Bath Flash Fiction

Surprised by the amount of interest in this but sure! Let's do a 'writing and publishing debunk'. "If agents reject you, the book is bad"❌ Nope. Agents get 200-500 submissions a month. It means you weren't chosen (unless they specifically tell you it's bad.) "JK Rowling was rejected 14 TIMES, that means agents are stupid" ❌ No it means 14 agents didn't choose Harry Potter over everything else they got that week. Honestly, 14 rejections and 1 yes is a very good outcome. "If your book is good, it will get an agent"❌ Most people submit good work. It's a very saturated space, and sending it to the right agent is everything. "Self publishing is better"❌ If you're a big influencer and happy to hustle hard on promotion, maybe. But you'll probably lose money and there's a reason you want an editor/marketing team involved. "If you've pitched to 10 agents and they all say no, that's proof its not good enough"❌ People get the numbers so wrong here. You should be submitting to a minimum of 30, staggered across several months. "You have to make sure it's absolutely perfect before you submit it" ❌ ABSOLUTELY not. I know people who sit on manuscripts moving commas for years and years. Work on the assumption it will have a spacing mistake on page 103 and your agent will want you to cut a chapter back/cut a character. The bar is "am I satisfied this is as good as I can get it without professional feedback."

Congratulations to the 27 authors longlisted for the 2026 novella in flash award and thank you to everyone who entered. So many good and inventive novellas were submitted. Shortlist by the end of Dec . ://www.bathflashfictionaward.com/2025/12/novella-in-flash-2026-longlist/

Congratulations to the 27 authors longlisted for the 2026 novella in flash award and thank you to everyone who entered. So many good and inventive novellas were submitted. Shortlist by the end of Dec . ://www.bathflashfictionaward.com/2025/12/novella-in-flash-2026-longlist/