Goldfields: A collection of treasures by local authors was published this week ahead of the Bendigo Writers Festival.

Its publisher Amy Doak wanted to give a "shoutout" to successful published authors living within the Bendigo region.

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It was part of a desire to dispel a myth that you need to go to Melbourne or Sydney to be a working creative, Ms Doak said.

In actual fact many people successfully make a living out of being a creative in regional areas in and around Bendigo, she said.

"I've always been a big advocate of Bendigo people being really proud of where they live and celebrating," Ms Doak said.

"Storytelling is really important, and to be able to find the story within your local area is something more people probably should do."

Ms Doak said she was pretty loose with her brief to the authors, just 1200 words and PG rated.

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A diverse mix of ideas came back. Murder mysteries, comedic pieces and serious literary fiction are among the tales told in the book.

Sally Abbott, Jess Anastasi, Carmel Bird, John Charalambous, Dianne Dempsey, Amy Doak, Pam Harvey, Colin King, Lauren Mitchell, Katrina Nannestad and Steve Proposch were the contributing authors.

The 2018 Bendigo Writers Festival gave Ms Doak the idea for the short story compilation, as she realised there wasn't much of a celebration of existing published authors in the Bendigo region.

She began by inviting authors she knew, and the circle grew from there.

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