Storymix (2025)

18/08/2025

Big news! 🎉 Our very own Jasmine Richards is hitting the stage at the Black British Book Festival 2025.

📅 19 October 2025
📍 Barbican Centre, London

It’s Europe’s biggest celebration of Black literature and we cannot wait to see Jasmine in the line-up, connecting with readers and fellow storytellers.

Grab your tickets and come be part of the magic: www.blackbritishbookfestival.com

28/07/2025

We’re delighted to share that Dead Yard: Seeds of Doom and Oxford Blood are both part of Waterstones’ summer pre-order offer – and it’s a good one! From 28–31 July, you can get 25% off upcoming titles when you pre-order online with the code SUMMER25.

📚 Why does this matter?

Pre-orders are one of the best ways to support books you believe in. They help retailers know there’s demand. They signal to publishers that stories like these deserve a wide spotlight. And they make it more likely that books featuring diverse characters and voices get the attention they deserve.

Dead Yard: Seeds of Doom is a supernatural adventure perfect for readers 9+ from debut writer writing as P.J. Killburn, illustrated by the brilliant Markia Jenai.
Oxford Blood is a dark academia thriller full of secrets, legacies, and razor-sharp twists, written by .

Both are projects we’re so proud of, and we can’t wait for readers to get their hands on them.

💻 Pre-order here: http://waterstones.com/campaign/july-pre-order-offer
📅 Offer runs 28–31 July only
🔖 Use code: SUMMER25

24/07/2025

Discover First: Get one of 100 copies of Dead Yard: Seeds of Doom by writing as P.J Killburn before it hits bookshops. Link to competition and first chapter in the bio.

are giving 100 people the chance to get the first book in a spook-tastic new children’s series published by before it’s out in September.

Discover First: Dead Yard: Seeds of Doom
The first in a new series for ages 9+, perfect for fans of Goosebumps and Dread Wood.
A bit about the book:
Budding film-maker Jermaine is at his great-great uncle’s Dead Yard, a service for the deceased that lasts the entire night. There’s music, tons of people and lots of food, so when Jermaine spots a plate of patties – his favourite snack – he digs in immediately. But upon taking a bite he finds himself in big trouble.

Turns out that at a Dead Yard, a table is set up under a tent with food for the departed loved one. No one is allowed to eat from it before midnight, which is believed to be the time when the spirit passes through.

Jermaine wishes he knew that before 22:53! Now he’s got the angry spirit of his Uncle Carl in his life. ALL. THE. TIME. But that isn’t the only creepy happening in town. Kids are suffering from a mysterious illness that sounds A LOT like the Jamaican ghost tales his great gran has told him. With cursed cassava seeds in the house and a strange being lurking in the neighbourhood too, Jermaine and Carl will have to work together to keep the people they care about safe.

01/07/2025

So pleased to be able to share this new series with the world and the brand new talent that is Pardina Samson-Fessale - Writer writing as P.J Killburn!

28/06/2025

Big news!
Storymix has been selected for the F100 Growth Fund, supported by Sky and the Black Equity Organisation .

This opportunity helps us take our mission even further:
creating inclusive stories where every child gets to be the hero.

From mystery-solving girls in Georgian London to four girls wielding ancestral magic to help their community, we’re building joyful, imaginative stories that reflect the richness of real-world kids.

Thank you to the F100 team for recognising the vision.
We’re just getting started. Let’s keep making magic.

21/06/2025

Happy to Curtis Merriman aka The Other Father Christmas due to the community centre’s Santa’s Grotto he’s been running for years with his beloved wife Claudette. Curtis is a Husband, Father, Grandfather, retired bus driver and one of the contestants up to win the job of being the next Santa Claus. His grandson Mikey entered him in the competition. Curtis aka as Gramps came to the UK when he was 11 years old. Previous to that he lived with his grandparents in Jamaica whilst his parents worked hard to build a new life in the UK so that they could send for him. During his childhood Curtis’s parents would send barrels filled with treats for him - Curtis has always understood the power of gifts and giving. We think he would make the perfect next Santa Claus - find out if he wins the competition and order a copy of the book The Other Father Christmas over on our Kickstarter - link in the bio.

20/06/2025

Our lovely talent development manager Sara Grant and all round editing extraordinaire has just released a book. It’s called The Ultimate Guide to Editing Your Book and it’s a practical hands on guide for how to edit your novel with 75 exercises to really put your book through its paces. We are so lucky that we have Sara as an editor on our books. If you can’t have Sara then her book is a very close second! You can buy this over on the Bloomsbury website or wherever you buy your books! She’s not on this platform so we’re going to make some noise about this wonderful book!

