Is there money in Short Stories?

Hi, randywrite

I just finished a conference in Toronto, Ont. And I found out there is somewhat, if your looking to make a living on it then no. But I guess its different for everyone, i did talk with a few people that are published with short Stories and they are doing great money wise.
I have deside to do both short and long.
I do wish you the best.

In publishing them? Hard to say. Many short story markets aren't doing so well, and many have closed their doors. Some anthologies and short story digests and online zines are doing ok, but I don't know how profitable they are.

If you mean writing and sending them out, it's a modest income at best, assuming you're writing a lot of them and keeping them in the mail till they sell. Figure a 5-10 cent per word range for pro publications (and higher for the high end markets), you're probably looking at a few hundred per story.

It's not an easy market. You definitely can't make a living with just short stories. If you can get published in big places like The New Yorker, or Glimmertrain, then you will get paid good, but a LOT of places don't offer any payment. So the short story market is only really lucrative unless you shoot for the very top...

Not as straightforward as you think. There's money in anything for the right person. The pay range in short stories ranges from absolutely nothing, all the way up to several thousand dollars for the top few magazines.

Short stories get reprinted, anthologized, collected, and turned into movies.

But if you point at any new writer, I'd give pretty high odds that he'll never make a dollar writing short stories. Though I'd make the same wager with novels.

If you're looking to make money, there are much easier ways than writing short stories. Like digging ditches with a teaspoon.

Having said this, yes, it can be done. But you have to be very, very good. Extremely good. And prolific. The competition is intense, you have to beat out the best writers in the world with every story you write, and even if you can do this on a regular basis, you'll be lucky to make minimum wage.

But if it were easy, anyone could do it, and what fun would that be?

At first, probably no. But if you're able to build a name for yourself, then the answer becomes... maybe.

I know that when I'm researching fiction magazines, that I've found a few that have stipulations, such as, if you get a story published, you can't have another published for 6 months. WTF? Why? What if readers LOVE that writer's work? Seems like a stupid rule.

Ah, for the days of pulp fiction when there were thousands of markets available.

Jamesaritchie said:

But if it were easy, anyone could do it, and what fun would that be?

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... indeed

ps That is a bit odd about the 6 months, Shadow. Maybe the publishers want to give as many submitters as possible a chance at publication. This may not be the best policy for their readers though, as you say. If I read a story that I liked a lot I'd definitely want to read others by the author in future issues.

I don't think the market situation is that bad. Of course, I write fantasy and science fiction. Do I intend to make a living off it? Nay, but I've pulled in some side dollars and I expect to pull in more as I get a bigger name. I write short fiction because I enjoy it, but I also think I can make some good side money off it. But like James said, to make money you have to be very good. You have to really be prepared to work at it and know your markets. It takes a shiteload of work and rejections. You gotta kind of keep honing your craft and studying your markets, but if you succeed at that, then yeah, you can make some money.

It depends on your genre. If you write literary fiction, then no. Just no. Even if you get really successful and land a story in Glimmer Train, which pays $700, or one of the other big ones, it's still going to be a drop in the bucket compared to the time (years) you likely had to put in to get to that point and all those other stories you published in very respectable journals that don't pay a dime. It's just not something to go into expecting to make money; most people write and publish literary short stories because they love it. Payment is nice but it's no going to foot the bills.

Most literary journals pay only in contributor copies (the vast majority, I'd say) and some pay $50-1,000 per story. The markets paying upward in the hundreds of dollars are insanely competitive and honestly, if you are new, you're not likely to get accepted at those places anytime soon. Many of us have been toiling at this for years and have gotten some well-respected publications and are still making do mostly with contributor copies.

Science fiction and fantasy are different, though I don't know much about those markets. I imagine there are more paying ones out there, and they probably pay better than literary journals, so you might have a better shot of getting some cash for your work. I still wouldn't describe it as "there's money in this," though. Good luck.

Shadow_Ferret said:

At first, probably no. But if you're able to build a name for yourself, then the answer becomes... maybe.

