Penmancy X Readomania PitchFest 3.0
The third season of Penmancy PitchFest is designed to discover and nurture emerging talent in the world of fiction writing. This event aims to connect aspiring authors with the esteemed publishing house Readomania.
Through this collaboration, Readomania will provide a platform for showcasing the creative works of emerging writers by short-listing and then publishing the most promising story to captivate readers worldwide.
About Readomania
Readomania exists to nurture, curate, and bring to you content you love. They are a publishing house that take pride in encouraging talent, new or old, and provide a wonderful platform for awesome stories.
They make this possible in multiple ways.
The first, as an independent publishing house. Readomania boasts of multiple imprints across various categories - fiction, nonfiction, children to name a few. An eclectic mix of content for its readers, when you read a Readomania title, you enter a world that’s yours, supported by unique and quality narratives.
The second, as an online publishing platform for writers—a place to share stories, poems, opinions, travelogues, a way to explore your creative talent. Available as premium, as well as free-to-read content across multiple genres, the reader is spoilt for choice.
WHAT IS A BOOK PITCH?
A Book Pitch is the premise of your book. Share your pitch with your story’s central concept showcasing the reason for us to take it up for publishing. The event is conducted in three rounds the description of which follows.
Below is all the information that you might need to apply for the fest.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Indian citizens, living in India or abroad, over the age of 18 years
Anyone who has a manuscript ready or in progress
Writers whose book/s has/ve not been previously published
Open to submit in more than one category/ genre
EVENT DETAILS
ROUND 1 (Registration)-
Concept note of ~250 words along with a Synopsis of ~1000 words to be submitted at registration
Registrations open for Early Bird from October 15, 2024- October 25, 2024 and Regular Registration from October 26, 2024 to October 31, 2024, though this link: https://forms.gle/uF5hZGtbYMr6yEbm7
Early Bird registration fee is payable at Rs. 1999 and Regular registration fee is payable at Rs 2499, to be paid at the time of registration using this link: 8588804992.eazypay@icici or scan the QR below:
ROUND 2 (Jury Interaction)-
All registered participants get FREE access to three online workshops (originally valued at INR499 each) conducted by Readomania.
The concept note and synopsis will be screened to choose Top 10 pitches as long listed.
The long listed participants will get into a jury interaction to pitch their manuscript through a virtual call on GMeet.
The participants are required to share their marketing plan along with their pitch.
ROUND 3 (Final)-
Long listed participants to submit following documents through this form: https://forms.gle/wjMc9cMdmzznWY4Q7
3 sample chapters
Author's Bio
Author’s photo (HD, 150x150)
The Jury will choose the best three pitches that will be announced through the social media channels of Penmancy and Readomania.
One winner from the top 3 will be selected by Readomania. The announcements will be made through all our social media channels.
THE JURY
Jury 1: Dipankar Mukherjee
A management graduate from IIT Madras, Dipankar Mukherjee started Readomania in 2014. Over the last 10 years, the house has produced an eclectic mix of books and created a wonderful community for literature lovers.
Dipankar loves reading, traveling and exploring new things in life. He is based on Delhi.
Jury 2: Kajal Kapur
Kajal Kapur is an Entrepreneur, a Happiness Coach, a Mindfulness Trainer for Teens and Young Adults, and a writer.
With a wealth of experience exceeding two decades in the corporate world, she moved her attention to her first love- writing. As a writer, she has contributed to various international and national anthologies, magazines and websites. This further led her to formulate a community of writers who could lend support to each other. Penmancy was hence born- an enterprise dedicated to providing a launchpad for aspiring authors. Penmancy is now a leading writing website that extends services to writers who wish to turn their writing into published works.
As a writing mentor, she has spearheaded workshops and innovative creative writing initiatives that have proven highly beneficial for authors aged 10 and above.
Jury 3: Harshali Singh
Dr. Harshali Singh is a New Delhi based Member Judge of the District Consumer Commission, an Author of 31 books, a Poet and an Occupational Therapist. She has written in several literary genres ranging from poetry to fiction, columns to essays and is also the contributing author in several anthologies.
