A Suggested Draft of A Primer On Short Story Markets For Newbies - Input Required
Just in case this post sounds weird, I wrote it as a separate thread (I didn't know this one existed), but I think a lot of the content holds.
Hi all,
I thought it might be useful for newcomers to our little sub-forum to write a general overview of the various ways they can sell their stories. It's not intended as an authoritative listing of markets, more as a primer to the whole world of magazines, reprints, anthologies, collections, and self-publishing shorts.
I have copied a draft below, and I am open to suggestions about what needs to be added or cut or expanded upon. Or if you want to rewrite the whole thing from scratch, I have no problem with that either. Hack away!
Then, if people think it's a good idea, and after everyone who wants to has contributed, we could post a clean version in a new thread and maybe ask one of the mods to sticky it. Alternatively, if you think we don't need anything like this, you can just stand back as this thread sinks to the bottom of the page, pops onto the next and dies the slow, slow death of the obscure.
Dave
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE SHORT STORY MARKET
Magazines
There are lots of short story magazines, both online and offline, where you can submit your work. If it's accepted, you will receive a fee in return. Rates go from nothing or a few free copies, right up to pro rates of $0.05 a word or higher. Typically, stories between 2,000 words and 4,000 words are the most marketable, but you there's a market for all lengths.
Duotrope is an excellent search engine for short story markets, and you can filter the results by genre, pay-rates, and so on. It's also great if you have something which is of an awkward length, like a novella, as you can search for places that accept those.
Ralan is another, more geared towards science-fiction, horror, and fantasy.
This sub-forum is an excellent resource where you can get the skinny on what editors are looking for, and they way they like submissions to appear. It's a great support network with writers of all levels, and you can find great beta readers here too.
There are also two other sections called
Paying Markets, and
Non-Paying Markets, where you will see calls for submissions from editors. Check back regularly to see if there is anything that interests you.
Generally magazines pay for "first rights", meaning the story cannot have been published anywhere, even on your own website. Critique forums are exempt from this, as long as they are hidden from search engine bots in a password protected section, like
we have here [(password: vista).
Magazines can be great for building up your writer's CV, and for seeing your name in print for the first time, but don't expect to make a living out of it. If you are planning to query an agent about a novel, a credit from a known magazine will help - at the very least the agent will read your query thinking it
might be interesting as opposed to assuming it's probably going to be awful.
The main drawback with magazines is that they are often run on a very tight budget (not enough people are reading them), so hearing back on your submission can take anything from a week to a year, but two or three months is standard. Some markets allow simultaneous submissions, some require exclusives. Check first.
I'm not going to talk too much more about magazines here - there's a lot of information elsewhere on the subject - but you should know that it's crucial to follow the submission guidelines and you should read a copy of the magazine first. If you submit without seeing what kind of stories the editor likes, you are probably wasting the editor's time as well as your own, especially if it’s a competitive market.
Reprints
After you have sold the first rights to your story, there are a small number of magazines that you can sell the same story to again, although it is usually good form to wait a little after the first publication so as not to cannibalise the first editor's sales.
Rates are usually, but not always, less than you get for first rights, but it's great to get paid again for the same story, when the only work you have to do is to submit it. It's another publication credit on your CV, and it brings you more readers, which is what this is all about. Duotrope will allow you to search for markets which accept reprints.
Anthologies
Editors regularly put together collections (often on a single theme) and put out a call for submissions. Again, pay rates can range from nothing to free copies, a flat rate for acceptance, royalties from sales, or all three. If you sign up to Duotrope's newsletter, you will get a monthly list of available markets.
Sometimes they want first rights, sometimes they don't mind if a story has been published before or even reprinted. Check before submitting.
Selling Collections to Publishing Houses
This is very, very difficult. If you aren't already traditionally published (with good numbers), you are going to struggle to interest any agent in a collection. Linked collections may have a greater chance of success, but not by much.
This isn't a realistic option for most writers, especially if they haven't attended a prestigious MFA in Creative Writing, and are at an early stage in their careers. If you think that's unfair, ask yourself this: when is the last time you bought a short story collection by an unknown writer?
Maximising Your Short Story Income
If you have been following closely you will realise there are many different ways to sell the same story, but only if you are smart and you do it in the correct order. If you write short stories exclusively, or have a lot of them in the bank, you might consider setting up a system where you sell first rights, then reprints/anthology rights, and
only then consider publishing them online. I advise this because once you publish them online, first rights are gone, and you severely restrict reprint/anthology options.
All of this depends on your goals, but if you want to maximise the income from each short story, at least consider the above.
If you are considering self-publishing short stories, you should be aware that there is not a lot of money in it. Even guys like Joe Konrath, who have been selling a ton of e-books, make little from short stories. You should also keep in mind, that if you are going to do this professionally, as in, if you are going to do this properly, you will, at the very least, have to spend money on a copy-editor and a cover-designer, and spend a lot of time learning things like formatting, and all about the various sales channels.
It’s not easy, and takes up a lot of your potential writing time.
If, given all of that, you still want to self-publish short stories you will find lots of advice on how to get started over in the
Self-Publishing sub-forum. It can be very rewarding (but often not in financial terms), but you need to know what you are getting into.
Each writer should make their own decision based on their own situation.
If you want to minimise your costs, and still do it professionally, I recommend waiting until you have five or six stories, then publishing one collection. If they are successful, you can release them individually, and you will have the money for the extra covers you will need.
