Shutterstock / K Woodgyer©Regular contributors and readers of the website will know that we’ve recently introduced a new submissions system for unpublished “Friend” authors.
We’ve provided a detailed step-by-step of how to send in your stories, which you’ll find in our Submission Guidelines.
We’ll stop accepting postal fiction submissions from the end of this month.
Why will you no longer consider postal submissions?
The first reason is that we are still working from home, and can’t access the office – which means we can’t access your postal submissions.
Any submissions which have already been received are safely stored and ready to read, and we’ll respond when circumstances allow.
The second reason why this is happening now is that our email system is up and running, and any fiction submissions can easily be made this way.
We’d ask that no new submissions are made by post after the end of this month – May 31st. Postal submissions received after this date will not receive a response.
Will this affect published authors?
If you’ve had one or more stories published in the “Friend”, you’ll already be emailing your stories to your assigned editor – Abbie, Alan, Lucy or Tracey. So there’s no change for established authors.
Pocket novels and poetry
There are no changes at the moment for pocket novels and poetry. So if you have a pocket novel for consideration, please email a synopsis plus first three chapters to Tracey.
If you have a poem for consideration and you’re an unpublished author, please continue to submit by post. We’ll keep you updated as regards any changes to this system.
Receiving feedback
To allow us to continue accepting unsolicited manuscripts, unsuccessful stories will now receive a standard response letter. If you’re unsure as to why your story has been unsuccessful, try checking the website – common reasons are it’s a story length we don’t accept, a familiar theme, or that we have plenty of that length or genre in stock.
For more from Lucy’s Fiction Ed’s Blog, click here.
To subscribe to “The People’s Friend”, click here.
Lucy Crichton Better known as “Fiction Editor Lucy”, I am always on the look-out for the very best short stories, poems and pocket novels. As well as sourcing enjoyable content, I enjoy working with our established contributors, encouraging new talent, and celebrating 155 years of “Friend” fiction!
