Sci-fi Mentor

Newguy1428 said:

What are the best paying Science Fiction Short Story markets. I have read that some authors have paid the bills writing shorts. Is this a possibility still? Or, are shorts just an avenue to getting my novel published?

Or, are there other writing markets to consider? I am looking for something that turns over a check in under six months Like I mentioned above, I have novels and picture books in process. I am looking for quicker turn over rates.

Click to expand...

Duotrope has a list of markets. Search for professional paying science fiction markets, and you'll get a list of them.

If you need money desperately for bills, short stories aren't the way to go. It's hard to break into the professional markets. Even if you do with your first story, there could be months between submitting it and getting published/paid. It's not the road to quick money.

That said, if you are successful, you could earn enough to pay some of your bills. The pay isn't awesome, but it'd pay some of my bills for sure.

Newguy1428 said:

Or, are there other writing markets to consider? I am looking for something that turns over a check in under six months Like I mentioned above, I have novels and picture books in process. I am looking for quicker turn over rates.

Click to expand...

Fiction is probably not going to do that for you, unless you a) are extremely talented and b) get extremely lucky.

For your purposes, you should consider writing freelance informational/nonfictional articles instead. There's a whole forum here about it.

But I think you may need a dose of cold realism. Freelance writing is hard work, the field is highly competitive, and the pay is rarely proportionate to the time and effort involved. You should only do this if you're trying to build a body of work and a reputation to launch your career upon.

If you just need supplemental income, take any other job.