives young writers/artists a series of 1-1 personalized sessions with an acclaimed mentor who guides them at every step, from idea to published book. We don’t just print your child’s, we publish. We invest time and effort in ensuring your child’s creativity is not a one time affair, we don’t just print a few copies like many other players.
3) What is the minimum age for my child to publish their book?
We at Bookosmia publish books by young writers as early as 6 years. It could be their artwork/story/poem or anything else where they express themselves creatively.
We recently published Sarvagya ki Hanuman Chalisa which has illustrations done by a little boy Sarvagya, on the autism spectrum, who till a year back could not even hold a pencil, according to his mom.
We want every young person to feel their creativity is appreciated.
4)What kind of books are popular with children in India?
Indian young readers enjoy a vast spread of themes in their books- from unicorns to superheroes, mythology to folktales, thrillers and adventure books, activity books and journals and more. Depending on their age group, children are reading popular books from across the world like Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Thea Stilton, Gerenimo Stilton, Wimpy Kid, Peppa Pig etc while also actively picking Indian publishers like Pratham, Tulika, Tara, Bookosmia etc. If you are a young writer looking to get published, you can choose to write on any theme of your liking. There is room for everyone.
All our young writers have chosen to write on themes special to them- how unicorns save the world,
Unheard tales from the mahabharat, poetry, globetrotting adventures, diary of a not-so-popular kid, Aachi-Thatha’s Kitchen, Indian Railways to name a few.
5) What all is taken care of as part of your publishing books by kids?
More than what we do, we feel you should know what we don’t do. Here are a few things that will give you an idea. We don’t-
- Publish without editing– Each of our books is scrutinized for errors- grammar, syntax, structure etc. Just because it was incorrect in the manuscript, doesn’t mean we will publish the book with errors marring your child’s idea
- Print zero to a few copies– We don’t think just winning the tag of ‘published’ with one or two copies printed, is a way to celebrate our young writers. We print copies and try our best to have them out for people to see
- Price books exhorbitantly – As someone in the publishing industry for 5 years and with our partners at Pratilipi (who acquired Amazon’s publishing in India), we know that distributors don’t typically pick up children’s books beyond MRP of 299/- to stock up in bookstores and festivals
- Publish at scale– Yes, child’s talent can’t be honed when they never meet an accomplished mentor from the field . We only take up a handful of Sprouts entries where the whole team- from writing, design, editing and printing is invested in that one child
- Commoditize design– It is easy to find free clipart and photos online and plug them into your child’s work. But each book is unique and so should be the illustrations and designs. All our covers are handcrafted and will unique to that book only