I know that when I'm researching fiction magazines, that I've found a few that have stipulations, such as, if you get a story published, you can't have another published for 6 months. WTF? Why? What if readers LOVE that writer's work? Seems like a stupid rule.

Ah, for the days of pulp fiction when there were thousands of markets available.

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Not too many have such stipulations for publishing, though many have a only submit every six months policy, which sounds the same, but isn't.

But it's still a pretty good rule. Readers prefer variety, and most magazines really operate on a showcase principle, wanting as many difefrent writers as possible.

But you'd be surprised at how often the same writer shows up in a magazine using various pseudonyms. There's one case with a famous SF magazine where every story in one issue was written by the same writer, who used a different pseudonym for each story.

Selling short stories has always been a matter of numbers, how many different magazines you could sell to, rather than how many times you could sell to a single magazine over a short space of time.

Plenty of paying markets are still available, even if the number is a lot lower than during the pulp years.

Calypso said:

It depends on your genre. If you write literary fiction, then no. Just no. Even if you get really successful and land a story in Glimmer Train, which pays $700, or one of the other big ones, it's still going to be a drop in the bucket compared to the time (years) you likely had to put in to get to that point and all those other stories you published in very respectable journals that don't pay a dime. It's just not something to go into expecting to make money; most people write and publish literary short stories because they love it. Payment is nice but it's no going to foot the bills.

Most literary journals pay only in contributor copies (the vast majority, I'd say) and some pay $50-1,000 per story. The markets paying upward in the hundreds of dollars are insanely competitive and honestly, if you are new, you're not likely to get accepted at those places anytime soon. Many of us have been toiling at this for years and have gotten some well-respected publications and are still making do mostly with contributor copies.

Science fiction and fantasy are different, though I don't know much about those markets. I imagine there are more paying ones out there, and they probably pay better than literary journals, so you might have a better shot of getting some cash for your work. I still wouldn't describe it as "there's money in this," though. Good luck.

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Well, it's not really that bad with literary markets. It's true that many pay only in copies, but a large number do pay something. And like any other genre, you really make money from short stories through reprints, anthologies, and collections, and by being prolific.

The competition in every genre is insanely competative, which justy means you have to be that much better to compete. A new writer is always at a disadvantage in any genre, and all things being equal, the established writer will have a story accepted over a new writer, but, again, this just means the new writer has to be that much better. And what's wrong with that?

Being very good, and being highly prolific, are the keys to any genre, literary, SF, or you name it.

If you have money in mind, it helps, I believe, to think in terms of an hourlay wage, rather than how much a given market pays. If you can write a story in four hours, and that story earns only a hundred bucks, it's still not a bad hourly wage. But if it takes you a month to write a short story, and that story earns a thousand dollars, the hourly wage sucks. If it takes you two or three or four months to write a short story, you'll never make much money, and probably never sell many short stories at all, simply because you aren't getting enough practice, and editors aren't seeing your name often enough.

It's easy enough to find nickel per word markets, which sounds like awfully low pay, and is, but five hundred nickels per hour is a very good hourly wage.

Reprints, antholoies, collections, awards, etc., are all gravy that earn you more money, often the bulk of your money, with little to no extra effort on your part.

But in any genre, it always comes down to how fast you can write stories that are good enough to sell. There's nothing easy about it, but it can be done.

The trouble is that those who can do it almost always quickly learn that they can make a lot more money, and with a lot less effort, writing novels, so they leave short story writing behind and move on to books.

Writer's of the Future Contest

U might check out this very nice contest, NO entry fee. Sci-fi and fantasy.

I just want to know if there is any money in publishing short stories, and if so, what is the pay range?

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:editor's hat on:

First question:

No, not enough to live on if you're a newbie. It's spare change and a pro credit for your resume.

Spare change if you're an established pro; usually the pay is too low unless you can write fast. I make more money with novels.

