Submitting a collection of short stories?

IThinkICan29 · Jul 30, 2006

I've decided, with the advice of several wonderful AW frequenters, to submit a collection of my short stories for publication. It's six stories, a linking theme, and all the other bells and whistles. I'd just like to know how I'd go about submitting them. Also when submitting a query letter, should I mention all six of the main characters? I read, in a post somewhere, that it's not a good idea to mention more than four characters in a query letter. Are short stories the exception?

pdr · Jul 30, 2006

This is a toughie!

First can you tell us if you are submitting directly to a publisher or looking for an agent?

Perhaps you are submitting to one magazine editor?

What you submit depends on which of these you are submitting to.

Also have these stories been published before?

IThinkICan29 · Jul 30, 2006

Well, I would like an agent because I have other works that I'd like published in the future. Wow, this is toughie! This brings up something else I hadn't thought about. If I decided not to pursue the agent and look for a publisher for my short stories, would it hurt my chances of picking up an agent in the future (for a stand alone novel or whatever)? Also, will I have to get an agent for my collection of short stories and an agent for my full-length novel as well?

William Haskins · Jul 30, 2006

agents and publishers are likely to have little interest in publishing a collection of short stories unless most, if not all, of them have been published in magazines of some sizeable circulation.

emeraldcite · Jul 30, 2006

Short Story collections are not top sellers. Count how many you have on your own shelf.

Not ones you bought for a class. A collection of stories by a single author.

Now, ask yourself why you bought that collection. Did you like their novel? Did you read a short story of theirs that you really enjoy?

Did you pick it up without ever reading a story and knowing nothing about the author?

Keep in mind what readers will think because that's what publisher think about. They need to sell books in order to buy more books to sell.

cree · Jul 30, 2006

William Haskins said:
agents and publishers are likely to have little interest in publishing a collection of short stories unless most, if not all, of them have been published in magazines of some sizeable circulation.

I second that, wholeheartedly.

Kate Thornton · Jul 31, 2006

As a short story writer who has published a lot of stuff, I can tell you that even if you have published in major magazines, there is little interest in single-author collections. Themed anthologies in which I am one of many seem to do well, though. If your stories (only 6? The anthologies I have been in average 12+) are themed, you might want to explore novelizing them (just a thought.)

I have toyed with the idea of putting together a couple of books of my short stories, but I don't think I could get a publisher for them. Instead, I am looking into the reprint markets.

Best of luck to you,
Kate

cree · Jul 31, 2006

Kate Thornton said:
...even if you have published in major magazines, there is little interest in single-author collections...

It's really a shame, too. I personally find them wonderful. Maybe there will be a change of tide in the future; I would love to see more single-author collections.

Penguin Queen · Jul 31, 2006

Swimming firmly against the stream here...

...I've had a collection of short stories (twelve, literary, thematically linked) accepted for publication. One of those stories has since been accepted for publication (by a magazine, I mean to say), but after I'd already signed the publisher's contract.
I agree it's not easy, but it can be done. I think literary stories stand a better chance, & I woudl contact small presses directly. They might (this is the case with my publisher, Seren) receive government funding & thus be under less commercial pressure to "sell". I'm currently looking for a publisher/agent in the US for the collection, & have had no luck whatever with agents, I'm now thinking of targetting small presses directly.

Brandon Kerlee · Jul 31, 2006

Mention the six stories and give a brief (very brief - 1-2 sentences) synopsis of each. Explain how they are linked, and submit to a publisher that's published similar collections.

Or, just give up without trying, as others have suggested.

I'd opt for the former. You'll get a no for sure, if you don't ever try.

Brandon Kerlee

Jamesaritchie · Aug 1, 2006

Brandon Kerlee said:
Mention the six stories and give a brief (very brief - 1-2 sentences) synopsis of each. Explain how they are linked, and submit to a publisher that's published similar collections.

Or, just give up without trying, as others have suggested.

I'd opt for the former. You'll get a no for sure, if you don't ever try.

