E-pub short stories

JennyCP · Jan 9, 2011

I see a lot of talk about novels as e-pubs, but what about short stories? Is e-pubbing short stories worth it if you don't also have a novel e-pub?

I'd always been reluctant to jump into e-publishing, but it seems silly to ignore it as a publishing option anymore. I'm still drawn to traditional publishing for novels, but I have quite a few short stories of similar genre that I've been considering for e-publication.

Summonere · Jan 9, 2011

Are you talking about e-pubbing individual short stories or collections of them?

If individual stories, I wonder what one would charge for such a thing. Something like iTune's 99-cents per pop, perhaps?

Over at Fictionwise, for instance, I see prices for what they call "short stories" (word-count wise, they look more like novelettes and novellas) ranging from $2.50 to $6.99. Also, and curiously, I see that they provide a range of approximate reading times for each story. Wonder if that's a marketing ploy to make buyers consider what they're spending for their time. Hmm...

As to whether or not pubbing e-shorts is worth it, I have no idea. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will chime in an let us know who sells e-shorts, and what they go for.

Meanwhile, hello fellow inhabitant of the cultural center of the universe.

Marlys · Jan 9, 2011

Do you have novels published in print? If so, readers might pay to read your short stories, especially if they're in the same genre. Otherwise, I'd encourage you to submit your stories to magazines, either print or online (as with novels, online is usually easier to break into). They don't usually pay much (if anything), but you'll get your work out there and build up some publishing credits.

Check Duotrope for places to submit.

JennyCP · Jan 9, 2011

Summonere and Marlys - thanks for the feedback. Since I started writing fiction it's always been novel-length, so I'm new to short fiction and where to publish it. Duotrope is a very helpful site, I just don't want to rule out e-publishing. And I've never checked out Fictionwise - thanks for the recommendation.

I don't have a published novel yet - that's my main goal - but it's fun to work on short fiction while I'm editing or taking a break from the novel.

FOTSGreg · Jan 9, 2011

Dean Wesley Smith is doing it and recommends a price point of $0.99/story. When you've got 10 or 12 stories done he recommends publishing them as an anthology with a price point of $4.99.

Yeah, he's got a built-in audience, but that's one way to grow a following. I've got only 2 stories up, both without covers and I've already pulled in over 120 "peeks" in a couple months. If my stories had covers (they will soon) I figure I'll start pulling in a couple sales here and there now and then. When I get the 3 novels I'm working on completed I'm going to put them up too.

Every story isn't going to work for every reader and DWS recognizes this, but every now and then 1 or 2 just might.someone who enjoyed your work once is much more likely to come back and take a second look at your other stuff. That's how you build readership.

DWS also says to go ahead and write crap. Every story isn't going to be great or an award winner, but every one of those stories is contributing to your learning and advancing your craft.

Captcha · Jan 9, 2011

Depending on your genre, you may find e-pubbed anthologies that your stories could fit into. The money isn't great, but it's something, and it gets your name out there. There are lots of anthologies in erotica and erotic romance, but I don't know about the other genres - they don't tend to have the same online presence.

Self-pubbed - you run into the problem of getting a readership.

bmathison · Jan 9, 2011

I've had a short story e-published with Untreed Reads, and have another in the works. I've found them easy to work with, and very helpful with the marketing process. The short was published as a stand alone as well as part of an anthology, with different authors.

I've also got a few unpublished novels warming up my file drawer. As I polish these up & try to get a publisher, shorts are great for keeping my writing skills sharp and getting my name out there. It's a great morale boost too!

I'd say -- go for it!

JennyCP · Jan 9, 2011

Thanks to everyone for the feedback -- all very helpful!

Ineti · Jan 9, 2011

I'm planning to epub short stories this year as well, following the ideas from Dean Smith, Kristine Rusch, and others. I'm going to submit the short stories to a few specific markets first--if they don't sell, then I'll convert them to ebooks and sell them online, most likely for .99 cents. Start building my inventory of product, and keep writing.

Good luck!

PortableHal · Jan 12, 2011

My wife and I are trying it now (inspired by D.W. Smith).

We love his whole "Magic Bakery" concept and assume, as the years pass, we'll put more and more work online in the form of ebooks.

Best of luck!

glendalough · Feb 5, 2011

That is what I'm working on now. I can't decide if I should publish one book with like ten short stories, or publish them one at a time for .99 cents each?

The thing that bugs me is that all but one of my novels are .99 cents each, even my cookbook is .99. I guess that would only matter to me, not readers?

Sheryl Nantus · Feb 5, 2011

I've put up short stories through Smashwords and it's pretty poor sales. I pulled them all down months ago because the free ones sold like crazy - but not the cheap ones.

Recently I put a reprint back up on Smashwords and on Amazon for the first time since Smashwords doesn't have an arrangement with Amazon.

It originally sold to GRIT Magazine some years and I've priced it at $1.99. I just can't see giving it away for less than a buck unlike the current trend. It makes me uncomfortable to see writers literally giving away their work for pennies.

The Project

FOTSGreg · Feb 5, 2011

My free story is something like 5 or 6 hundred words - definitely not a grandstander. It's gotten more hits than anything I ever put up, but it's obvious that people aren't (yet) looking to buy my short stories (nor any else's I'd bet).

People want free on the web. They expect free on the web. They don't think they ought to be expected to pay for something they can probably pirate from somewhere else on the web for free.

The web is a great filter and viewer into the true nature of the "consumer" mentality when it comes to something like books and stories.

They'll pay $60 for a game at Walmart, but they balk at paying $0.99 for a good short story on Amazon.

Go figure.

veinglory · Feb 5, 2011

Novellas sell well as ebooks, shorter stories not so much.

FOTSGreg · Feb 7, 2011

That,s interesting, vainglory. I'll be putting together an anthology of my stories in a few days to weeks. Since it'll be on the order of 50k+ words, maybe it'll do better (planned price point is around $4.99, but that depends on word count too).

williemeikle · Feb 7, 2011

I've got a bunch of short stories and novellas, all selling at 99c, and a few collections, selling at $2.99

The 99c ones sell a -lot- more. "Abominable" in particular is selling 100s of copies every month at Amazon.

Henri Bauholz · Feb 8, 2011

I just got my first short story published at Smashwords. For anyone interested in going this route the Smashwords Style Guide is very helpful.

Blogs

The Sinister Snowman

E-pub short stories

JennyCP

Summonere

Marlys

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JennyCP

FOTSGreg

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Captcha

bmathison

JennyCP

Ineti

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PortableHal

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glendalough

Not so new as all that, really

Sheryl Nantus

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FOTSGreg

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veinglory

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FOTSGreg

Today is your last day.

williemeikle

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Henri Bauholz