20/06/2025

Thanks to every single backer, The Other Father Christmas is now officially happening. The book will be going to print at the end of summer. But this moment isn’t the end of the story. It’s the start of something BIGGER.
When a campaign reaches its goal early, it shows momentum. That’s powerful. But what we do next really counts. We've got 14 days to keep pushing! Every pledge and share from this point helps shape what this project can become - not just for this book, but as part of the narratives around inclusive publishing and audience support and appetite. We keep on being told the pipeline is broken - let's fix it or at least show one way of fixing it.
Here’s what I'm aiming for now on the Kickstarter:
🎉Pledge specifically to help us raise enough to commission the audiobook and soundtrack. We have our eye on some amazing voice talent.
🎉 £3,000 – Means jacketed hardbacks to elevate the look and feel of the book. Let's give Mikey and Gramps their gladrags!
🎉 £6,000 – A global festive digital Christmas recipe book, drawing on some of the traditions we see in the story.
🎉 £12,000 – A magical Santa’s Grotto experience based on the story and the competitions that appear in the book.
Please don't forget - Storymix Books is a micro publisher. A brand new micro publisher. That means every pre-order isn’t just a sale it's building block to a bigger print run, stronger indie shop offers and more marketing reach so we can get this book into the hands of kids this Christmas. Please don't forget we started this micro publisher- this sister venture to Storymix because we couldn't sell The Other Father Christmas to a traditional publisher but we knew this story deserved and needed to be in the world.
💫 So...if you’ve pledged already, thank you. Please share this with someone who cares about inclusive books and what we're trying to do here.
If you’re still deciding, NOW is the perfect time to jump in [don't forget your snow boots].
Let's show what’s possible when readers and creators build something together.
https://lnkd.in/eRDDgBjF

14/06/2025

It is day 4 of Storymix Books' first Kickstarter campaign and Kickstarter has selected The Other Father Christmas as a “Project We Love,” which is Kickstarter's way of highlighting brilliant examples of creativity. The Other Father Christmas campaign will now be featured across Kickstarter - so we're kind of in the shop window! This book has been a labour of love and one of the things we wanted to prove - was that this book did deserve to be on tables and in shop windows both virtual and real. So we're going to keep pushing. The more we raise now - the larger the hardback print run we can sign off and then we'll be able to offer some hardback bundles to indie bookshops as well and maybe some point of sale materials? Indie publishers what would you like to see as POS materials? I'm getting ahead of myself but what I love about this crowdfunding model and getting support up front is that it allows us to think a bit bigger without risking the kingdom or in this case the micro publisher.

A huge thank you to everyone who pledged early - it was a big factor in this project being chosen I think. Let's keep this incredible energy going. 75% funded with only 21 days left!

Click the link in the bio check out our campaign!

What is Kickstarter? Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform used by creators to raise funds through pledges or pre-orders to help bring their ideas to life.

In this case, we are using Kickstarter to raise funds through pledges for our rewards, and pre-orders of our hardback edition of The Other Father Christmas.

We have a minimal threshold we had to meet so we could do a small print run but we'd love to do a bigger one so please keep sharing and pledging if you are passionate about inclusive books for kids!

10/06/2025

🎄 The Other Father Christmas is now live on Kickstarter! 🎄
It’s June. And yes, we're talking about Christmas.
We’ve just hit launch on the Kickstarter campaign for The Other Father Christmas - a magical, joy-filled story for readers aged 8 to 12 and their grown-ups. There’s festive sabotage, reindeer races, and a gingerbread escape room. At the heart of it, a boy named Mikey enters his Gramps into a magical contest to become the next Santa Claus.
This is the first book from our new indie imprint, Storymix Books and we’re doing something different. Two routes to get this book into readers’ hands:
📘 A crowdfunded hardback edition on Kickstarter
📖 A trade paperback in shops this November

➡️ Back the campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/982812525/the-other-father-christmas-a-festive-read-to-treasure
This campaign is close to my heart. Not just because I co-wrote it (with the brilliant Priscilla Mante, as Serena Holly). Not just because Shahab Shamshirsaz’s illustrations are full of joy and warmth but because we’re trying something new. We’re building our own table and I want to prove that readers are hungry for a more inclusive Christmas.
And... I may or may not be interviewed by Santa Claus in the Kickstarter video. Let's just say it's a good thing I gave up drama after my GCSEs but do go over and have a look!
💫 Kickstarter Rewards include:
– Hardback edition of the book in the UK
– Paperback edition in US and Canada
– Getting yourself drawn as an elf
– Donating books to under-resourced schools
– A personalised edition with your elf name
– A brainstorming session with the Storymix team
– A plot doctor call with me
– Stickers, cards, and a virtual festive launch party
Kids publishing is tough right now. But Storymix is still here, imagining differently and making stories that turn children into lifelong readers.
So I’m asking. If you believe in inclusive stories, back the campaign. No matter how small the pledge is. Or share it with someone who might love what we're trying to do here. Let’s pretend it is December rather than June and bring a little Christmas magic to life today. Thanks as always for the support!

17/03/2025

Our founder Jasmine aka is deep in 1:1s this week at Development Week, working with writers to fine-tune pitches, submission letters and sharpening opening chapters.
And that’s exactly why BookTrust Represents is so vital. It’s not just about craft, it’s about access to information and advice and breaking down barriers for racially minoritised writers and illustrators. Through expert-led workshops and advice clinics this week is all about equipping creators with the tools to thrive in publishing and we’re super proud to be taking part with a ton of other wonderful publishing folk and creatives.

Thank you BookTrustRepresents for doing the work. Who’s taking part?

25/02/2025

AI is profiting from human creativity – isn’t it time creators got their fair share?

A fair deal for creators isn’t just about making things right, it is essential for the future of creativity and AI.

Find out more: societyofauthors.org

Storymix

18/08/2025

28/07/2025

24/07/2025

01/07/2025

28/06/2025

21/06/2025

20/06/2025

20/06/2025

14/06/2025

10/06/2025

17/03/2025

25/02/2025

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