Second question:

Pay ranges from

"For the love of it" = zero cash, maybe a copy of the magazine if it's not an epublisher.

.03-.12 a word, with an 8,000 to 9,000 word cap. Most editors will want things at 5,000 words.

There is NO guarantee anyone will buy your stuff. I'm "established" and sent in a story to Ellery Queen three months ago. I have a good resume, but they can reject me easily enough if the story doesn't work for them.

Most writers who place a story in an anthology were specifically invited by the editor or the packager. I sold more than a dozen stories to Tekno books based on a specific invitation from the editors. They have so many slots to fill and if I'd said no, they'd have called another writer.

In the case of some anthologies I edited, the writers equally split the advance money and had to turn in a minimum of 9K words. They were paid a flat fee, not by the word. It was LOW 4-figures for each, half on contract signing, half when the last story is delivered and accepted, often a year later.

Other anthologies pay by the word. Last one I subbed to paid .12 a word for 8K words, but I've not gotten the check yet. (960.00) It took a week to write.

Another paid .04 a word, 3K word limit. (120.00) I wrote that one as a favor to the editor. It took another week to write.

Honestly, you can make more money for the time flipping burgers at that Scottish restaurant.

I have had stories reprinted. Payment is usually half what I was originally paid. Only a couple stories got this honor.

The short story market is TINY. Go to a newsstand and you find only a handful of magazines that carry original fiction.

The e-market rarely pays, and if they do, it's not much. The exceptions are flooded with stories from Name pros, who will get the editor's attention, since a Name may mean more sales.

Yes, there are high paying print markets, but they tend to buy from established writers. You have to be bloody outstanding to get their attention.

The best paying steady market for shorter works is (don't laugh) eHarlequin.

One of my pals did a 10k word story for one of their paranormal lines and raked in 8000.00 in royalties.

Of course, she's a Name and has a huge fan following, but still...yow.

If you're good, and fast, there's quite a bit of money to be made with short stories. But novels do pay more, and with less effort involved.

The short story market is a lot bigger than most think. Don't go to a newsstand, go to the market guides, and actually read the magazines. I've made many thousands of dollars writing short stories for outdoor magazines that don't even mention short stories in their guidelines.

Some of the highest-paying markets (in the UK at least) are the women's/romance magazines, which do still publish short stories and serials. One writer I met once does this full-time - but she's prolific, and also her husband works, so she's not the sole wage-earner in her household. (No children AFAIK, but three dogs.)

I'm sure there are plenty of other writers in a similar position. I did make some of my first sales to a romance market, Loving (which this writer I'm referring to was also selling to at the time), but soon realised that I wasn't really cut out to specialise in that genre, and never sold anything elsewhere. Still, I sold four stories to that magazine, and they were pro sales at what was then a low-end pro pay rate (£25 per 1000 words).

This was a really interesting thread. Thanks everyone.

interesting stuff all around, not really surprising though. i would imagine it'd be incredibly hard to make a decent living with short stories, especially starting off. being a guy started off in the field myself, i've just looked at them as a way to get a couple of publishing credits, and just a little bit extra money.

I would have to say there's no money in short fiction if you're writing SFF, which is the genre I know. If you are both famous and prolific, you can probably earn a nice sum here and there, but I am not aware of anyone actually making a living writing short SFF fiction these days. It is my impression that people who become famous do so through novels.

If memory serves, this question has been asked here before, and often by new writers. The answer is always the same: if you're in this for the money, forget it; go flip burgers or something. Plus, it's a rare newbie who starts selling pro right away (or semi-pro, for that matter). Even if you manage one good pro sale, this doesn't guarantee you'll manage another any time soon.

Really, it all depends on what kind of short stories you're selling. Literary, SFF, that sort of thing, I leave for those in the know to answer.

If you are talking about romance of any form, which I know is much the bane of many writers existence (not mine) then my answer is yes. A lot of money can be made. I get hell for it often, from friends who disdain the genre and have gotten upset over what I make in e-books. Of course, some of this comes from them thinking I waste my time, but its also because I have made/can make several hundred dollars plus a month and they were lucky to make that in a year.

