New CHAPTER

A new breed of authors in South Africa built a following on social media first, hooking readers with suspenseful love stories. We met three who have now landed publishing deals too.

- Liesl Robertson

Nélleke de Jager, head of Kwela Books, was scouting for new talent when she discovered Thandi Moagi, Puseletso Tsotetsi and Cathrine Phiri. ‘“There’s definitely a huge audience out there for authentically South African stories, if you look at how well Dudu Busani-Dube has done with the Hlomu series, as well as Takalani M, another well-known self-published author,’ she says.

Instead of penning an entire book and submitting it to a publishing house, they found a new way to get their work directly into their readers’ hands: Their social media followers either sponsor a chapter, which is then released online; they buy the book in PDF format; or they subscribe to WhatsApp groups, where new chapters are shared.

In Puseletso’s case, she started telling a story on TikTok, and was so inundated with questions about what happened next that it turned into a 30-episode viral series — and later a book.

‘It’s a whole phenomenon,’ says Nélleke. ‘Dudu Busani-Dube was one of the early ones to start writing Facebook romances, but there are many authors like that. Thandi was the first one I found, late one evening, on Facebook. I adore her writing. I think she’s incredibly talented.’

Thandi, in turn, recommended another author to Nélleke: Cathrine. ‘I asked Thandi which authors she loves on Facebook.’ Cathrine already had five self-published books to her name. ‘She literally keeps herself afloat with her writing,’ says Nélleke. ‘She came to South Africa during Covid and had to find a way to survive.’

Puseletso came to her via a friend. ‘At Kwela, years ago, I published Happiness Is a Four-Letter Word by Cynthia Jele, which Bongiwe Selane later adapted into a film. So when I asked Bongi if she knew of any new writers, she recommended Puseletso.’