Long Story Shorts

Melbourne-based publisher Affirm Press happily announces a commitment to publish six collections of short stories by single authors in 2010.

For emerging writers, there are few stepping-stones bridging the chasm between contributing a short story to an anthology and writing a novel. Few incentives to hone their craft, or opportunities to showcase range and flair. Publishers generally aren‘t interested in collections by little-known writers. Let‘s face it, with a few exceptions, they generally don‘t sell well.

Enter Affirm Press, gallantly plugging a gap or committing commercial hari-kari for the sake of some publicity. Or maybe we just really like short stories and want to read more.

Long Story Shorts is open to everyone from hobbyists to experienced authors. We are calling for submissions of between 40,000 and 70,000 words (short stories, flash fiction, novellas, bits of narrative that defy categorisation). At least half of it must be previously unpublished, and standard royalties will apply.

There are two deadlines: anyone with a collection just about ready should submit it by 1 September; anyone with the desire to complete a collection should get their skates on and submit for a second round by 1 February 2010. Send through your collection, a short bio and information on what has been published and where to info(at)affirmpress.com.au.

The six books will be created as a series, designed and illustrated by Dean Gorissen, and published throughout 2010.