The Fiction Shelf

1.	Is The Fiction Shelf available offline?

There are a number of ways you can enjoy the great depth of work on our site without being at your computer. Firstly, you can download an electronic copy to any device, including mobile phones, iPods, iPads, Laptops and e‐book readers. Alternatively, you are free to print the stories out from your own printer and read it wherever you want.

2.	I have an electronic device whose format is not supported on this website, what can I do?

Tell us. We are trying as hard as we can to accommodate every way that people could possibly want to read our writers’ work. If we haven’t got round to sorting out your favourite, let us know and we will work like dogs to arrange it.

3.	Can I have the e‐books delivered directly to my Kindle?

At the moment we can not deliver directly, however you are free to download the e‐books in any supported format and e‐mail it to your Kindle from a trusted address. For more information check your Amazon Kindle account.

4.	Are online publishing and e‐books going to kill the novel? Why would you contribute to such a terrible thing?

No. Technology is about choice, and it is about specialisation. There are instances where a laptop is impractical, or where technology cannot tread, and naturally printed stories fill this gap. Books are more than just a medium, they are a cultural and social thing that will far outlast the latest gadgets. What we’re doing is bringing a wide range of choice to readers who want to utilise their gadgets and devices to read and share excellent new fiction.

5.	I am a publisher/journalist/author and would like to talk to someone about The Fiction Shelf, to whom do I speak?

Click here for contact details of our team, alternatively e‐mail editors@thefictionshelf.com and we will try to respond swiftly.

6.	What kind of stories/poems are you looking for?

There is no type of writing that we’re looking for, only work that we think people will want to read. Genre, therefore, is rarely a consideration. The best story or poem is one that is entertaining, that’s it. Because of the nature of the website, and of reading work online, we have set a word limit of around 12,000 words, if you want to exceed this, let us know and we’ll see what we can do. In all cases, send the work first, we’ll discuss it later.

7.	What qualifies your editors to decide if my work is good enough?

The Fiction Shelf Editors are all avid readers and consumers of literature. Judgments are not made about whether a work is good or not, merely whether it is suitable for this website. We only decide if we think visitors to our website will enjoy reading a submission, we are quite sure that some work which we decide is unsuitable will find success in other areas of publication, and encourage this.

8.	I want to submit some of my work to The Fiction Shelf but I’m concerned about copyright, who owns the work?

The writer is in full ownership of their work at all times, which means you also have responsibility for how it is distributed. The Fiction Shelf is a platform for you to present your work to the public, and we have no ownership of the Intellectual Property, you are quite at liberty to have it published in any other way and sell it as you wish, you are also free to have it removed from The Fiction Shelf at any point. The Fiction Shelf will never attempt to sell your work without contacting you first.

9.	Will I get any royalties for having my work on the Fiction Shelf?

For the moment, no. The Fiction Shelf exists as a tool that allows readers to read for free and writers to share their work with an audience. The reward that writers get is that their work is read. If in the future there is a commercial interest in an individual writer’s work the situation will be re‐addressed. It is worth remembering that writers keep all rights on their work and are free to distribute it as they please. We will be happy to remove the work from the site upon request by the author.

10.	I have some work to submit, however I am worried that it may not be good enough to be on the site, what shall I do?

The Fiction Shelf absolutely encourages new writers, and, as writers ourselves, are wholly aware that writing is a process that involves a lot of growth, therefore we would encourage anybody to submit their work to our editors. We do not have any rigid criteria for submitting, there is no mark‐scheme, however there are some notes on the sort of thing the editors are looking for here. Remember though that the best thing a story can be is entertaining. Writers should also bear in mind that a rejection of a story is not a rejection of a writer, and that there is no limit to the amount of works you can submit, the key is to keep writing.

11.	My story is tremendously offensive, do you still want it or will you call the police if I send it?

We won’t reject a story just because it is offensive, however, a key part of writing is justifying the devices you use, including offense. If it does not justify its constituent parts, a story will likely not be published, this is true as much for meter, for example, as it is for offensive language/themes.

12.	Can I at this time submit my 300,000 word novel to The Fiction Shelf?

You can submit any story, but the chances are that such a long work would not get published. The Fiction Shelf is looking for stories that people can read in entertaining minutes or hours, lengthier works are not suitable for this website, and would most likely be rejected.

13.	Do you accept multiple submissions within a single e‐mail?

Each submission needs to be made individually so that they can be processed individually. There is no limit, however to how many individual submissions you can make in one sitting.

14.	How long until I hear back about my submission?

We aim to respond to all submissions within 28 days, if we haven’t responded to you in this time, feel free to pester us by emailing the editorial team at editors@thefictionshelf.com.

15.	Do you ever give feedback on submissions?

As a rule, no. We receive a lot of submissions, which we are incredibly pleased about, but it means we’d get nothing else done if we tried to give feedback on each story. On very rare occasions, if we feel a story is close to being of a publishable level but is lacking some key points, we may invite the writer to re‐assess certain aspects of their work. We are also keen to avoid the idea that we know best about writing, all the editors are looking for is work that we think our readers will enjoy, feedback would suggest we want to tell writers how to get better, we don’t want to do this.

16.	What happens to my work after it is accepted?

As soon as the Editors accept a work for publication, it is sent off to the technical wizards who will process it, attach all the relevant data and a short blurb and then upload it to the site for everybody to read, comment on and share, hopefully within seven days. If this has not happened in that time, nag us by emailing editors@thefictionshelf.com. Your work will then remain on the site indefinitely. To view the Terms and Conditions of acceptance, click here.

17.	Will you be running competitions?

Yes. We think competitions keep things fresh and give a good focus for writers to aim at, there will be regular competitions in all kinds of writing, starting with a flash fiction competition run over Twitter, for details click here. The main competition we will run is the annual Fiction Shelf Prize for Fiction and Poetry, for the outstanding piece submitted to the site. The first of these will be presented in 2011, so keep checking the site for details.