Thanks to the Young Author Competition at Wood Dragon Books, 17-year-old Payton Todd has successfully launched her first novel The Amnesia Project, with publisher Jeanne Martinson saying Wood Dragon is actively on the lookout for their next youth collaborator.
Todd applied for the Young Author Competition two years ago at age 15, the first time it was offered, and is now the first author to be published through the event. The process is a challenging one — last year, no one completed it. However, Martinson noted that that was due to applicants misunderstanding the potential length of the process.
“We are going to do this competition every single year. But last year, none of the applicants made it through to the end,” she said. “We edited Payton’s book seven times — that’s a lot for any author to go through, but for a teenager who has other things going on in their lives, it can be overwhelming.
“We really worked around Payton’s school schedule, and she lives on a ranch, too, so she has a lot of chores and obligations. She’s not just an author, she’s an author and a lot of other things … so committing to the project itself, something that might take years, wanting that badly enough is where we lose applicants.”
Todd has been writing since she could hold a pen. She has a journal in which she keeps every story and writing idea she’s ever come with. She was dedicated to the process from the beginning, and Martinson said that that level of commitment is what’s needed — in fact, it might be all that’s needed.
“The application is not arduous. If you’ve got a book idea, writing up the summary should not take you too much time or too much work,” she explained. “I just really want to encourage young people who maybe want to make a career in language, whether that’s writing or editing or whatnot, not to second-guess themselves. Just throw in your application and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
“If you try, you have a pretty good shot … Wood Dragon Books are a really good publisher and they’re very supportive of young authors,” Todd told MooseJawToday.com. “The writing process was fairly independent. The editing process has been long, but I’ve learned a lot from the publisher. You just have to trust the process and trust your editors and the team you’re working with, because they’re trying to help you get to the best possible version of your story.”
The Amnesia Project launched online on May 6, with a physical launch held at Penny University Bookstore in Regina on the 13th. It is a full-length young adult sci-fi novel.
Todd said the bookstore launch was exciting and validating.
“It went really well, there was a really good turnout, and it was fun and casual and just a good experience. … It was a validation that there are people out there who want to read my stories and the stuff that I’m putting out.”
“Payton is a serious writer who intends on making the publishing industry her field, and those are the kinds of writers we really want to zoom in on,” Martinson added. “And we want to give them the kind of support that will launch a long-term career for them.
“We’re really proud of this book, we’re very proud of the effort that Payton put in, and we’re really pleased with how well the book is doing at launch level.”
You can buy The Amnesia Project by Payton Todd just about everywhere books are found, including worldwide on Amazon and Kindle, on Kobo.com, at Barnes & Noble in the US, at Penny University Bookstore in Regina, and more.
If you live in the area covered by the Palliser Library Region, have a library card, are over 15 years of age but not over 18 years of age as of September 30, 2023, and you have an idea for a book that you’d like to take all the way to publication, you can enter Wood Dragon Books’ Young Author Competition at www.wooddragonbooks.com/young-author-competition.
