Self-publishing a collection of previously published short stories

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matdonna

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Has anyone here tried this, and if so what sort of experience did you have?

I am a lower tier genre writer, with sales to a few major markets but more to small press and semi-pro markets. I've also commercially published a non-fiction book, a picture book, and will soon have out a YA novel-- in a different genre from the stories, and in a niche market.

I do get asked sometimes if my short stories will be collected into a print volume. I know this would never be a commercial project, so I am thinking about the self-publishing route. I have done a poetry chapbook on a similar basis before, quite some time ago, collecting several previously published poems and adding a few new ones. I'm not sure if I ever made the money back, but then it was not an expensive outlay either. Now there's POD, however-- I hope that would at least minimize the likelihood of losing money on the project?

Any input gratefully received.
 

MickRooney

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Donna,

A service with a low cost to start with would be ideal, and as you have already developed a readership in niche markets, CreateSpace might be ideal if you are in any way nifty on a PC with fioles and formatting.
 

veinglory

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I am planning to do just this. I have my stories in a word template and I have purchased the cover art abnd design. I have one non-previously published story in the collection I need to get copy-edited, then I will be good to go. I was planning to start of using createspace and then perhaps expand to some other places like Smashwords or Lulu.
 

matdonna

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hello folks long time no see…:)

I never got this collection self-published, and so much has changed in the whole self-publishing fields, especially with e-books etc. So I'm asking again now-- anybody self-published a collection of their previously-commercially-published short fiction, and do you have any thoughts or tips? Is e-publishing a better way to go with short fiction? I am thinking I might want hard copies to sell at conventions and such, but can you do both with one self-publishing company, for instance?
 

veinglory

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I got mine out in Kindle and Createspace. It has made back costs so far, maybe a bit more.
 
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Polenth

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I published a science fiction/fantasy collection, which included previously published work (some of it from pro markets). It sold 15 copies in a year. I've seen others do better, but I wouldn't say that genre area is generally a big seller. Not unless you have a hook for the collection (like it's about zombie-vampire-werewolf hybrids). I'm not saying not to do it, but to assume sales will be relatively low. You could end up spending out a lot you won't earn back otherwise.

As some general advice, I visited your site looking for a bibliography of your shorts. That'd be a good thing to add before you publish. Or if it's there already, make it easier to find.
 

Pushingfordream

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I am planning to do this sometime next year. I am curious to see, please update me if you publish a collection! :) Thanks
 

Literateparakeet

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I think you should go for it (assuming you have the rights to do so). Since they have been published, they are already edited--that will save you money.

There is still some work ahead putting them together, and formatting them for ebook and/or print. And getting a cover. Still in my experience, getting good editing is the hardest part of self-publishing and you already have that piece in place. And you have fans.

So go for it! Good luck!
 

RLMcKeown

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I agree with Literateparakeet that you should go for it. Since you already have edited stories, you can cut back on costs quite a bit if you do the formatting yourself. If you're artistic, you can do the cover yourself, too. If not, there are some very nice pre-made ones that don't cost much.
 

Pushingfordream

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I'm about to publish a short story to amazon + kindle. I would love to see what other peoples collections and short stories look like. Post a link here when/if you publish it?
 

J. Tanner

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anybody self-published a collection of their previously-commercially-published short fiction, and do you have any thoughts or tips?

I did exactly this with my previously published dark fantasy stories.

I did it 100% myself with the goal to be "profitable" if/when it sold its first copy. (It turned out to be profitable.)

I totally enjoyed teaching myself every part of the process, but it was a pretty big learning curve in hindsight.

I did no marketing.

I've sold very few copies.

I also released the individual stories for 99 cents each and sold a lot more that way, but still chump change as far as income.

Summing all that up, if you want to do it because you are interested in the process, go for it. If you want to do it because you think you'll make easy money--that doesn't seem to be the typical experience for short fiction, even stuff that trade editors have vetted to some extent.

Is e-publishing a better way to go with short fiction? I am thinking I might want hard copies to sell at conventions and such, but can you do both with one self-publishing company, for instance?

ebooks are where the genre self-pub money is. That's where you start. Expect 95% of your sales to be electronic if you're starting from scratch (no audience). If you have an existing audience that's craving paper, or you just want to learn it, there's no harm in doing paper too through CreateSpace. It's basically free, which means you're just out the time to do it and maybe you sell one here and there. (And it's much cooler to show off than a some words on a Kindle.)
 

WriterBN

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I'm about to publish a short story to amazon + kindle. I would love to see what other peoples collections and short stories look like. Post a link here when/if you publish it?

Mine are in my sig. It depends on genre, but I don't think you'll have much luck with a single short story (if that's what you meant).
 
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