I'd like to debunk once and for all the notion that short stories don't sell. All publishers need to do is believe in their short story collections. If you start out saying I don’t believe this book will sell, then it won’t. But if you believe in it passionately, then you can convey that passion to readers.I got news today that made my day! Eric Forbes sent me an SMS to say that Wena Poon's Lions in Winter has been nominated for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize, the world's richest award for short fiction. (Other nominated authors include Anne Enright and Jhumpa Lahiri.)
The book is there because Eric and Janet Tay* of MPH believed in the book, not only enough to publish it, but also enough to promote it overseas. (This could be the first time that a work of fiction published by a local publisher has been listed for an international award.)
Update :
More on this year's Frank O'Connor prize at the Guardian.
*How nice if those guys could start their on literary imprint with MPH!
9 comments:
Hope for the rest of us who find anything over 3000 words just too daunting!
indeed. have just finished reading the collection of short stories 'Of Cats and Men' by Nina de Gramont.
I absolutely enjoyed it.
Congratulations to Wena, Eric, Janet and everyone involved! I'm so happy for them.
congratulations!!!
hip hip hooray! uncle who's afraid of atm machine will have more audience...
Thanks for blogging about this, Sharon, and thanks to everyone for their congratulations! We're very pleased and excited over here, and hope that we'll continue to receive worthy manuscripts that will similarly win awards.
Sorry that was me actually, I don't have an active blog but google logs me in with an old name! Sorry about that!
500K euros is a lot of money :)
Ooo ... new nick for Janet. Green Orchid! A character in a book about the exotic Far East that will certainly be acceptable to a publisher in England!
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