Marketing Short Fiction

MilesGX · May 19, 2009

Hi, I am wondering how are short stories are market into the book selling business. Do they have to be publish in magazines, or they can be publish on their own. I'm thinking about writing some short story series and getting them publish.

Clair Dickson · May 19, 2009

My understanding is that short story collections by unknown authors are extremely unlikely to be picked up by publishers. When people buy short story collections, they tend to buy collections that are themed (and often edited by a Big Name) or collections by their favorite author.

So, if you're going the short story route, you'll probably want to look at publications (print or online), contests (be careful of scams) and anthologies. These are ways to build your name as a short story writer.

However, being a short story doesn't often mean anything for novel writing. It may help, but it's more likely that it doesn't mean anything really. (Says the woman with over fifty short stories in more than seventeen different publications.) Your novel will STILL have to sell itself.

Write on!

MilesGX · May 19, 2009

What if I get my first novel publish before the short story routin?

waylander · May 20, 2009

If your novel does really well, a publisher may be interested in a collection of short stories.
You are still better off trying to get them published in short fiction magazines. If they are not good enough to get into decent magazines then a collection of them is unlikely to interest a publisher

eqb · May 20, 2009

An established author once told me, "You know it's time to publish a collection when the publisher proposes the idea to you."

(And not just any publisher. He mentioned several medium presses with distribution and good track records.)

MilesGX · May 21, 2009

How about a short story series for young readers 10-16 age?

eqb · May 22, 2009

MilesGX said:
How about a short story series for young readers 10-16 age?

I'm not sure what you mean by that question. Short stories usually appear in magazines or anthologies. (Or collections, but we covered those already.)

For magazines and anthologies, you'd just follow regular submission guidelines and submit one story at a time. If the editor buys one, they might be willing to buy more stories with the same characters/setting.

MilesGX · May 23, 2009

What if you want to make their short stories into their own books in a series? How much pages is usually require for a short story book?

eqb · May 23, 2009

MilesGX said:
What if you want to make their short stories into their own books in a series? How much pages is usually require for a short story book?

There is no such thing as a short story book, at least not as an industry standard term. What exactly do you mean by that?

nkkingston · May 26, 2009

I'd suggest starting with stand alone stories, subbing to teen magazines. Once one takes a liking to you, float the idea of a series/serial. Don't use the series stories to gain interest - very few magazines accept series from unknown writers, and if they accept one as a stand alone you won't be able to reuse it elsewhere easily.

Once you've hooked someone into buying them as a series and publishing monthly, then you can start looking at getting an anthology done. Look through other single author short story anthologies to get an idea of who publishes them, then let them know you've published a serial in a magazine and you're interested in producing a collection. The contacts you'll have made at the magazine by this point might help you do this.

eqb · May 26, 2009

nkkingston said:
Once you've hooked someone into buying them as a series and publishing monthly, then you can start looking at getting an anthology done.

Pedantic point. Anthologies are books with stories by several different authors. Collections have stories from just one person.

MilesGX · May 27, 2009

nkkingston said:
I'd suggest starting with stand alone stories, subbing to teen magazines. Once one takes a liking to you, float the idea of a series/serial. Don't use the series stories to gain interest - very few magazines accept series from unknown writers, and if they accept one as a stand alone you won't be able to reuse it elsewhere easily.

Once you've hooked someone into buying them as a series and publishing monthly, then you can start looking at getting an anthology done. Look through other single author short story anthologies to get an idea of who publishes them, then let them know you've published a serial in a magazine and you're interested in producing a collection. The contacts you'll have made at the magazine by this point might help you do this.

I am writing a novel, and I plan to get that publish first. And I do have some other story ideas, which I would like to work on. Okay, after the novel, I will submit my other ideas, before the ones, which I want to become a series. Thank you.

The Rav · Jun 10, 2009

If you look at short story collections by authors (Stephen King, for example), you'll notice that almost all of the stories in the book have been previously published. So if you plan to write short stories, by all means submit them individually for publication. If you're just starting out in the writing business, it's best to get your name out there (as long as you are acting professionally and all that jazz!

) to help your career down the road. Just my bit of advice for you to take or leave.

Good luck on whatever route you plan to take!

heatheringemar · Jun 10, 2009

If you don't mind the online market, and have a series of stories, you could see about epublishing. Some indie/small press ebook publishers go for short stories.

MilesGX · Jul 1, 2009

Hmmmmm, I'll check those out.

Marketing Short Fiction

MilesGX

Clair Dickson

A dark core to every cloud

MilesGX

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

eqb

I write novels

MilesGX

eqb

I write novels

MilesGX

eqb

I write novels

nkkingston

Bemused Girl

eqb

I write novels

MilesGX

The Rav

heatheringemar

lurking behind that corner..

MilesGX