bookmates, a service for reading electronic and audio books that connects lovers of the written word all over the world, last year, with the support of mobile operator One, organized the second creative writing competition "Your Word".
After a year-long search for new literary stars, readers are finally presented with the works of the winners and finalists of this competition in creative writing.
19 works of the finalists were published on the service for reading electronic and audio books, Bookmate. Among them are the works of two finalists from Montenegro - Sergej Pavlovic i Goran Radojičić, which the expert jury recognized as particularly high-quality and creative.
"The works of the finalists were published in electronic form, on the Bookmate service, which has over thirteen million users globally, of which about fifty thousand in our region. It will give new authors, who are still looking for affirmation, the opportunity to reach an incredible number of potential readers," she said. Lana Vujičić, project manager of this competition.
For a 22-year-old playwright from Podgorica Sergej Pavlovic, who has been fascinated by old myths and legends since childhood, the knowledge that he was among the 19 published finalists brought great joy.
"A strange but extremely pleasant experience, that something I wrote not only saw the light of day outside of my laptop, but was even professionally published. I hope that this is a good sign and just the beginning, and that I will continue to do so in the years to come," says Sergej.
A similar experience is shared by the finalist from Nikšić, Goran Radojicic, to whom he says this was the first published work in its entirety.
"I am particularly pleased by the fact that my manuscript will be read by someone who does not know me, and who will be able to express his judgment absolutely impartially," says Goran.
Goran's love for writing was preceded by his love for reading, so he says that he prescribed from an obsessive reading, but also from an excess of sentiment, inherited from his mother.
"It was in the early twenties, starting from diary entries, through naive rhymes. Corona gave me the opportunity and time to take my notes and thoughts seriously. And to actively follow competitions. "I noticed the brilliantly and frequently advertised contest, "Your word", remembered my long-ago unfinished manuscript, returned to the abandoned lines and without expectations sent them to the right address," recalls Goran.
Although both of them say that they are "old fashioned" readers and that they like the feeling of flipping through the pages and the smell of books, they are happy about the increasing availability of literature via electronic means, which they say we can also thank services like Bookmate.
"I think digitization is good for readers and authors, because it makes books more accessible, especially when it comes to books by foreign authors, which are often not translated into our language and cannot be bought in bookstores," says Sergej.
In our region, Bookmate is available in Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, and its library has electronic and audio books in 16 languages.
"We are excited to be able to offer talented, so far unrealized authors in Montenegro and Serbia the opportunity to have their word read globally, in all 25 markets where Bookmate is present," he said. Andrew Bayev, CEO of Bookmate.
The One company says that together with Bookmate, they had the desire to start the domestic author scene and open the door to new literary voices.
"I believe that all writers agree that the most difficult thing is to publish the first work and present it to the public. That first step was taken by Goran and Sergej, and we are happy to have helped them in that. We hope that their story will motivate other young people to follow in their footsteps and not give up on their dreams. On that road, they can always count on the One company," he said commercial director of the One company Brano Đurović.
If you want to read the stories of our finalists, download Bookmate application and find your favorite titles and authors in a database of over a million electronic and audio books in 16 languages, including more than 3000 books from the best-known regional publishers. To all users who activate Bookmate, the One company gives 10 or 100 GB of Internet traffic for its use, depending on the tariff package, on a monthly basis.
