WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

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What better way to spend the cold winter days, than writing a book?

We are in strange times. We are at home more now than usual. Several children will be at home over winter break. Readabear wants to help! You write a story, draw pictures, and Readabear will post your story on the website! It’s not a competition, it’s about connecting, learning, and growing. The hope is to create an exciting experience for children (of all ages) during these not so exciting times. They can not only see their book on the website, they can show it to loved ones they can't get together at the moment! The best part, it’s free!

Submissions accepted until January 15th, 2020.

HOW IT WORKS

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This is not a competition, it's simply a fun activity for both children and adults to work together. Adults can assist as much or as little as they choose. This is about connecting, learning, and growing, so the hope is that you will do all three of these things during the processs. Most importantly, it's about having fun!

Readabear won't own your story, we're simply posting the book on the site, you can request it to be removed at any time. Readabear can also remove the book at any time. See the Terms and Conditions section for more details. Submissions made to Readabear will count as an acceptance of the Terms and Conditions.

STEP 1: Write a Story

You can let the child do the writing based on the adult's drawings, let the adult do the writing based on the child's drawings, or work together! It's not a competition, it's about working together!

• Rule 1: No profanity, offensive words, or offensive themes.
  Readabear reserves the right to make the decision on what is offensive and can reject a story, or remove it at any time if it is deemed offensive.
• Rule 2: All written characters must be original
  That means no famous people, no existing characters (ie Superheroes) or brands. No last names that can identify a person. Submissions containing these characters will not be accepted.
• Rule 3: All written story ideas must be original.
  No plagiarism will be allowed. Any books that are deemed to be unoriginal will be removed.
• Rule 4: All stories must contain a typed version.
  Readabear will not provide any editing to books. The only adjustments may be those to fit the words on the page. Otherwise words will be added to books, as submitted. Adults can decide whether or not they would like to assist with editing, or if they would like to let the child do the work. It’s about learning and development, not about perfection. If a child is handwriting, and you would like Readabear to include a copy of their handwriting, please let us know and we would be happy to discuss options for that. However, a typed version will still be required.

STEP 2: Draw Pictures

You can let the child do the drawing based on the adult's writing, let the adult do the drawing based on the child's writing, or work together! It's not a competition, it's about working together!

• Rule 1: No offensive pictures
  Readabear reserves the right to make the decision on what is offensive and can reject a story, or remove it at any time if it is deemed offensive.
• Rule 2: All drawn characters must be original
  That means no famous people, no existing characters (ie Superheroes), or brands. Submissions containing these characters will not be accepted.
• Rule 3: Drawings can be done on paper, or a device such as a drawing tablet
  Ideal images will be drawn within a square. Printable page templates are included for those drawing on paper
  

  Printable Cover Page

  Printable Single Page

  Printable Double Pages

  Images on devices will ideally be made on canvases 1500px by 1500px.
  
  Readabear may make slight changes to images, as needed to fit on the page(ie lightening/darkening/cropping), but will otherwise not provide work on images, other than putting in colored backgrounds on pages.

STEP 3: Lay It Out

Let Readabear know how you want your book to be layed out, so we can put your words and images together.

• Rule 1: All Submissions must contain information for the cover
  The information needed for the cover includes a drawn image, a title, and the authors/illustrators names. Readabear will format the information to fit the cover.
• Rule 2: Any special formatting requirements must be noted
  Please let us know if you have any special requests for how you would like the story formatted. Special requests include wanting a full page for an image and a full page for text. Text being placed above an image, or below an image. Readabear will do its best to follow requests, but may not be able to complete all requests. If no formatting requirements are provided, Readabear will format the submission as it sees fit.
• Rule 3: All submissions must contain "About the Author(s)/Illustrator(s)" blurb
  The last page of each book will contain the "About the Author(s)/Illustrator(s)" page. You may also include an image for this page, if you choose. Images and blurbs must be appropriate.

