Someone on another forum I frequent posted that they were looking at some short story work which involved giving up their copyright/moral rights (presumably for payment, I sure hope it was!) This seemed odd to me as I don't recall ever seeing short stories among the usual kinds of ghostwritten stuff. Is this a normal thing or have I just been lurking in BR&BC too long?
Ghostwriting short stories?
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I highly doubt that person will get too many takers. And I don't quite understand the point. My guess is that this person is looking for someone to do their his creative writing homework. Even if you have a great story that someone else wrote, you still have to submit it, and probably get a ton of rejections. That's just how short story publishing goes a lot of the time. Selling short stories, even great short stories, can be a lot of work. Sometimes it feels like more work than writing the stories. And the pay can be great if you are selling to The New Yorker, but that's probably not where these ghost written stories will end up. I just don't see this situation really being profitable or beneficial to anyone involved.
And if someone is writing great and publishable short stories, why then would they ever give or even sell them to someone else and fork over the credit? I love short stories, and I have my favorite short story writers. I've gotten to know their styles and look forward to reading more by them. Even if this guy does get someone to give him a story and it get's published, what next? Have more stories ghost written?
There is an art to writing short fiction. Perhaps, this person isn't a great writer but wants to be. But a ghost-writing situation isn't going to help with that. I would strongly suggest not getting involved in a situation like that.
And if someone is writing great and publishable short stories, why then would they ever give or even sell them to someone else and fork over the credit? I love short stories, and I have my favorite short story writers. I've gotten to know their styles and look forward to reading more by them. Even if this guy does get someone to give him a story and it get's published, what next? Have more stories ghost written?
There is an art to writing short fiction. Perhaps, this person isn't a great writer but wants to be. But a ghost-writing situation isn't going to help with that. I would strongly suggest not getting involved in a situation like that.
There are YouTube videos advising would-be writers how they can make millions by publishing ghostwritten erotica short stories. Both the premise and the content of those videos is outdated now (especially with Kindle Unlimited 2.0), but many fall for them still.
The short story market isn't very lucrative. I doubt it's good enough to fund a ghostwriter. It seems hinky to me. Or at least, poorly informed.
It seems incredibly foolish to me to ghostwrite short fiction when you have the skill to write publishable short fiction. collect the six hundred bucks in your own name, and carry the prestige to your query letters.
I do routinely sell short stories for $600. Or more. The problem is that I can't sell enough of them to earn a decent living by this alone. There just aren't enough markets to generate what I'd consider a living. But there are enough to make such sales pretty routine.
But because there aren't enough, most of my stories sell in the $325-$400 range. That's still not bad, if you're reasonably prolific, and sell a high enough percentage of what you write.
But because there aren't enough, most of my stories sell in the $325-$400 range. That's still not bad, if you're reasonably prolific, and sell a high enough percentage of what you write.
well the market's competitive, and so it would be really difficult to have a short story sell even once a month for that amount. But I seriously discourage anyone from ghostwriting short stories. That is a lot of credit to throw away.
The short story market is competitive. Extremely competitive. Far, far more competitive than the novel market. But most of the completion takes place at the bottom, not at the top. There is competition at the top, but primarily for individual magazines, not all magazines. Experienced short story writers who are reasonably prolific should be able to sell a couple of short stories per month to pretty good magazines.
The competition for new writers is unbelievably keep. There are millions who try writing short stories, but for new writers, good isn't good enough. In order to sell a short story to a really good magazines, a new writer must write a story that's better than what the editor receives from top writers that month. Not as good as, but better in some real way.
It's funny, but I don't think I've ever sold a short story in the range of five to seven hundred dollars. I've sold a lot of short stories in the range of three hundred to about four-fifty, and I've sold quite few short stories for eight to nine hundred, and a quite a few for a thousand plus, but never in that one range. I have no idea why that is.
Anyway, ghosting doesn't automatically mean giving up credit. I've ghosted novels, and never had to give up credit with the people who matter. My agent knows which novels I've ghosted, and the publisher knows. Beyond this, who cares.
I doubt it would work that way for short stories, but if you aren't good enough to sell to magazines, why not ghost? No credit plus six hundred dollars is better than no credit and no money.
Thanks for the responses, folks 
I did ask what they were getting offered in pay and they said it was $.01/word for 10-20k projects. Backed away hurriedly and suggested they do the same, because wow, that seems way too cheap.
I did ask what they were getting offered in pay and they said it was $.01/word for 10-20k projects. Backed away hurriedly and suggested they do the same, because wow, that seems way too cheap.Thanks for the responses, folks
Unless you can write 25,000 words a day like Max Brand sometimes did, that is way too cheap. Having said that, if a story of mine goes through every higher paying market without an editor biting, I figure the bait I'm dangling isn't good enough for a big fish, so I might try for a minnow.
But you never know. I had one story that was rejected so many times I lost count. It was rejected by every large magazine I could find, by every medium magazine I could find, and finally by penny a word mags. I think it even drew a rejection from a quarter penny per word mag.
The I saw the submission guidelines for Sports Afield, and realized I could make it fit there easily. All I have to do was change the first and last paragraph. I did, submitted the story, and the editor bought it. It was rejected everywhere before I made that small change. I couldn't even give it away. Sports Afield paid me one thousand dollars for a very short story. That was my first thousand dollar sale. Then Cricket paid me another three hundred and something. I don't remember the exact amount, but it was just under four hundred dollars. That story has sold several times since, and has earned me quite a bit of money for one short story. It also led directly to a dozen other sales to a single mag, and I'm not sure how many to other magazines.
I changed two paragraphs. That was the difference between a story that no one wanted, that I couldn't give away, and a story that has earned me several thousand dollars. It was a lesson I took to heart. Every sentence counts, and every paragraph counts, especially the first and the last.
Black Feather
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I have a friend who ghosts 20k stories, and she seems satisfied by the experience, but she uses it just to make some more money on the side. I don't know how much she gets paid for it, but she can get a story out in a few days, so I assume it's worth it for her.
Yeah, me too. HA.
I hadn't heard of ghostwriting short stories. Lots of good info in this thread. I do know how tough the short story market is. Glad to know others find it tough, as well. Glad to know some do sell their stories for a decent amount.
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I admire & envy her prolificness! Even though spellcheck tells me that isn't a word.
Do you know what genre or publishing model she works in? Are these ebooks? It seems like ghostwriting those could be a very different ballgame from ghostwriting for magazines on spec (which just sounds impossible, going from my own experience and what others are saying in this thread).
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I believe it's mostly romance, and I know she started through Fiverr or a similar site, thinking she'd mostly get asked to write short erotica, but after getting a few positive reviews she started receiving more serious job offers.
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People who want to self-publish without actually writing, and who are willing to pay enough to make it worthwhile to ghost short stories 
They might be talking about work like the stuff produced for The Grantville Gazette. (I mention this because I've been cowriting some shorts for the 1632/Ring Of Fire series.)
Essentially, my co-author and I (plus other unrelated folks) are writing "shared universe" material. It has to fit with the world-building Eric Flint has done. If characters are "uptimers" they have to come from a specified list and you have to apply for permission to write about them. Every story that's accepted is paid for, but with the understand that you have essentially written something that another person holds the Intellectual Property rights to. In order for it to be published you sign a contract which relinquishes copyright/moral rights.
It's not ghostwriting in the sense that you get a by-line on anything you write. (And unless you happen to be co-writing directly with Flint, his name doesn't appear on your story.)
It's the only place I've found that does this though. Most franchises don't have regular short story publication, preferring to focus on novels.
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