We all need to be this way.
Reviewed by , 2006-07-18 00:00:00

It's not very often you get such a successful novelist sharing her space with the likes of the unknown, but that's exactly what Laura Hird has done. It's not like she needs the publicity; she's been glowingly reviewed by all the highbrow press, including The Times. What it shows is that Hird has a passion for the written word. If she didn't, why would she spend her own hard-earned cash paying for her own web space in order to promote unknown writers?

Have a search on Google, you won't find many, if any others, doing the same.

But her website is not just about writing, nah, have a gander at the interviews she does with the locals from her local pub. What about the recipes from the fantastic Sarah. The Octogenarian strumpet; or the promotion of artists, small press owners, unknown websites, special events, music, and the list goes on.

No wonder she’s a proud Scot, who wouldn’t be with all the talent she herself possesses? But is that enough for Hird? No. Her website has had over 1,000.000 hits so far –and counting faster every day. She pays for everything herself, promotes everyone she thinks needs promoting, charges nothing, gets nothing, apart from the knowledge that her cash and her time in promoting talent that, without her, wouldn’t get an audience. How many who have already made it themselves would bother? Hird would. Hird does.

If you haven’t read Hird, you’re missing out. Granted, I’m a fan – a big one. I’m no writer, no artist, no bullshitter, so just take a look at her website www.laurahird.com and judge for yourself, read some of her stuff. With the website being so comprehensive you would think she had a staff to take care of it. Nope, every word submitted, every interview undertaken, each and every recipe, submission and absolutely everything else, is read and processed by her alone. Try her. Send her an e-mail. It’s her you’ll hear from. And this is the woman who is just about to have her next collection of short stories published by the Number 1 publisher in the UK: Canongate, who is also contracted to writing them yet another novel, and who is also writing a non-fiction book for them. All this, and still she champions the writing she herself believes in. She doesn’t ask for a penny. Hard to believe, eh? Again, have a look at the website and see for yourself www.laurahird.com

Do use that ‘make a donation’ button. Remember, it’s all coming out of her own pocket. Like the rest of us, sure she’d like to be Robin Hood, but let’s get real. Website’s cost money, especially successful ones like www.laurahird.com What’s a few quid? She’s already putting her money where her skill is. Let’s do the same. A few quid from each of us would no doubt make a difference.

It’s not very often the web delivers something as altruistic as this woman and her website. She’s a successful author, has had the number 1 publisher in the UK knocking down her door for more ever since she submitted a short story in the 1990s. Does she get all loved-up? Does she get all ‘Aren’t I wonderful’? Does she hell. Instead, she seems to spend her spare time promoting everything that she considers worth promoting from the lesser known. And obviously she’s doing something right, a million hits and counting says she is!

This website deserves respect. Just go have a look at the diversity of not just the writing on there, but the comprehensive listing of small writing mags around the world, and just about everything else you can think of. Even better, it has her personality stamped all over it. Where she goes for a bevy (and interviews her fellow drinkers for the site – that’s dedication), fave butcher’s, writing from her beloved mother, the roads she travels daily, and on and on. This is a one woman Arts Council but unlike the wasteful Arts’ Councils of the UK, this woman pays everything herself, gets nothing financially back, and pays again to promote those she’s never met while taking us all on a trip around her neck of the woods. All for free. All just the way it is. All just for the love of it.

Now that is passion!

That’s a website that deserves recognition and supporting.

Official Site of Laura Hird
Reviewed by Otter Dingo, 2006-07-12 00:00:00

Mind-bogglingly dense and diverse site which you could spend years in. Really good mix of styles, genres, points of view.

Excellent and comprehensive
Reviewed by mgear, 2006-07-11 00:00:00

Laura Hird's excellent and comprehensive directory of the best lit magazines currently on offer. Masses of resources here. You will find links and descriptions of some of the best literary journals online and in print.