It’s not everyday a magazine with worldwide appeal is born, but one Crossfield publisher is defying the odds.
Darlene Poier created Pages of Stories, an online magazine that publishes short stories by authors from all corners of the globe.
The idea was born out of Poier’s voracious reading and occasional writing spurts.
“I thought it would be possible to be a journalist in a war-torn country, unfortunately it never worked out,” said Poier.
“I’m more of a wannabe writer.”
When she and husband Gary moved from Winnipeg to Crossfield in 2006, her idea began to take shape.
After researching the short story market, Poier learned existing publications were narrowly focused.
“They seem to concentrate on sci-fi or crime and mystery,” she said.
She joined a Crossfield book club and made connections with local literary lovers.
By late 2009, she developed a business model for Pages of Stories.
“As much as you do research, it’s hard,” said Poier, 41, of creating a magazine. “There’s really not a whole lot like this out there.”
In January, Poier was on the phone to universities, colleges and writing guilds encouraging writers for submissions, regardless of where they lived.
“We’re not going to guarantee Canadian content,” said Poier, who has received submissions from 23 countries including Nepal, Australia, Greece and Britain.
“We want to appeal to the entire world.”
Now, with two issues finished and a third taking shape, submission numbers are rising fast and she puts all her energy into the publication.
“It’s impossible to do this and work full-time at another job,” said Poier.
The inaugural issue received 27 submissions, followed by 45, and issue three has 53 entries.
Her biggest problem remains choosing which stories are published.
“We had to leave a lot of good stories on the table,” said Poier.
Poier pares down submissions to 25 before forwarding them to a team of readers who rank them.
A top place story receives 25 points while each story after gets one less.
“It’s the right time for something like this,” said Barbara Code, a retired English teacher on Poier’s reading committee.
“In some cases, it is very hard to rank them because they are so very different,” said Code.
Poier plans to develop her magazine for three years before branching into Mandarin and Spanish languages.
“Ultimately, what I would like to be able to do is translate,” said Poier.
Published authors receive $150 and Pages of Stories retains exclusive rights for one year.
For more information, visit www.pagesofstories.com.
