Clare Hey: Shortfire Press

Shortfire Press began as a spark of an idea after a glass of wine or two too many and a conversation, which wondered: Will the ebook revolution change the way we read short stories? What if we could take the short story out of the collection? How could the idea behind iTunes be applied to short stories?

As an editor, I am convinced there is a hunger for great short stories, but I suspect that not everyone wants to buy a whole collection - taking a chance on an author you haven't read before is much easier when you are only parting with 99p rather than £7.99. And somehow finding the time to read just one story feels less daunting in this busy day and age than fitting in a doorstopper of a paperback.

So the vision from the start for Shortfire Press was to try to open up short stories to everyone, to make a site where readers can find amazing short stories - some from well-known authors, and some from unknown writers making their debut - which would be downloadable one by one onto any electronic reading device, mobile phone or computer, and for just 99p.

Shortfire Press has just launched with three short stories - from Nadifa Mohamed, author of the prize-winning Black Mamba Boy, Laura Dockrill, poet extraordinaire and literary star to watch according to The Times, and newcomer Elizabeth Jenner - and we plan to publish three new stories every fortnight. We also feature interviews with authors - our launch interviewee was Amy Sackville, author of The Still Point, which won the John Llewellyn Rhys prize - and will feature reviews and news of the best books coming out, as well as details of literary events.

We are always on the lookout for great writers and encourage submissions both direct from authors and from agents and other publishers. Our style is very much plot-led, so we're looking for stories with great hooks, which will draw readers in straight away, and the writing must be fantastic quality, of course. It's important to us to earn the trust of our readers and for people to know that to buy a Shortfire Press short story means a great read, always. (There's more information about how to submit to us here)

Coming up, we have lots of wonderful stories from some amazing authors, brilliant interviews and some exciting collaborations too. This is just the beginning for Shortfire Press. We hope you like what we're about and we look forward to sharing some great short stories with you.

Click here to visit Shortfire Press