Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Short stories on the up

In December I wrote about the state of the short story and the fact that there were signs of a resurgence, with several small publishers beginning to specialise in the form. Well, I am thrilled to be able to say that in October one of those publishers, Salt, is to publish a collection of my stories, Balancing on the Edge of the World.

Salt, based in Cambridge and run by Chris and Jen Hamilton-Emery, are turning out to be marvellous. The whole thing happened very quickly: a fortnight before Christmas I sent them a sample three stories, and by mid January they had offered to publish a collection. No messing about: straight through came an author questionnaire which made it very clear that Salt empower their authors by involving them in publicity and marketing at every stage.

Take a look at their site, and you'll see how classy they are, both in terms of literary standard and marketing flair. It's no wonder that they've gained such prominence and respect in such a short time, and I feel just honoured to be published by them - alongside several other Manchester writers, as it happens, including Steve Waling, David Gaffney and Neil Campbell.

9 comments:

nmj said...

elizabeth, congratulations with your story collection, that is such good news! i will look at Salt website later, am lemsipped out at moment.

Elizabeth Baines said...

Hope you feel better soon!

Anonymous said...

That is the best possible news. Your short stories are brilliant and now everyone will see that they are. Fantastic!

Elizabeth Baines said...

Thanks, Adele!

Buffy said...

Long time lurker...first comment.

Love the blog.

Elizabeth Baines said...

Hi there Buffy, thanks for dropping in.

Charles Lambert said...

This is excellent news. Well done! I've long admired Salt for their poetry lists and their fiction list is beginning to look equally exciting.

I've also had the pleasure of publishing David Gaffney's work and it's wonderful to see it being recognised. I now look forward to seeing your collection as well.

Elizabeth Baines said...

Hey, Charles, thank you! And well done to you in turn for your forthcoming Picador publication (your comment on my other blog re getting published is extrememly interesting)

Charles Lambert said...

Glad you liked it. Another interesting small publisher (and not only because they did a story of mine!) is Elastic Press from Norwich, who've had the commercial courage to concentrate on short stories.