Candy Jar Books seeks both children's and adult books, especially detective novels and mystery/thrillers

Pattern of Death by Peter George
from Candy Jar Books

Candy Jar Books

Mackintosh House

126 Newport Road

Cardiff, Wales

CF24 1DJ

http://www.candy-jar.co.uk/books/index.html

Candy Jar Books was established in 2010 by Shaun Russell and Justin Chaloner. Candy Jar publishes both children's and adult titles – no picture books, though. They’re currently accepting all sorts of books. 

Shaun Russell is especially looking for:

A detective novel, similar to Ian Rankin, P.D. James, Mark Billingham or Karin Slaughter.

Cultural biographies: “Think of the type of documentary seen on BBC4: 100 Years of the Girl Guides, The Ballad of Mott the Hoople, 100 Years of the Palladium…

They’re also especially on the look-out for:

A mystery/thriller with original and surprising plot twists, similar to Gillian Flynn’s Gone girl or SJ Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep.

A contemporary recipe book devised by a passionate and creative cook, whose recipes stand out in this saturated market.

Submissions:

Stable Gossip by Joanna Fisher
from Candy Jar Books

Include a cover letter – We’d like to know a little more about you and your story. You can tell us anything you think is relevant about who you are and where your inspiration for the story came from.

A synopsis is always helpful – You will only be sending us a small portion of your book, so it’s helpful to us if you can send us a synopsis. Just a brief account of the plot of your book is what we need. 

Don’t send us too much – We love reading your work and finding new authors, but we do receive a lot of submissions. Just 2-3 chapters are enough to give us an idea of what your book is like.

Is your book like another you’ve read? – It’s always helpful for us to know the sort of books you think yours is like. If you’ve written the first book in a series of books about a boy who discovers he’s a wizard, and also the son of a god, you might liken your book to Harry Potter and Percy Jackson.

Who is going to read it? – It’s also useful to us to have an idea of who your book will appeal to. Is it a general fiction novel? Is it a children’s fantasy novel? Or a Young Adult Contemporary novel? Either way, we’d like to know.  

Have patience – We receive a lot of submissions, and while we try hard to get through all of them as quickly as possible it does take time, so please have patience with us while waiting for a response.

Full submission guidelines here.

This April Brian Henry is offering a full range of classes from beginner to advanced. Several have already started but there are still openings in two courses:

Welcome to Creative Writing, Monday evenings, April 17 – June 19, Burlington. Details here.

Writing Personal Stories, Thursday afternoons, April 27 – June 15, Burlington Details here.

Details of all classes offered this spring here.

For more information or to register for any of the above, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Also, Brian will lead a How to Get Published workshop on Saturday, April 22, in Midland, with literary agent Sue Miller (see here).

Note: For updated postings of current How to Get Published workshops here (and scroll down).

Anne Shone, senior editor, S
Scholastic Books

Brian will lead Writing for Children & for Young Adult workshops on Saturday, May 13, in Caledon at the Bolton Library with Yasemin Uçar, senior Editor at Kids Can Press and author Jennifer Mook-Sang (see here), on Saturday, May 27, in St. Catharines with Anne Shone, senior editor at Scholastic Books (see here), and on Saturday, July 29, in Collingwood with literary agent Monica Pacheco (see here). 

Note: For updated listings of Writing for Children & for Young adult workshops and for weekly Kid lit classes, see here (and scroll down).

And don't miss the June in Algonquin Writing Retreat,  Friday, June 2 – Sunday, June 4 or Monday, June 5. Details here.

For more information or to reserve a spot in any Saturday workshop or weekly course, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.

See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.