Famous authors help you find new writers to read

Web and iOS app Connu curates short stories from up-and-coming authors, with recommendations from some of today's best-sellers.

E-walking into an online bookstore now is an exercise in way too much choice. Most marketplaces will have some sort of system in place that helps find new authors — such as Amazon's section that displays other purchases made by people who bought the book you are looking at, and Kobo's recommended reads based on the titles in your library.

But, when it comes to finding new writers to read, recommendation and curation are the key. This is the premise behind Connu (which means "known" in French), a new app — originally funded on Kickstarter — designed to serve you delicious slices of short fiction.

"We, as avid readers and writers, face a problem: there are too many short stories to sort through on free publishing platforms, and too many talented writers who give up on having their stories noticed since the number of high-circulation literary magazines and other short fiction publishers is dwindling," the Connu team wrote. "We created Connu, the new hub for contemporary short fiction...These aren't just any stories. They are brand-new, original, never-before-published works by the writers you know and love, and the talents they know, love, and recommend to us — all for you."

Each week, it presents five new, original short stories that haven't been published anywhere else, carefully curated by the Connu team. Each story also has an audio version, read by the author — and, possibly of the most interest, big-name authors recommend short stories from their protégés and other writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Aimee Bender, David Sedaris, Janet Fitch, Mark Richard, Maxine Chernoff and more.

You can also save your favourites, create your own curated libraries, and share stories you love with your friends via Facebook and Twitter.

Connu is available now for web, where you can start reading straight away, and for iOS, where you'll need a free subscription to read some of the older stories in the archives.