Jewish Book Marketing Grants
Jewish Book Marketing Grants are a new initiative to provide marketing and promotional support to book projects from the very beginning, before they have even reached a publishing house.
Sending a book out to publishers in the hopes of receiving a book contract always comes with anxiety and excitement. These days, for many authors, that anxiety might be a little higher as the book faces its earliest encounters with readers and the outside world. Jewish Book Council’s book marketing grants are intended to give reassurance and recognition through financial support that will highlight both the book project and the author as they face a big step on the road to publication.
Jewish Book Marketing Grants are available for pre-contract book projects that will contribute or enhance the conversation around Jewish identity, history, culture and tradition, or scholarship. Eligible books may be fiction or nonfiction, for children or adults. All books must either be agented and pre-contract or under pre-contract peer review.
These grants are meant to assist books as they begin the journey toward the marketplace, giving authors and publishers extra flexibility and support to properly market the book to readers. While the grants will be determined at pre-publication stages, they are designated for use in the marketing and promotion of the book to readers around the time of publication.
Grants will range from $18,000-$36,000, and will be issued directly to the author within 6 months prior to publication.
To apply for the grant, an author or agent must complete the form below, and send in a full proposal and manuscript. If a complete manuscript is not available at this time, please include all existing chapters (minimum of 2), a detailed chapter outline as well as comparisons to published titles. Authors may be asked to speak with representatives from the reading committee during the review process. Finalists will be notified by Winter 2025.
In order to complete your application, all proposals and manuscripts should be emailed to bookgrant@jewishbooks.org.
Eligibility Requirements:
To be considered, manuscripts must:
- be represented by an agent (for trade books) or be under review at a press (for academic/scholarly books) at the time of application.
- be pre-contract. If contract status changes during over the course of the grant application period, the author or agent must notify Jewish Book Council.
JBC reserves the right to cancel, suspend, or modify any commitments in the event that the final book is materially different from the manuscript and materials submitted for consideration and/or approved by JBC (as applicable).
This initiative is made possible by the generous support of Maimonides Fund.