Today I am interviewing Hugh Cron, Diane Dickson, and Nick Eveleigh, three editors and founders of Literally Stories.

Before asking my questions, I would like to say thank you for all the effort you put into this precious website.

How’s Adam West? Why did he say good-bye to Literally Stories?

Adam and Tobias had a lot of family commitments that took up their time and up until now they have been unable to re-commit to the site. (Hugh)

Who is the most active and prolific writer on Literally Stories? Leila Allison?

Leila is definitely the most active with all things site orientated. She comments, regularly sends us Re-Run suggestions and generally keeps in contact. Leila, just last week also had her 50th story published.

Story wise, we are just about to publish Tom Sheehan’s 77th outing for us. (Hugh)

And tell me about the title of your website. Why Literally Stories? Why didn’t you try to be more creative?

It’s been that long, I can’t really remember why we chose that. Yep it is a bit boring but now I think on it, we were trying to choose something that was accessible and a word that most folks would use when searching stories. (Hugh)

From what I remember we simply tossed around some names to see what fitted and as Hugh says something that would pop up on a search for stories. I like the name to be honest because it is what it says. (Diane)

You claim that you publish short stories from around the world. Would you please name some non-native writers who have published their works on your journal?

I think this is a question for Nik and his magic spreadsheet! (Hugh)

The magic spreadsheet doesn’t actually record the country of submission but we’ve definitely got quite a few countries covered. The editors can claim Scotland, England, Wales, France, Sweden and South Africa and in the early days the bulk of our submissions were from the UK. Since being approached about a Duotrope listing there’s been an undoubted shift to the US, but I know we’ve covered Ireland, Australia and India (Nik)

Right now you have about 3200 followers on Twitter and 1200 followers on WordPress. After five years (about 230 weeks), don’t you think this is a bit depressing?

Not really. We were going to change our name to ‘Kardashian’ or ‘Cute kitten falls down’ to generate more footfall but decided against it. As is my understanding I would say that we generally keep those readers. Getting 4 million hits with a thumbs up is not what we are interested in. We would rather have regular readers who stick with us. (Hugh)

I don’t think everyone who reads the stories follows the site and not everyone who follows the site will be a ‘reader’. Some people do it just because they expect you to follow them back. Now and then a name will pop up from someone liking or commenting and I think- ah I didn’t know they came to the site. I don’t think numbers are important to be honest and I think we can get very hung up about having followers just for the sake of it – I would like to know how many ‘readers’ we have but that’s not easy to find out. (Diane)

We don’t do a lot of promotion via social media and I don’t think we have any aspirations to push the site more. It’s been hard enough keeping up with organic growth! The key stat for me is that submissions have steadily increased over time which is a sign things are healthy at LS. (Nik)

People who submit their stories to your website have to await about three weeks to get a response. We live in 2019 and time is very important for all of us. Why don’t you ask some volunteers to lend you a hand?

We try and acknowledge within a day or so and very seldom go into the third week without a decision. The more folks involved, the harder it is to have continuity. (Hugh)

I think those of us who were in at the beginning are the best to read because of the discussions we had then about what we wanted for the site. It is overwhelming at times, especially if you have had to take a day or two off for some reason but we are coping well I think and sticking to our original objectives. (Diane)

I’d also point out that three weeks is a very quick turnaround time. Many other sites take a lot longer, or don’t acknowledge all submissions, or have regular breaks or submission periods…or all of the above! (Nik)

The average number of comments that you receive on each story is approximately six! I’ve been following lots of other literary journals in the last decade of my life and I know that they have the same problem. I’d like to have your comprehensive viewpoint on this issue!

I harp on about this most Saturdays on the post.

I don’t really know why folks don’t comment. Maybe we have a society of ‘likes’ and that is as much of themselves as they want to expose.

It could be worry and them thinking that they will be judged on their opinion and I find that sad. Your opinion is yours and no-one can say that you are wrong. I have even tried to sell it from a ‘tell us what this story means to you’ type idea but there is still very little response.

We do have regular commentators but you are right Sam, this is no more than eight or so people. (Hugh)

ShortBread Stories. That sweet, Scottish domain of short story writers has been numb for a very long time. Haven’t you ever tried to contact Rachel and figure out a solution?

Nik has been in contact and will be able to answer that. (Hugh)

I was contacted a year or so ago by a company who had taken on the task of re-writing, re-invigorating, re-launching (and any other re-s of your choosing) the Shortbread Stories site. Rachel passed on my details and I was very happy to help. I got the sense they plan to modernise the platform but keep the essence of what made SBS an attractive option for many writers. I believe there remains a market for it because so few sites operate the “publish everything” model and for fledgling writers there was a real sense of community. My first ever short story was published there and the support I got from the likes of Adam, Diane, Hugh and Tobias gave me a lot of confidence. I’ll continue to keep an eye on it and I’m quite sure that when it relaunches we’ll give it a mention on LS. On a related note we are getting a huge upswing in ESL (English as a Second Language) submissions to LS and being able to direct those people to a more suitable platform like SBS would be a positive step. (Nik)

Once I asked you to let the readers know how many words each story has, but you politely rejected my request. What’s wrong with helping our readers find their favorite stories faster? These days we have a lot of interesting stuff to read, so why don’t you help us decide if we want to read this story or that one?

I think some of the stories that I have enjoyed the most, I have been surprised with. If I had chosen to read them, I wouldn’t have and I think that is why we don’t want to have a blurb or give away too much information. We would rather the reader gave it a go and gave up if they weren’t enjoying it. (Hugh)

I think that sometimes a word count can discourage readers from starting a story. Some of the long ones whizz by because they are so good and yet the actual number might seem off putting at first. (Diane)

Hugh, you know Diane Dickson for a long time. What is she like? What lessons have you learned from her?

Diane is my voice of reason. She can pull me back from any dark places that I am in whilst reading, writing or commenting. She does this unintentionally!

Diane is also brilliant technically and she knows this craft inside out. Her knowledge of CMT is extensive and her love of wartime stories is something that we have tapped into.

There is a devilment in her that comes out more times than you would believe which makes me laugh.

All the editors have made me a much better writer and a more tolerant person. That last statement is maybe debatable!! (Hugh)

Oh! – whizzing past this one with my eyes closed – except to say that Hugh and Nik are a couple of my best friends. (Diane)

I support Hugh’s comments and echo Diane’s sentiments! (Nik)

What is the nicest thing about having an email address where writers send their latest stories to? How do you describe your feeling after five years? Do you still get excited or do you already feel bored?

The anticipation is still exciting. There is nothing better than losing yourself in the words of a story.

It is a pleasure to read some of the amazing writers that we have and there are a few who I will never understand why they haven’t been huge successes.

It is just as rewarding to find a writer who has submitted for the first time and for us just to know that they are something special. (Hugh)

And my last question, who is the luckiest human on earth?

I don’t know who it is but I know that I am well down that list!! (Hugh)

I don’t think it’s possible to answer that question because we all have different needs and different hopes. (Diane)

It’s an impossible – but great – question Sam. Not sure what the answer is but I think anyone who gets to spend their time pursuing the things they are passionate about must be right up there. Wait a sec…I may have inadvertently suggested that serial killers are the luckiest humans on earth…oops… (Nik)

Thanks a million for taking the time to answer my questions. I want you to know that we are all grateful for what you’re doing at Literally Stories!