We’ve had a fabulous few days here in “The People’s Friend” Fiction team, because we’ve signed up not one, not two, but three new writers.
And it’s still only Wednesday!
Each of them has submitted a short story that’s creative, original, and perfect for the “Friend”.
They’ve done their homework; each of them said that they read the magazine prior to submitting.
But what we liked particularly is that none of the writers has played safe.
They haven’t simply emulated or replicated the stories that they’ve read in our pages.
No, they’ve assessed the moods, the themes, the timbre and tone, and then written stories that reflect those aspects, but that are wholly new.
It’s going to be wonderful seeing them become regular contributors.
This is why our unsolicited manuscripts policy is so important to us.
Sure, sometimes we wilt a bit when we see the piles getting deeper and deeper, and our hearts sink at how long we might be keeping hopeful writers waiting.
But then the decks clear a bit, and we have time and space to really make inroads on those piles — and the reward is finding treasures like these.
This also proves to new and as-yet unsuccessful writers that there’s always hope.
What happens next?
What happens next for those successful new writers?
We send out two copies of our standard contributor contract to each of them. They sign a copy and return it to us, and retain one for their own records.
Once we receive the signed copy, we notify our finance department, who send out a form to acquire their bank details.
And once we have that information, we get on with the happy process of paying them for their stories, illustrating their stories and then scheduling their stories to share with the readers of “The People’s Friend”.
And in the meantime, we look forward to seeing more of their work. Happy days!
Shirley Blair Fiction Ed Shirley’s been with the “Friend” since 2007 and calls it her dream job because she gets to read fiction all day every day. Hobbies? Well, that would be reading! She also enjoys writing fiction when she has time, long walks, travel, and watching Scandi thrillers on TV.
