SHORT STORY BOOK NOW AVAILABLE!

Candy Jar Books is pleased to announce that Breaking the Surface is now available to pre-order.

Twelve short stories were selected by the judges for publication in Breaking the Surface including Andrea Wotherspoon’s winning entry of the same title (for which she also won a Kindle Fire). Sarah Evans, Tony Mayle and Jane Collins were also highly commended for their entries.

On hearing the news, Andrea Wotherspoon, from Caithness near John O’Groats said: “My story focuses on the idea of grief and how it affects the people going through it. Despite this, I have been told that it is actually quite uplifting.  I look forward to seeing my work in print.”

The Cardiff-based publisher relaunched the competition to coincide with its summer book festival last year. Laura Foakes won the 2012/2013 competition with her entry The Countess and the Mole Man. She continued to work with Candy Jar and saw the release of her debut children’s book The Liars’ and Fibbers’ Academy last year.

Hayley Cox, senior publishing coordinator at Candy Jar Books, said: “We invite submissions for our short story contest biannually and have held two competitions so far. Both times we were inundated with excellent stories. This is an exciting year for Candy Jar, we will be releasing books from established, as well as debut authors but it’s great to promote previously unpublished writers within this anthology. The quality of writing was truly outstanding and we had a number of entries from all across the UK.”

Breaking the Surface contains the twelve winning stories and is available to pre-order for £9.99 from www.candyjarbooks.co.uk ahead of the general release of the paperback and ebook editions in the summer. 

THE SOUTH WALES SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2012

To celebrate 'National Short Story Week' Candy Jar Books and Screaming Dreams Publishing are launching a competition offering aspiring writers the chance to have their work published for the very first time.

'National Short Story Week' (12^th-18^th November) aims to get more people reading and listening to short stories. Candy Jar and Screaming Dreams will publish the winning entries as an ebook anthology.

Shaun Russell, co-founder of Candy Jar Books, said: “We are committed to inspiring and encouraging new talent, which is why we have created this competition. To make it as accessible as possible for all writers there is no age limit and no entry fee.” Many writing competitions charge a fee for entry to help cover the printing costs of the book, which is why the anthology will be available purely in ebook format.

Steve Upham, owner of Screaming Dreams Publishing, is also excited by the competition. He said: "The experience winning writers will gain will be invaluable in preparing them for future publication. If successful we would like to print the anthology in paperback form and make the competition a yearly event."

Many publishers have championed the short story format this year. Bloomsbury has declared 2012 the 'Year of the Short Story' and 'The BBC National Short Story Award' has become international just for 2012 to celebrate the Olympics.

Cardiff Bay also recently celebrated 'Roald Dahl Day', celebrating the work of a local author who was also a prolific short story writer. 

'The South Wales Short Story Competition' is currently accepting submissions. Entrants are permitted to submit up to two stories and each story can be a maximum of three thousand words. The competition is open to all unpublished writers across the UK.

All submissions must be received by 5pm on Friday 9^th November 2012 and can be sent via the Candy Jar and Screaming Dreams websites. Alternatively, entries can be posted to Candy Jar Books, 113-115 Bute Street, Cardiff, CF10 5EQ. 

Good luck and get writing!