News For ‘People’s Friend’ Authors

We have an update on our Word Counts, for authors submitting fiction to ‘The People’s Friend’.

Our Current Word Counts

We work to a template, here on ‘The People’s Friend’, which means that for the purposes of fiction submissions, we stick to definite word counts.

These are currently 1200, 2000 and 3000 words for the weekly, with specific additional word count requirements for our Specials – 1000, 1500, 2500, 3500, 4000, and 8,500 (for our ‘Long Reads’).

For our Serials, word count requirements are presently 4800 words per first instalment, and 4500 for subsequent instalments.

Our Word Counts Are Changing

When the ‘Friend’ moved to its current bright new look, we introduced new, clean and easy-to-read modern fonts.

As these new fonts are a slightly different size on the page to our previous fonts, we’re adjusting our word counts to suit.

We’re also working with a smaller team than previously, so anything that speeds our processes along is welcome.

What Are Our New Word Counts?

For serial instalments, all instalments including the first instalment should now have an upper limit of 4500 words, with an acceptable lower limit of 4,200 or 4,300 words per instalment.

For our Long Reads, we’re moving down from 8,500 words to a maximum of 7,500 words.

And for all our fiction contributions, we’re asking that authors no longer go above any specified word count, no matter what the story length – so we’ll no longer accept up to 10% over.

So, for example, if you’re submitting a 2000-word story, please do not go above 2000 words. 10% under is still acceptable.

What About Stories That Have Already Been Submitted?

Stories and serial instalments that have already been submitted are exempt.

Any Questions?

We’ll be updating our Fiction Submission Guidelines shortly.

In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding submitting fiction, our Writing Hour at 11am every Tuesday is a friendly and welcoming space.

Do join us!