Shutterstock / fotogestoeber©We have a proud tradition, in “The People’s Friend”, of welcoming submissions from new and unpublished authors.
For over 152 years, the submissions process has remained essentially unchanged, with authors who have not yet been published in the “Friend” invited to submit by post.
Over the space of a few days in March 2020, the “Friend” team moved to working from home and producing the fiction content of the magazine from outwith the office, for the first time. At the time of writing, we remain working from home.
To consider submissions from unpublished authors, and in response to your feedback, we’re changing the way unpublished authors can submit to us.
Why is the system changing?
Being unable to access the office means we can’t access postal submissions.
So, for authors whose work has not previously been published in the “Friend”, we’re changing to an email-only submissions process.
It’s important to note that the only thing changing is the process by which unpublished authors can submit fiction for consideration.
Our story requirements, and Terms and Conditions, remain unchanged.
We will now only consider emailed submissions from unpublished authors; please do not submit by post.
These changes do not apply to authors who have been published in the “Friend”.
The new process
Full details, including the email address your submission should be sent to, can be found on our website.
At the bottom of the right-hand page of the Fiction Guidelines, you’ll see ‘”Submitting A Manuscript – 10 Golden Rules”.
If you’d like to submit, simply follow the steps.
If your story is safely received, you’ll receive an immediate, automatic email response confirming receipt. Should you not receive a response, we have not received your story.
Please check the steps in the guidelines before trying again.
Please don’t resubmit a story that’s currently in the office, awaiting our attention. As soon as we can access the office, responding to postal submissions will be a priority. Sending the same story twice will mean double the response time.
For more information
The first port of call should be our Guidelines.
Tracey’s Twitter Writing Hour on Tuesday 27th at 11am will focus on the new submissions system; your questions will be most welcome.
And before that, Editor, Angela and I will host a Facebook Live focusing on these changes, on April 23rd.
Hope to see you then.
For more from Fiction Ed Lucy, 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!
