Bibliofaction Publishing Limited - Short Stories

Over the past year, two young entrepreneurs from the south of England have been beavering away to bring the world a new online community – specifically for writers.

Launching in the early part of 2007, the website – known as Bibliofaction – promises to do for the world of online literature what Google has done for searching, what YouTube has done for home-made videos and what MySpace offers to unsigned bands. If you’re an aspiring writer fed up of sending your manuscripts to publishers, only for them to sit on editors’ desks gathering dust, Bibliofaction is the place for you!

With Bibliofaction’s friendly design and editorial back-up, publishing your short stories online is now a real alternative, and will help you to build up an audience. We will even commission new writing from the best of ‘the Bibliofaction’ for our printed publications.

It’s not just about helping writers either. How often do we hear that literacy is a declining skill in our society? How often do we hear parents despairing that their children spend all their time in front of the TV or computer screen, and that reading and writing abilities are suffering as a result? Spare a thought, also, for the many adults out there who struggle to make sense of words. How easy it is to feel that somehow it’s all got out of hand!

By combining new short stories with the best in accessible and user-friendly website design, reading and writing can once again become an engaging pastime for the internet generation. Getting lost in a good read will soon be second nature to anyone who visits Bibliofaction.

“There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” Ursula K. LeGuin

Storytelling is one of the oldest art forms. It is hard-wired into human nature. We interact with stories everyday and Bibliofaction aims to harness this latent energy.

Anyone can have a go. Bibliofaction welcomes seasoned authors and new writers alike to the amazing world of storytelling. Our aim is to cultivate a friendly community in attractive online surroundings, where you’ll enjoy spending time, both giving comments and receiving advice with other members of the community. So, if you think you’ve got a story in you – and let’s face it, who hasn’t? – you can find out more, and register your interest now at

www.bibliofaction.com

Notes for editors

• Bibliofaction is an online community for writers, and primarily caters for the short story genre, though any form of concise creative writing is welcome (poetry, journal-style entries, etc) as long as there is a narrative of some sort!

• The website address for Bibliofaction is www.bibliofaction.com and is a UK-based site.

• Bibliofaction will launch early in 2007.

• Above all, Bibliofaction aims to be a welcoming and inclusive community for writers of all abilities:

  • Experienced writers who want to showcase their work.

  • Aspiring writers who want to build an audience.

  • Complete novices who just want to have a go!

• The online community will collectively be known as “The Bibliofaction”

• Bibliofaction will contain both new short stories written by members of the Bibliofaction, and classic short stories by favourite authors of old. All genres and styles will be included.

• Users will be able to comment on each other’s stories and receive feedback on their own writing.

• Bibliofaction will run regular short-story competitions with prizes, and will provide a bank of advice articles for writers, to which members can also contribute.

• Another dimension to the site is the “Biblioforum”, where all things linguistic can be debated.

• Bibliofaction is run by Bibliofaction Publishing Limited, a private limited company registered in England. The Company Directors are Adam Lofting and Andrew Lyon:

• Adam Lofting, 21, is a website designer from Hindhead in Surrey. He has taken a leading role in building some high-profile sites in his day job at top design agency Ignition UK (www.ignitionuk.co.uk). He is currently studying for a degree in computer science with the Open University.

• Andrew Lyon, 26, is an editor with Hampshire-based Redemptorist Publications (www.rpbooks.co.uk). In this role he has worked on a range of material – from traditional print media to audiobooks, CD-Roms and online publications. As an associate of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, he is dedicated to communicating in accessible language.

• Bibliofaction started life in a coffee shop in Farnham in the spring of 2005 – a typical “beer-mat” entrepreneurial project! The brainchild of Adam, the idea of a “short-story forum” was presented to Andrew, who sipped his green tea with growing excitement at the thought of an extra editing project. The potential of the idea seemed too good to miss, and the two friends committed there and then to meeting each week to bring the project to life. Adam describes his motivation: “MP3s and the likes of iTunes have given the music industry a good shaking up - I want to do the same for the world of publishing. I want to take the decision making power from the focus groups and marketing campaigns and give it back to the readers.”

• The first thing to do was choose the name. It took about 3 months to come up with something that we were both happy with! Andrew says, “We wanted a name that people would remember and had the potential to become a recognisable brand, both online and in print. Bibliofaction reflects the idea that the site is essentially one big book group.”

• Fully functional membership of Bibliofaction is free for the first six months. Thereafter, members will be invited to pay a £12.00 subscription per year – just £1 per month!

• Bibliofaction Publishing Limited aims to be an ethically run company, and is committed to taking a socially responsible attitude in all its activities.

• Adam and Andrew will be happy to provide further information on request, and can be contacted by emailing press@bibliofaction.com or by calling 020 8133 8193. A corporate blog is also accessible on www.bibliofactionpublishing.com