Church with Grandma:Children's novel by S.J. Louis

About the author:

Soranda Louis a.k.a S.J. Louis is a Nashville, TN based author who was born and raised in the historical small town of Fort Pierce, FL. As a young girl she spent several hours reading at the Zora Neale Hurston Branch Library located in her hometown. Her Grandmother who is a retired school teacher, taught her how to read and write when she was just 3 years old. As Soranda got older, her first grade teacher noticed her reading comprehension scores were low and her classroom attentiveness was affected. After a visit to the doctor's office it was discovered that Soranda had lost 1/3 of her hearing and needed surgery. 

To boost her scores and reading comprehension Soranda was placed in an intensive reading program at her school from first grade to fourth grade. After her teachers noticed her improvement Soranda went on to excel in Language Arts and secured several academic scholarships at Saint Anastasia Catholic School, where she was the only Black girl in her class from K-8th grade.  As of to date she has earned  a Theatre Arts B.A. degree from Flagler College where she stared in several plays,  and  M.F.A. degree in Writing from Savannah College of Art of Design . She specializes in short-form fiction, long-form fiction, memoir, and personal essays. Soranda also runs a faith-based inspirational blog called The Sage Lily  where she provides weekly devotionals and testimonials rooted in biblical scriptures. 

Project Overview:

Church with Grandma is a children's novel that is based on true accounts of my church-going experiences and follows a day in the life of young "Amanda", as she reluctantly goes to church. 

This story will make a social impact because it highlights the fond relationship of a young Black protagonist who is discovering her voice in church. 

 I grew up in a single-parent household, so going to church with my grandma was an integral part of shaping me into the woman I am today and it kept me off the streets and out of trouble. 

The message: 

The moral of Church with Grandma  shows children that it's ok to have fun worshipping in church and that there is nothing to be embarrassed about about serving the Lord. Furthermore, kids will be able to quote one of the most fundamental scriptures/ teachings from the Bible: "Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. " John 14:6

Social Impact:

There are currently over 2.4 billion people who identify as Christian in the world in some way, shape, or form. The Christian base is a very broad audience that I know my story is adequately tailored to. However, this story is not about alienating non-believers. It is meant to relay the fond joy I shared with my grandma in church as I developed my self-esteem and began my own relationship with God. 

Furthermore, this book will inspire young readers to get excited about going to church, thus giving the narrative a timeless and multifaceted feel. I would like this story to be the first installment of a series of many adventures I have shared with my grandma all throughout my childhood. 

Fund distribution:

Securing funding through IFUNDWOMEN will enable me to cover the necessary publishing costs, operational costs, marketing costs, and illustration costs. (**see budget details and publishing timeline below)

Publishing:

In lieu of traditional publishing means by way of an agent, I have chosen to "self-publish" as an unrepresented author via an imprint of a faith-based publisher. What that means for the project is the rapid tabulation of publishing and printing costs. Furthermore, I would be committing to an investment contract as opposed to a traditional no investment publishing contract that has a book advance. Therefore, all costs associated with launching this novel will be completely out of pocket as I would be required to meet the costly production demands of an investment contract.

 The initial cost of the investment contract is $9,000 plus contingent upon the costs of marketing packages/strategies:  i.e exposure of the novel to televised online faith-based platforms. 

Illustration/Editorial:

Using an agented illustrator can be $9000 and up, contingent upon the page count, format of the book i.e a board book, picture book, or chapter book. etc. in addition to the cost of the labor for the Illustrator to design the illustrations. 

The book will be published as an 8.5" by 8.5" square paged book available as an E-book, Paperback, and Hard back. 

The page count is estimated to be 15 pages long designed over 7.5 spreads with 765 words

Additional editorial passes of the novel will be based on whether the novel meets the project timeline for each phase of production. 

I.E.  If I make changes to the initial manuscript that fall outside of the finalized manuscript phase, then I will be required to pay for the cost of the editorial team passing over the new changes.