Take two weeks out of 2027 to escape to a self contained lakeside apartment at Lake Tarawera in Rotorua. With mountain views, a private jetty, sauna and spa, work on a project of your choice in this beautiful New Zealand paradise.

This is a two week residency gifted with thanks to one of the Folly patrons. It includes accommodation only, at a time to be chosen between the Writer-in-residence and our gracious hosts. 

To apply, please detail the outline of your writing project, information about yourself and your ideal dates or month when you would like to stay at Lake Tarawera. Our team will carry out the shortlisting, but the final selection will be done by your host.

Folly welcomes submissions to a special themed issue The Puritans.

We are looking for work about faith and contradictions. Inspired by the rise of the Trad Wife culture, and the holy, hungry and purity of religion, we are exploring stories by and about those whose lives move within this culture to learn about what is really going on behind the gingham. 

Edited by Caroline Huckeba.

BABY COUGAR: THE MIDLIFE YEARS

Baby Cougar is an anthology of the midlife years: The second adolescence nobody warned you about. Desire after forty. Dating apps at forty-seven. The much-advertised invisibility — and how useful it occasionally turns out to be. Perimenopause as comedy and as body horror, often in the same afternoon. Ambition that arrives late and uninvited. Money. Teenagers in the house. Parents who are suddenly old. Starting again — not because everything fell apart, but on purpose.

We want it funny, horny, sharp and true. Fiction, essay, poetry, photography, up to 2,000 words. If a piece would sit comfortably in a worthy collection about women of a certain age, it is not for us. If it would make someone at book club put her glass down, send it.

Sexy is welcome. Explicit has its own home — our erotica anthology runs a separate call, and we'll point you there if that's where your piece lives.

Every Folly book hits the bestseller lists. 

Folly sold out three consecutive issues, was banned by New Zealand's largest book chain over a single word, and represented the country at Frankfurt. We publish writing people actually finish. Send us yours.

Folly Press is a social enterprise innovating the production of books to bring new publication avenues to writers worldwide. We have openings for up to five single-author books per year.

We welcome submissions from authors who have written works that align with the Folly brand and audience. In saying that, we will also consider strong work that comes with a clear existing audience or pitch from the author about a go-to-market strategy. 

Ultimately, what we are looking for is a strong partnership with writers who understand what it takes to bring a book to market, and to ensure it succeeds. What we offer is a proven model for a beautifully produced and high quality book, with wrap around marketing support and sales options. 

We offer two avenues to publication:

- A traditional fully funded publishing model: for New Zealand writers and international writers with a built in audience and/or strong go-to-market strategy (ie, you understand the need to support marketing and sales).

- A hybrid approach: This is a bespoke approach per author, that ultimately explores how we can both co-invest in the success of your book. We will support grant applications to enable this, if necessary, and work with you to price the initial print run to your audience and community. 

What we provide:

- Full production: professional editing, proofing and typesetting

- Cover design and licensing

- High-quality printing

- E-book, Print on Demand and direct to stockist sales options. In New Zealand we manage full distribution. For international writers we work through both our distribution partners (if they choose to take on your title), or support a self-distribution option centered around your local community, events and marketing levers.  

- Marketing, media and social media support. We consider our writers part of our community, and work with you to do the best we can to promote your art. 

What we’re looking for

• Manuscripts: Up to 70,000 words
• Essay collections: up to 30,000 words approx
• Novellas: 30,000 words approx
• Short story collections: Up to 30,000 words approx

We like writing that’s smart without being academic, and accessible while still being intelligent and beautifully executed. We favour emotional honesty, confessional and gonzo style writing. If the work is sexy, confrontational, funny, or uncomfortable it should done so to provoke and enlighten, not for shock factor. We encourage any work based on trauma to have been thoroughly distilled before submission. 

To submit

•  Complete manuscript as a single document (.doc, .docx, or .pdf)   
•  Cover letter with a brief bio and a one-paragraph synopsis   
•  Table of contents (for collections)   
• Save the manuscript as firstname_lastname_title

We respond within 90 days. Simultaneous submissions are fine — just withdraw promptly if the work is accepted elsewhere.