...showcasing Australia's creative writing talent.
Narrator Australia is a free online creative writing competition, published daily at narratoraustralia.com.au.
We accept entries from anywhere in Australia. It's free to enter and free to read, and for those that wish to see their name in print, we will be producing a paperback compilation of all published works every 6 months.
Narrator contributors are a friendly, creative community - even if you've never written before, we encourage you to submit a story, poem, or essay. You just never know where it might take you! And you can always use a pseudonym if you're new to it - plenty of our regular contributors started with a pseudonym and switched to their own names as their confidence - and their fan base - grew.
Interested? Submit now, create an author account, read narrator AUSTRALIA online or read past issues of the Magazine.
Have you been published on the Narrator Australia blog between 1 November 2012 and 30 April 2013? If so, your work will be in Volume Two of our paperback book collection. Every six months we will release a new paperback, absolutely full of your excellent work. This volume has over 100 authors and over 200 pieces - over 150,000 words in total! Buy it here.
Not sure if you're in Volume Two? Click here to search for your name (or pseudonym) in the list.
Narrator began in the Blue Mountains in 2010 as an opportunity for local writers - amateurs and professionals alike - to exhibit their works.
Originally published as a quarterly print magazine, then as a quarterly online magazine with a print on demand option, we converted in May 2012 to a daily online publication with an annual print on demand hard cover book option.
How it works:
- Read the terms and conditions and make sure that you agree with them.
- Write or review the item you would like to submit. Make sure it’s in the best condition possible prior to submitting. Read more at our Submission Guidelines page
- Upload your poem, short story or essay under 5,000 words, or your cartoon. There is no minimum length for your work. You may upload as a guest, or create an author account.
- By uploading, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.
- We sort through and look for well-written, engaging items. We look for as many diverse but quality entries as we can find.
- Each day we publish at least one item. If we have several short poems we feel people would like, they may be published at intervals across the space of one day, whereas a story of 4,500 words would be published over three days.
- We announce each posting on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/narratormagazine
If you’re a Facebook user, then head on over and ‘Like’ the page to get daily updates as to what’s been published and when. - Read the items you fancy. If you like them, then click the ‘share’ buttons at the top of the page, or under the item, or add a comment in the comment box below the item. Authors need to know if they’re hitting the spot! So engage - this is a community, not a one-sided affair! But remember - if you don’t have something nice to say, best not to say anything. We need to remember that writing is like standing naked in front of a crowd, and we aren’t always going to please everyone that sees us or our works!
- Every 9-12 months, when we’ve published around 150-200,000 words, all entries will be compiled into a book which will be available in hard cover on a print on demand basis, so you will still get your ‘print’ version, but in a much more enduring and economically sustainable manner!
- As we attract more and more entries, we will create sister sites for specific genres such as romance, youth (ages 13 to 18), juniors (ages 5 to 12), science fiction etc.
Why would I publish for free?:
Unless you’re an established author, getting published is hard - ask anyone who’s not an established author! The concept behind narrator is to provide a forum where you have a better chance of getting published. Then, with non-friends and relatives reading your work (let’s face it, friends and relatives have a really hard time telling you if your work sucks!), you will start to get an idea whether or not you’re on the right track with your style.
If you find you’re getting favourable comments, you can work to build an audience, and then if you do that, you will have a market ready for your larger works - ones which you can consider charging for!
And if you don’t build an audience? Well, at least you know not to give up your day job!
So go on - what are you waiting for? And don’t forget, so long as you tell us your real name and contact details, you can use a pseudonym if that makes you feel more comfortable.
Happy writing!