Tuesday 12 January 2010

Shortbread Short Stories

The Shortbread Short Story website began a couple of years ago when bookseller William Thomson and Robin Pilcher, son of Rosamunde, wanted to showcase the short story. Some people might remember hearing about it at the SAW one year.

It has grown immeasurably over the last year, with well over 600 stories now online. You have to join the site to be able to submit stories or to read them. It’s easy and free to join, and well worth doing if you enjoy writing stories and have yet to find a market for them. I’ve only posted one so far but I’ll be considering it again. I know most of us want to be paid for our published stories, but sometimes a story just won't fit any print publication.

There is no payment, but there is the exposure of having your fiction published online, in some good company. Many of the stories have been selected and downloaded as an audio version. All kinds of short stories are welcome, including children’s stories. The author chooses which category their individual stories best suit.

There is a short piece by Rosamunde Pilcher on the website, about writing short stories. It might be a good site on which to gain some confidence in publishing short stories and, of course, you can read the other stories already there.

Like many other online sites, Shortbread is constantly growing and evolving, so this might be a good time to become involved.
Rosemary

6 comments:

Bill Kirton said...

You're right, Rosemary. Pity about the non-payment but it's good to support an enterprise that has a love of the form as its raison d'etre. I find the stories vary a lot in all sorts of ways and it's great to see a range from the unpretentious to the frankly experimental. The best ones are very good indeed.

Rosemary Gemmell said...

Thanks for the comment, Bill. At least it's a platform for stories.

Elizabeth McKay said...

Hi Rosemary, I've been meaning to visit your blog since I found out about it - and here I am at last! I remember hearing about Shortbread at SAW and I did in fact send something in to them but that was before they really got it off the ground. I suppose if I'm honest the non-payment does put me off, but I agree with you that sometimes it can be difficult to place a story in the paying market. Maybe I'll have a rethink. In the meantime, well done to you for posting so much helpful information.

Rosemary Gemmell said...

Thanks for leaving your kind comment, Betty. Don't worry, the non-payment has put me off for quite a while too!

Vikki said...

Looks interesting, will have a proper read of it later. Thanks for sharing all your info!

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