info@imaginpress.comNow that we’ve finished our two-year Last King of Shang project, we’re taking a short break for the holidays. But I’m thinking about what we should do next.
Right now we are not looking to take on another huge project (sorry, no Romance of the Three Kingdoms!). But I am interested in publishing a series of short graded readers geared towards the lower end of reading ability, say around 500 to 800 word vocabulary. Ideally we’d do several short books around a unifying theme.
So, what should we do? One idea is to publish a series of books where each one takes a story from a different Chinese dynasty. There are lots of dynasties, and lots of stories from each.
That’s just one idea. Any other suggestions? Send me an email, jeff@imagin8press.com. If we use your idea, we’ll make you famous here on our blog, and you’ll get free copies of all the books in the series.
3 Comments
Walter Jülich November 28, 2024 - 06:27
I would suggest „Outlaws of the Marsh“. I have read the book several times (in German translation), starting as a 14 year old boy. Now I‘m 82 years old and would lime to read it again in simplified Chinese.
Walter
Max December 14, 2024 - 01:58
I understand you are thinking about writing using a 500 to 800 words vocabulary. What about an epistolary novel, and as we progress through the novel, the people exchanging messages use more and more words, as they themselves learn to read and write more skillfully.
Looking even further into the future, I hope that for the project after that next one, you will also consider writing HSK5 level stories, as this would be the next logical step for the readers of your Journey to the West and Last King of Shang readers. For that, Walter’s suggestion “Outlaws of the Marsh” would be quite amazing.
Looking forward to reading your next work.
Jeff Pepper December 14, 2024 - 08:53 – In reply to: Max
Max, I really like the idea of a book that progresses in vocabulary as people exchange letters (or perhaps WeChat messages!) We have a few fiction projects in early stages, perhaps we could try that. Thanks for the suggestion!
Regarding a book at the HSK5 level, I’m not sure about that. It’s true that it gives us (the authors) a lot more words to play with. But I don’t know if a reader at that skill level would need a graded reader at all, as they probably could work their way through any number of ordinary Chinese fiction books, especially in the YA category. But Outlaws of the Marsh is a great story and could be a future project.