Novel Idea

For those with mo-bricks who couldn’t read Sam Wilson’s winning story during Novel Idea, here it is in all its rollicking glory. This is the first of three parts, which I’ll be dishing out over the rest of the week (the mini cliffhangers are too much fun for me to post it all at once, of course!)

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Here’s the truth, a badger is no substitute for a parachute. I hoped I wouldn’t have to prove it while accelerating towards the ground at two hundred kilometers per hour holding nothing more than an irate striped mammal. (more…)

Sam Wilson is South Africa’s first award-winning mobilist with a clear majority: 38.5% of the readers’ votes. Sam’s story “Prestige Animals” is a rollicking comedy adventure involving an animal smuggler, his reprobate brother, an angry badger and a crocodile-coveting drug lord. Packed with gags and cliffhangers, it kept Novel Idea readers hooked to their phones for their daily updates. Sam Wilson wins R8000, sponsored by Vodacom. Congratulations Sam!
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Book Fair was fantastic. Loobie and I tramped the halls, showing people how to sign onto Novel Idea and generally getting them excited about the concept (it wasn’t hard).

We even had lots of people wanting to get a Novel Idea T-shirt (check out the pic of me at the Book SA stand to see how cool our T-shirts were).

The launch date for Novel Idea has moved to 7 July, to accommodate a few more authors who wanted to come on board (more info here soon) and to make sure that there’s enough time for interested people to sign up before we launch.

SMS novel to 33879 to join the mob.

What a great response we got at the first day of the Book Fair. Dozens of people signed up to Novel Idea, following this teaser:

Zunika wasn’t sure how to break the news to James that not only were the twins not his, they were actually not even hers…

It’s really simple:
- SMS NOVEL to 33879 (this SMS costs R1.50) (more…)

Sjoe, I find myself wishing for the cosy constrictions of book publishing. This is real Wild West stuff – like being given a flag, a horse and a slap on the rump and finding myself careening out in wide open plains with no landmarks, just an eye on the future (I saw this in a Tom Cruise movie, I think).
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