STEP 4: Submit It

Send us your masterpice. Assuming all the rules were followed, we'll put it up on the site as soon as possible!

Make sure you have the following items in your submission.

• Cover Page Information
  Title:
  Author(s):
  Illustrator(s):
  Illustration Image: Please name this image "cover" and attach to the message, or use the cover template page below.

  Printable Cover Page

• Written Copy
  Either paste the required text for the story into the body of the email, or attach a file with the text.
• Submit the Pictures
  Drawings can be either scanned onto a computer and attached to the email, or they can be captured with a smart phone camera and attached to the email. Please make sure any pictures taken with a camera are clear and free of glare.
  
  Alternatively, the images for the book can be uploaded to Google Photos. Then they can be placed in a folder, and the folder can be shared with [email protected]. Please note if this was done in the email sent to [email protected].
  Please name the images in order that they should appear in the book with "image1", "image2", etc. If you are using the printable pages below, simply write the page number(s) on top.

  Printable Single Page

  Printable Double Pages

• About the Author(s)/Illustrator(s) Page
  Blurb:
  Image: (optional)
• Send it to Readabear!
  Send your story and pictures to [email protected]
  Please put the subject "Readabear Book Submission" as the subject



See sample email below:

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

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Please read and Review the Terms and Conditions before submitting.

Last Updated: 11/30/2020

General Terms

These terms and conditions are subject to change at any time. Participants will only be subject to the version of the terms and conditions to which they agreed.

This is intended to be solely an activity for the enjoyment of those who partake. No awards, compensation, or prizes will be given. Nor will Readabear require any compensation for the act of posting the story to the website.

Submissions made to Readabear give Readabear the permission to post the story to the www.readabear.com website. It also gives Readabear the permission to promote the submission to any social media accounts that Readabear maintains, using the cover image created using the information provided by the author(s)/illustrator(s).

Readabear is allowed to remove any submissions at any time, for any reason. All submissions give Readabear the ability to make necessary changes to the content submitted, to make it fit into the format of the book created. Readabear is not required to provide a copy of the story created for the Readabear website to the creator, but may choose to do so.

Privacy

Readabear will not share any information gained through submissions. This includes email address, and any other contact information for those who have submitted content. Information on the cover page about the author and illustrators will be visible. The author and illustrator information is required for submissions to ensure that content can be attibuted to the correct creator.

Original Content

Participants agree to only submit original content that was written by those noted as contributors on the cover page. Any submissions that are found to not be original content will be rejected and/or removed from www.readabear.com. All ideas, characters, and drawings are included in the content that must be original.

Ownership of Content

Readabear does not take ownership of any of the content from the stories provided. "Content" includes written word and images submitted by the author(s)/illustrator(s). However, Readabear will consider the version of the content posted by Readabear to be the property of Readabear while it is posted on the www.readabear.com website. This is so it will be protected as property of Readabear from outside sources that may try to sell or redistribute the content.

Readabear will not sell or distribute any of the content provided, nor the version that Readabear formats for the website. Readabear will also not stand in the way of any creator who may choose to sell or distribute their content that they provided to the Readabear website. However, Readabear is not required to provide their formatted version to the creator, but may choose to do so.

Removal of Content

Readabear will remove any stories as requested. However, the formatting from the story that Readabear created, is the property of Readabear, and is not required to be returned to person who submitted the original content, in any form. Readabear may decide to make the version of the story Readabear created availble to the creator of the story, however, it will not be required.

If the story is requested to be removed from the website by either the person who submitted the initial content, or anyone mentioned on the cover page, Readabear will remove it. If it is requested to be removed by an outside source, Readabear will investigate any claims and make a judgement on whether or not to remove it. Readabear will make a sincere effort to remove all content for that file. If any is missed an found at a later time, Readabear will destroy the content at that time.

Readabear may choose to remove any and all stories from the Readabear website, or move stories to different locations on the www.readabear.com website, at any time and for any reason. Readabear is not required to let any creators know that the content will be moved or removed.