Really though, I write what I love to write/read. The fact that I am lucky enough to make money with some of my work is something I don't take for granted.

Yeah, there's money.

I think I've made at least a whole $40 selling short stories, not counting the contributor's copies.

Mr.L.A.Kegbrat said:

Yeah, there's money.

I think I've made at least a whole $40 selling short stories, not counting the contributor's copies.

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Err, are you serious or joking? I am not sure. If you are joking, please forgive what follows.

I think the question was whether you can support yourself writing short stories, not whether you can buy yourself an occasional coffee and a sticky bun with the proceedings. Yes, you can get a few hundred dollars here and there, maybe a few grand if you break into Playboy or something, but it's still not a living. Good short story sales will get your name out there, and might help you snag an agent and sell your novel, the emphasis on "might".

Same question pops up in Poetry from time to time. The answer is the same: yes, some people make some money selling poetry, but it's not in any way a salary. You can get a grant, you can teach, but you cannot make a living from selling your poems to poetry magazines.

If you want to earn a salary with your writing, there are a few ways to do so, but short stories are not it.

There was an article in a magazine I read some time back, about a woman who made a living wage writing short stories. Obviously the point of the article was how rare it was to be able to do so, and how hard she had to work to achieve this.

From what I remember (I don't think I have the magazine any more) she focused primarily on the Woman's Magazine market, I believe, which tends to be the higher end of the pay scale. Take-a-Break, for example, will pay up to £400 for a 700 word story. Even so, she had to submit at least one story a day to ensure she had enough acceptances for a regular cash flow. Though she obviously knew her markets and wrote well, there's no such thing as a gauranteed acceptance.

It's inspiring, but also frightening. The kind of schedule you have to put yourself on to achieve that is daunting and doesn't allow time for much else. You have to write at least one story a day, preferably more, as well as putting aside time for polishing, submission prep, the physical act of posting the subs (since these markets are only recently starting to take email subs, and then usually only from authors they've worked with before), and, if you're lucky, getting all those cheques cashed and sorting out the resulting FUBAR of taxes.

It's doable, basically, but it's probably the hardest way to make a living from writing out there. Well, except maybe being a fulltime poet. At least there are well paying short story markets if you know where to look, but well paying poetry magazines are even fewer and further between! If you want to make a living, it's either non-fiction or novels, really. Whether it's an advance or a continuous income, either is far more comfortable sitting than trying to survive on a cumulative £100 here or $200 there.

Even with hell-bent dedication, a writer would have a hard time making a bare-bones living off of short fiction alone. I've learned that some short fiction writers make $10,000 or more a year off short stories (in fantasy and science fiction), but these are people who have been in the game a long time and have established big reputations. And $10,000 to $15,000 is not much to live off of. Still, there is some money to be made, and plenty of paying markets to submit to. So I would answer yes to the original question, as far as side money goes.

Yes, there is a market for fiction. In fact, within the next few days or next week -- I've not decided exactly when yet -- I'll be posting a list of over 10 paying fiction markets on my Life of a Writer blog. The markets I plan to include pay pretty good rates. If you want, you can subscribe to my blog's full RSS feed or have the updates sent to your email; this way you'll know when I've published the post. Also, Writing for Dollars has a great market database that you can search through. Just search for fiction markets and make sure to select "paying" from their options.

Good luck with your search and happy writing!

I have had a grand total of 25 short stories published, not a lot when compared to such prolific master story-writers like the late Ed Hoch. (Over 900, I do believe.) My stories run a little longer than most and the average payment for each was around $1,000. Not a lot of money, but since I was a teacher and struggling to keep a second home I inherited (no mortgage, just taxes and upkeep) that extra money helped me keep that little house. (It's on Cape Cod, a small cottage which I love and would hate to see my family lose.)

So not much money, but enough to give my family something that otherwise we would not have had.