Merit and Excellence

We have published 75 titles to date. In our inaugural year, we published two titles and on average we publish 11 titles annually. Our small list allows us to focus on literary merit and excellence in design. Our first ever title was shortlisted in the 2008 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, and we continue to accrue widespread critical acclaim and recognition via awards and shortlistings. We also receive many unsolicited testimonials from teacher-librarians who are leaders in their field.  
Although FSP is an emerging publisher in literature for children and young adults, its publisher, Paul Collins, has a track record as a publisher that spans 40 years. Starting as a publisher of science fiction in 1975, he published Void Magazine before moving into publishing genre novels in 1978. As noted in The MUP Encyclopaedia of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy (1998), Void Magazine was responsible for encouraging a new generation of science fiction writers and readers in Australia, and Paul’s subsequent book publishing activities in the late 1970s and into the 1980s pioneered the publishing of adult heroic fantasy in Australia and did much to raise the profile of Australian genre writing. He has won two awards for lifetime achievement in Australian science fiction: the 2011 A. Bertram Chandler Award and, in 2002, the inaugural Peter McNamara Award. As FSP’s publisher, Paul brings to children’s and young adult literature his pioneering drive for nurturing a new generation of writers and readers, and his decades of publishing expertise. He works personally with many of Ford Street’s authors, giving special attention to those who have not yet been published.  
We maintain high quality editorial expertise by employing Australia’s leading editors in children’s literature. Our freelance editors have included: Cathie Tasker (former publisher/editor at HarperCollins and Koala Books), Niki Horin (Macmillan and The Five Mile Press) and Meredith Costain (children’s literature expert, former editor of Victorian Schools magazine and packager for Pearson). Paul Collins, who has won an Aurealis Award and the William Atheling Jr Award for his editing, also edits selected books.  
Every FSP manuscript passes through a rigorous selection, editorial and proofreading process. We are proud of the excellence of this process. Intensive editing is done by either an in-house editor or a reputable freelance editor. Editorial consultation with the author is always thorough and considered. We are also particularly proud of our commitment to giving every unsolicited and rejected manuscript a written assessment.