Shutterstock / herle_catharina©With 52 fabulous issues a year, a jam-packed Special out every three weeks and our much-loved annual out in the autumn, it’s no wonder we need so many stories of different lengths. We’ll keep you right with when to submit seasonal stories to The People’s Friend.
We love receiving your stories and every single submission is read by a member of the Fiction team. Working on “The People’s Friend” means we’re always mindful of our publication dates and when the pages need to go to press to be printed. That means we have to work in advance. There is a lot of planning and preparation goes into all the “Friend” publications, so that brings us on to seasonal stories and when we need them.
We have a mix of genres in the weekly, Special and annual and we also include seasonal stories. That’s spring, summer, autumn and winter. Within those we also have St Valentine’s Day stories, stories set around Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, Hallowe’en and Christmas etc.
The Nuts And Bolts
Seasonal stories are obviously hugely important and we always include them. If you’re thinking of sending us a seasonal story, you must submit it six months beforehand. This allows us to move your story through the system. It will be read by a member of the Fiction Team, passed along to Fiction Ed Lucy and if she enjoys it, it then goes to Editor Angela for final approval.
That’s just the first phase! We then have to write an artwork brief or select a suitable image from our archive or online source. Commissioning Editor Manon then has to send out the commission to one of our artists, or decide on the selection of potential images that we give her.
Lucy then must decide on the story mix for each issue and then be sure to include a good selection of stories of varying length and genre, including the seasonal ones.
We read Christmas stories from April to September. The Magic Of Christmas magazine is due first and then our bumper issues that contain Christmas and New Year stories. If you send your Christmas stories to us in November, it’s too late.
At the moment we’re looking for late spring/early summer stories.
Top Tips
- Send your seasonal stories to The People’s Friend six months in advance. If you miss the cut-off point we won’t hold on to your story until the following year. It will be up to you to resubmit at the correct time.
- Please put the word count and the season at the top of your story, along with your details.
- If it’s a period story you must put the year in which your story is set.
- Don’t send Valentine’s Day stories to us in January. It’s too late by then.
- We don’t publish stories that are under 1000 words.
We have lots of brilliant and helpful information about how to submit stories to The People’s Friend here on our website. If you have any questions just get in touch.
Tracey Steel Having worked on a number of magazines over the years, I have found my perfect place on the “Friend” as I’m obsessed with reading and never go anywhere without a book! I read all of our stories with a mug of tea close by and usually a bit of strong cheese too!
