Disability Visibility Book Circle: Call for Submissions
Deadline: May 1, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has changed everyone’s lives. It is a privilege to have a book published and yet the pressure to promote can be incredibly difficult and inaccessible for many disabled writers at the best of times but especially now.
With book tours and launches delayed or postponed, the Disability Visibility Book Circle is offering one-time grants of $1000 for 15 disabled writers in the US who already have books published this year or plan to have books published in 2020 through June 30, 2021. The express purpose of this money is for writers to organize their own book event via video conference. See this page for details and updates.
Alice Wong is the organizer of Disability Visibility Book Circle, director of the Disability Visibility Project, and editor of Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, published by Vintage Books and available June 30, 2020. For more: https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/book/
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Who is this for?
Disabled* writers in the United States who already have books published this year or plan to have books published in 2020 through June 30, 2021. This includes editors of anthologies or collected works.
Priority will be given to disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) writers and writers publishing for the first time.
Books can include zines, chapbooks, graphic novels, novellas, anthologies, e-books, and audiobooks, etc. Not eligible: podcasts, art projects, articles, essays, blogs, guidebooks, handbooks, or other types of writing.
Self-published books are also welcome.
*Disabled includes all kinds of people: chronically ill, sick, housebound, immunocompromised, D/deaf, Mad, neurodivergent, etc.
What are some examples can I spend the money on?
- People to moderate and organize the videoconference.
- CART (communication access realtime translation) services and ASL (American Sign Language) interpreters during the book event.
- Publicity and marketing.
- Honoraria for a host or guest panelists.
- Giveaways or swag.
- Other ancillary costs.
- Multiple events depending on writer’s budget.
- The writer’s time and labor.
What are the requirements?
If selected for this grant, participants agree to the following:
- Submit a W-9 and sign an agreement as an independent contractor.
- Organize an online book event using the videoconferencing platform of your choice by June 30, 2021 at the latest.
- Notify the Disability Visibility Book Circle with details about your event.
- The book event must be online, free and open to the public, and include CART and ASL interpreters.
- Graphics or images used for the event must have alt-text or the image description in the post.
- Record the event and upload the video with captions (not auto-generated captions) to YouTube for the public.
- Send the Disability Visibility Book Circle the YouTube link and a separate text transcript (Google doc or PDF), that will be posted on Disability Visibility Project’s website no later than 4 weeks after your event.
- Provide a short description of the event afterwards for documentation.
- PLEASE NOTE: no direct technical assistance or support will be provided. See below for some resources on organizing video conferences. More will be added later.
Important Dates
April 6: Call for Submissions
May 1: Deadline for Submissions
May 15: Notification to 15 selected writers
June 15: Sign agreements, send details about book (bios, links, and images)
June 30: Announcement of 15 members of Disability Visibility Book Circle on social media and Disability Visibility Project website.
If this sounds like a good fit for you and you are willing to follow all the requirements, complete this short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Q29RSRY
Questions?
Email Alice Wong: DisabilityVisibilityProject@gmail.com
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