Our next London Writers’ Club event is with the publisher, Clare Hey of Shortfire Press. We spoke to her this morning to ask her a few quickfire questions. If you’d like to come to the event, book here or if you can’t make it – or are based outside of London, either book a ticket and we’ll send you the recording or become a member and get a year’s worth of free recordings (plus lots of other goodies).
ABOUT SHORTFIRE PRESS:
Clare Hey: ‘We are a digital-only publisher specialising in short stories from emerging and established writers.
Everyone is busy nowadays. But there’s always time for a short story. Here you’ll find stories, short and sweet, which you can buy one by one. That means you can discover new writers and new stories and read them in the time it takes you to get to work, wait for a friend in a bar, or in any spare moment you have to yourself.
We believe both that writers should be paid properly and readers should not have to spend a fortune to find new writers, and our prices reflect that. Short stories will be priced at 99p each to provide the best of both worlds: a competitive price for the reader and a fair return for the author. Shortfire Press works on a no-advance, profit-share basis.’
Shortfire Press is run by editor Clare Hey. Read more about Clare
1/Please could you give us a brief biog.
Clare Hey has worked in publishing for nearly ten years, most recently as a commissioning editor at HarperCollins and now as a freelance editor. She is also the publisher and creator of Shortfire Press, a digital-only short story publishing house, specialising in short stories from new and established writers.
2/What are you working on at the moment?
A very exciting top secret digital project. My lips are sealed…
3/Who are your favourite short story writers (other than those published by Shortfire Press!)
I got into short stories when I read Hemingway, so he’s up there are one of my faves. I love Miranda July, Clare Wigfall and Amy Bloom.
4/How do you know when a short story is good?
A good storyline (sounds obvious!), believable characters (hard to do in a short space of time), and when every word is honed perfectly. I always look to feel completely confident in a writer’s hands.
5/What three tips would you give to our members wanting to write a short story?
Edit like your life depends on it (putting it aside for a while and then coming back to it fresh is vital); read as much as you can, and think about how those writers achieve the things that impress you; and then edit some more