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Publishers are using short story writing competitions as a way to scout hidden writers

Three years ago,when the first edition of the Urban Shots series first hit the markets,the fact that it comprised short stories written by different writers,helped the book sales. The short story collection had stories written by writers who were shortlisted through a competition. A lot of reviews for the book agree on the fact that the variety the authors brought with them was a whiff of fresh air in a market stagnated by run-of-the-mill romance stories. It worked out even better for the publishers Grey Oak publications,as they spawned a series of books after that,namely,Crossroads,Bright lights,The Love Collection,with two more in the pipeline coming up in the next six months.

Ahmed Faiyaz,author,founder Grey Oak Publishers and the brains behind the Urban Shots collection says,The whole concept has been very effective because we have not only scouted new talent but even worked with a lot of them on our two new collectionsYuva and Stories from the City. After being published in the first edition of the Urban Shots,three writersShoma Narayan,Roshan Radhakrishnan and Kailash Srinivasangot their novels published.

Rupa Publications,which usually concentrates on novels rather than short stories,is currently running a short story contest titled The Rupa Romance Contest 2013. The deadline for which was changed from May 31 to June 30 to accommodate for more entries. According to their official poster,the top three entries would receive cash prizes and the best entries would be published in their maiden anthology – An Atlas of Love. For a big publication house like Rupa to step into the foray,does indicate that contests are a good way to unearth hidden talent.

While this is the first time that Rupa has gotten into the field to scout new talent,Fablery is doing it for a second time. For their first collection Ten Shades of Life,Fablery received over 1000 entries,out of which ten were shortlisted. The contest had run for ten months with one genre each for every month; a winner being picked each month. For the second edition however they have made a standard issue contest with the July 31 deadline. It helps to make the editing more concise when there are deadlines involved, says Nethra A,the editor at Fablery. She wonders why bigger publishers haven’t yet gotten the idea on board. Most publishers work on a tried-and-tested formula and are not open to venturing out into this market. Our first book managed to do well even with very little marketing and promotion. Besides,social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter are helpful, she adds.

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