Brandon Kerlee

It's not a matter of giving up without trying, it's a matter of trying smart. If you can't find magazines to publish the stories, there's no reason at all why a book publisher would want them, unless it's a tiny, desperate, and not very good publisher. Don't give up, but do try to find magazines that will accept the stories first.

It does no harm to look for a tiny puhlisher for these short stories, but you won't find a major publisher who wants them, they aren't going to earn any real money, and it's most likely you'll spend time on these than could be far better spent on somethng else.

Single author collections do sell, but only if the writer has a name readers know. But no collections, single author of anthology, sell terribly well.

If the stories really are any good, they'll come in lot handier down the road than they will now in a nothing collection from a nothing publisher.

MidnightMuse · Aug 1, 2006

No one here will ever tell someone to 'give up without trying'. The advice here is from people who know explaining to those of us who don't how the business really works. I, for one, would rather hear how hard something is going to be, and why - instead of cheering pep talks aimed at making me find out the hard way.

I'd suggest magazines as well, because shorts have a much better chance of success there. After you've got some credits to your name, and can prove your work is marketable, you might find a publisher willing to put those shorts together and put them out there. But the fact of the matter is, a compliation of shorts by an unpublished writer -- and a compliation of shorts that have never seen the light of day, is gonna be a seriously difficult climb.

Everyone here is showing the rest of us the Facts -- cold and hard as they might be -- and urging us, with help and directional pointing, toward a more successful route.

Brandon Kerlee · Aug 1, 2006

I agree with most of the advice on this board, but then again, you have to do your own thing. If you feel like you want to submit a collection of short stories, then do it. I greatly respect Jamesaritchie, as well as many other members on this board, but I also think we as writers need to find some things out for ourselves as well.

Then again, I'm still working to get published, so take my advice with the appropriate amount of salt.

pdr · Aug 1, 2006

Right...

you have six unpublished stories, linked by theme.

I agree with the others here. DO get most of them published first in good magazines. This board has a great list of markets for short fiction, some of those markets will publish a series of stories too. Do your research and when you have them published you can approach a Small Press which does story collections.

Penguin Queen · Aug 2, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
<...>you won't find a major publisher who wants them, they aren't going to earn any real money, and it's most likely you'll spend time on these than could be far better spent on somethng else.
<...>

It depends what your goal is. Or indeed what kind of stuff you write. It might be good stuff that nobody can make a living from, because this kind of writing isnt best-seller material. That's, where I'm concerned, my favourite kind of writing; most of the books I read havent made anybody rich. Dosnt mean to say they're not well-written, good books.

In the UK, 90 % of the members of the Society of Authors (which is to say, published writers) have to have a day job to support their writing habit.

Just because a publisher may not pay you very much, it doesn't mean they're no good, or a vanity publisher.

PS Edit:
@ IThinkICan29: if your stories lend themselves to it (I think you said they're from the viewpoint of one character each), you could try & offer it as a 'novel told in short stories' tro avoid the apparently thorny issue of teh short story collection.
One Ive read in this format is "Tales from the Master Race" (forget author, google it), which was described thus in the blurb.

michael78651 · Aug 3, 2006

There's lots of good advice here, but you have to be the one to decide which is best for you. If you don't try anything, then the answer is "no". If you do try and find that the answer is "no", then you're no worse off than when you started, but at least you can say that you tried.

Varthikes · Aug 5, 2006

Anne McCaffrey has written an anthology of short stories (a collection of 5, all by her) which, as far as I'm aware of, had never been published any where prior, but that was after she had had many, many books published to her name.

Submitting a collection of short stories?

IThinkICan29

pdr

IThinkICan29

William Haskins

poet

emeraldcite

Art is Resistance

cree

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

cree

Penguin Queen

Break the rules.

Brandon Kerlee

Jamesaritchie

MidnightMuse

Midnight Reading

Brandon Kerlee

pdr

Penguin Queen

Break the rules.

michael78651

Varthikes

Dragon Writer