Wood Dragon Books is a multi-limbed, indie/hybrid book publisher whose yearly Young Author Competition seeks out determined writers between 15 and 18 with the goal of helping them launch their literary careers.
Wood Dragon publishes well-received, award-winning, best-selling titles across a variety of genres, including a memoir division and a Christian press division. Some of their best sellers are in non-fiction, but they’ve also achieved success partnering with authors in the arenas of science, politics, finance, and serious social issues such as human trafficking, mental health, and substance abuse.
The very first winner of their Young Author Competition, 17-year-old Payton Todd, saw her first novel The Amnesia Project launch in May 2023.
Jeanne Martinson, publisher and senior editor at Wood Dragon, said Todd’s book is doing incredibly well.
“Payton’s book has been extremely well received. We’ve gotten a lot of really great ratings on Amazon, and her book is going to be submitted for a Saskatchewan Book Award,” Martinson said in an interview with MooseJawToday.com. “A lot of people never get their books published, so, you know, it’s exciting for anyone, but to have your first book published at such a young age is amazing. And I know she’s already working diligently on a second book.
“To see that, now we know that seven rounds of editing didn’t make her feel like, ‘OK, I’ve written this book, now I never want to write another word again.’ Instead, it created more of a fire inside her to continue in the writing field as a career, which is what we’re looking for.”
The requirements for submitting a book proposal through the competition are not harsh. Firstly, young writers must:
- Live in the Palliser Library Region
- Have a library card
- Be at least 15 years old as of Sep. 30, 2023
- Still be in secondary school as of Sep. 30
- Cannot be older than 18 (as of Sep. 30)
Secondly, submissions must include a book plot outline with a maximum of two pages, a major character backstory summary of no more than one page, and a five-page writing sample from the book.
That’s it, and it’s all through the website at wooddragonbooks.com/young-author-competition.
“We’ve streamlined the process, so it’s all on the website, and we’re doing one round of competition instead of two, to make things less confusing,” Martinson explained. “Whatever applicants we have, we read through and make sure all the content we need is there. If it isn’t, we’ll reach out and say, ‘Hey, this is missing, do you want to take a couple weeks and get this to us?’
“That’s kind of how we measure their seriousness. And then we have a Zoom call to chat about the project. … We don’t want students to become frustrated halfway through the project and give up, so that’s what we’re trying to judge, initially.”
Martinson emphasized that a perfect first draft is not necessary. It isn’t always about the quality of the writing — what it really takes is commitment, enthusiasm, and determination. In fact, she noted, determination to see the book finished is number one.
“We’re looking for young people like [Payton Todd], who really want to be writers, authors, editors, publishers, who just want to be involved in the world of the written word,” Martinson added.
