Shutterstock©It’s nice to have good news to share, today.
It’s regarding our “People’s Friend” Specials.
Regular readers will know that a new “Friend” Special goes on sale every third Wednesday.
Like our weekly, it’s packed full of good reading – features and travel, cooking and craft, recipes and puzzles.
And in every Special, fourteen brand-new stories.
Every second Special also features one of our much-loved eight-page crime mysteries.
What’s Changing?
The good news is that, in response to reader feedback, our Specials are increasing in size, to 100 pages in every issue.
Instead of fourteen original short stories, there’ll now be twenty brand-new, quality stories in every Special for you to enjoy.
And every second issue will still have a long read.
New Features
We’ll also be introducing new regular features, so you can look forward to lots of lovely reading!
A New Price
Rising costs have meant that we’ve had to take the difficult decision to increase the cover price of our Specials to £3.99.
With so much inside to enjoy, we hope you feel it still represents good value for money.
If You’d Like To Write For The Special
We’re always on the look-out for brand-new fiction for our Specials – and now we’ll need more stories!
Special story lengths are 1000 and 1500 words, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500 and 4000 words.
Just like our weekly, we allow 10% either way, on word counts.
For Writers
Special stories still need to feel very much in line with “Friend” values, but can be slightly less traditional than our weekly stories.
Whether your story is humorous or moving, touching or intriguing, it should be a good read, uphold the values our readers cherish, and resolve positively.
Payment is the same as for the weekly, and all successful stories are paid on acceptance.
Read more on writing for our Specials here.
Good luck!
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!