She is the recipient of the coveted ‘Munshi Premchand Literature Award’, the prestigious ‘Ashoka Award’ and the ‘Write India’ Season 2’, an initiative of The Times of India Group. She has received the ‘Global Progressive Woman Award’ ‘Iconic Author Award at the Global Leadership Summit organized by Aesthetics International for two consecutive years and the ‘Changemaker Icon Award’ by She-forward. Her book ‘Paradox of Dreams’ was longlisted for the ‘Oxford Book Cover Prize 2023’.
Her new and exciting Book Anarkali is available on all platforms and is an exploration of the woman behind the mysterious courtesan Anarkali.
She is the founding member of a literary initiative called the House of Harmony as a Literature Festival Curator and successfully concluded the recent House of Harmony Literature Festivals in February 2024.
Jury 4: Mona Verma
Mona Verma is an alumnus of Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, and a post-graduation Certification holder from Harvard Business School. She is an award-winning author of 9 books and over a dozen anthologies which have been the subject of the thesis for many Research Scholars and ICSE ELT series. The Former member of the Asia Development Bank, also co-owns DISHA wherein she works as Executive Presence Coach and Leadership Skills Facilitator for MNCs and PSUs. Recipient of the Rex Karamveer Award by ICongo and the United Nations, she has been listed in the 50 Iconic Authors 2022 Category by Aesthetics International. The recipient of the Uttarakhand Ratan, Hindustan Times Woman of the Year, and Munshi Premchand Sahitya Pursuskar is also serving as Chairperson Literature committee, FICCIFLO, Uttarakhand for the 4th consecutive years. She is also serving as a Mentor at Womennovator - a Global Incubator for Women.
India Today’s March 2023 edition has listed her amongst the Top 8 emerging Indian women. In October 2023, her name and writings found an impressive mention in the prestigious British Routledge Encyclopaedias of Indian Writing in English. She is co-founder of House of Harmony - a literary initiative to direct and curate literary events across the country. Mona is presently working on her 10th book.
Jury 5: Debapriya Ghosh
Debapriya Ghosh began her career as a Western music presenter at ALL INDIA RADIO FM, KOLKATA. She has taught Communicative English at Gokhale Memorial Girls' College. Thereafter, she taught English at Modern High School for Girls and La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata.
She is an entrepreneur and she organises events at her own heritage venue in Kolkata. She supports small scale women entrepreneurs through her group Bijoyini. They hold exhibitions at her venue.
Her first book AND YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW is a women-centric fictional novel. It was published and launched in April 2023, by Readomania. Her second book THE WORLD OF TAGORE is a translation of 10 short stories by Rabindranath Tagore.
Jury 6: Deepti Menon
Deepti Menon has always loved the written word. She began to write at the age of ten and was lucky enough to have travelled around the country, being an Army kid, and later an Army wife.
Her first book, 'Arms and the Woman', published by Rupa Publishers in 2002, took a lighthearted look at the life of an Army wife. This book was written mainly to reveal the warmth and camaraderie within the great institution.
A book of her poems, dealing with life, love and loss, titled 'Deeparadhana of Poems', was lovingly compiled by her mother, herself a talented writer. ‘Shadow in the Mirror’, a psychological thriller published by Readomania in 2016, was well received by her readers. After that, she brought out two more anthologies of thriller short stories titled ‘Where Shadows Follow’ (2020) and ‘Shadows Never Lie’ (2021). Together the three books are now known as the Shadow Trilogy.
She published ‘Classic Tales from the Panchatantra’ in 2023, even doing the illustrations for the book along with her daughter.
2023 was a year when two of her books were published – ‘Classic Tales from Shakespeare’ (Readomania) and ‘The Dance and the Trance’ (H&C Publishing).
January 1st, 2024, started the new year off with a bang as Deepti’s fourth book in the #shadowseries titled ‘The Web of Shadows’ was published, again by Readomania.
Jury 7: Shalini Mullick
Shalini is an author and a practicing pathologist.
She has authored two books and contributed to many anthologies. Her debut book “Stars from the Borderless Sea” was longlisted for the AutHer Awards. She was awarded a Jury Appreciation Citation at the UNFPA Laadli Media & Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity and has won two Orange Flower awards. She has been an invited speaker at many literary events and is a columnist and panellist for prestigious publications. She has also been a guest on podcasts and in events at many schools and colleges.
For further queries, write to us at penmagica@gmail.com.