Tellin' Tall Tales

This is a rare opportunity for those of you who are natural born storytellers. Tall Tales Audio Books is looking for ...storytellers. The real, old-fashoined, spinnin' a yarn kind of storytellers. You'll know what I mean if you go to the website and take a listen to a story.

This is what those seeking storytellers have to say: TallTales Audio publishes original told stories for children ages five and up. Our emphasis is on exciting, kid-centered tales of almost all genres—ones that will hold a whole family's attention during a long car trip. ...mysteries, old west adventures, and stories about not-too-scary ghosts, talking animals, princesses, kids with super powers, and more.

The format is CD-ROM (no print version), with each one-hour CD containing a series of three, approximately 20-minute long stories. This comes out to roughly 2,500-3,000 words per story. All three stories meant for a single CD involve the same characters.

The ideal TallTales stories have the following elements:
* strong characters that kids will relate to, with the action centered around children or animals
* a story line, setting, or relationship that kids can identify with and care about
* in addition to story narrative, at least several characters who have distinctive voices (this is audio, after all), and
* drama, humor, adventure, or suspense that truly holds the listener’s attention.
TallTales does not publish folk tales and traditional stories from cultures around the world. As much as we admire folk tales, this is not our publishing focus. In addition, TallTales does not publish stories with these elements:
* Death and misery. Although characters may have to overcome adversity such as a death or an illness in the family, we prefer to keep these themes in the background of upbeat adventures that entertain and build self esteem.
* Religion. There are plenty of religious publishers, but we are not one of them.
* Preachy tone. We are interested in wholesome characters and themes, but not stories whose primary goal is to attempt to instill “proper values” or “good behavior.”
* Violence. Our stories keep violence to a minimum and absolutely avoid torture or killing.
* Foul language. No. There are lots of other ways to express strong emotions.

If you wish to create a children’s audiobook for TallTales, please send us the following:
• brief (less than a page) description of three proposed (related) stories
• overview of the market (including age) you envision and why you believe kids will love your stories, and
• summary of your background and experience telling or writing stories for children.
Email this material to info_at_talltalesaudio_dot_com, noting in the subject line "TallTales Submission."

We will review your proposal and get back to you within approximately 30 days. If we’re interested, we will ask for additional material, such as writing samples. We may also ask for a brief audio sample of your proposed stories. We sometimes prefer to line up actors to voice our stories--but this is always a second choice to working with storytellers who have the skill to do it themselves. If we sign a contract for your stories, we will pay you an advance plus royalties depending on sales.

The website is bright and happy looking, and it's local to the Bay Area, so you know it's good people. So, storytellers (and Alkelda, we're looking at you), start your engines!