Are publishing credits more important in Short fiction than in Novels?

Plenty of new writers get their short fiction published. It isn't highlighted as much as novels (some markets note if it's an author's first sale, but they often don't... my first pro sale has no mention of it being my first), but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

If you have credits in the sense of being Stephen King, an okay story might be accepted because it'll sell the magazine, but the majority of writers aren't in that situation. Their story will only sell to a pro market if it's awesome. For most writers, all credits mean is skipping a layer of slush readers at some markets. This doesn't increase the chances of the editor wanting to buy it.

Having reputable publishing credits can be a boost but nothing counts more than the quality of the submitted work, whether it's short fiction or novel length.


I certainly don't list all of mine in either a cover letter or bio. After two decades, there are too many for one thing. I usually highlight the newest or the most noteworthy.

defyalllogic said:

it's so intimidating to see so many stories with author bios touting success and credits and nominations...

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They were all new once.

Good magazines do publisher fewer new writers than do book publishers. The short story markets, at least for paying magazines, is much, much tougher than the book market. It isn't a matter of credits, it's a matter of competition and number of slots available. Because of the competition, a short story must be darned near perfect to sell to any good magazine. A book is long enough to have a flaw or three, and still get accepted.

Credits can help in both areas, but they actually help more in the book market than in the short story market. They help for four reasons. 1. Credits show you can write well enough, tell a story well enough, to make someone give you money for your writing. 2. Credits get you past lower tier reader, and into the hands of someone who can actually buy your story. 1. Good credits mean there's a chance you already have something of a fan base who will follow you to the novel market. Sell two or three short stories to high circulation markets in the same genre as your novel, and it doesn't take very many of those magazine readers to make the difference between profit and loss with your novel. 4. This relates to a couple of the others, but it's important enough to list independently. Track record. No matter the market, a track record of success is more impressive than a track record of failure. And agent or an acquisition editor has an excellent selling point when pushing your novel if she can say, "He was a success there, so it stands to reason he can be a success here."

This does not mean you have to have credits to sell in the short story market, or in the novel market. Good writing, good story, and good characters always win out. The fact is that most first novelists do not have good credits, simply because good credits are extremely hard to get. This is what makes them good credits. If anyone could get them, they wouldn't be worth having.

It just means that if you do have good credits, you're a couple of steps ahead of the pack.

I've made at least two novel deals over the years based on the fact that I had very good short story credits, and potential built in fan base was the deciding factor with the editors.

As a science fiction short fiction writer (occasionaly published), I found this article by Rachel Swirsky enlightening. She explains what publishing credits mean to her as an editor--and also what they don't.

MumblingSage said:

As a science fiction short fiction writer (occasionaly published), I found this article by Rachel Swirsky enlightening. She explains what publishing credits mean to her as an editor--and also what they don't.

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Worth highlighting that she was an editor of a reprint market when she wrote that. At the time, some people skimmed it and took it to mean she wouldn't publish new writers... when what she was actually saying was they were a reprint market, so the story had to have been sold somewhere else first.

Yeah, that article doesn't really pertain to writers in usual situations. Though it does rightfully point out that selling to a crappy magazine is not a good credit.

Thanks for the link, MumblingSage. I'm somewhat concerned now about the idea of 'toxic credits' that might actually put editors off...I've gotten a revision request and hope to get a story out in MindFlights, which is definitely not a pro-rate paying market, and which i haven't seen on the lists of distinguished token-payment or free markets; I do like much of what they publish,or I wouldn't have submitted there (and their rewrite suggestions were spot-on). If I should be lucky enough to get a story in there, I wonder whether I should mention it in later submissions or not.

Joanna Hoyt said:

Thanks for the link, MumblingSage. I'm somewhat concerned now about the idea of 'toxic credits' that might actually put editors off...I've gotten a revision request and hope to get a story out in MindFlights, which is definitely not a pro-rate paying market, and which i haven't seen on the lists of distinguished token-payment or free markets; I do like much of what they publish,or I wouldn't have submitted there (and their rewrite suggestions were spot-on). If I should be lucky enough to get a story in there, I wonder whether I should mention it in later submissions or not.

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I usually don't mention credits unless they're equal to or greater than the tier of the market I'm submitting to. I'd make some exceptions... if I'd sold to Electric Velocipede (which I haven't), I'd mention it in pro 'zine cover letters, because it won a Hugo. If the editor of pro 'zine said they love reading InsertTokenPayerHere, I'd include that credit.

Mostly, I stick to the tier rule though.

I had no publishing credits when I submitted my first short story to AHMM. I will also admit I hadn't read much short fiction before I did. I picked up a copy of AHMM that a relative subscribed to and thought, I can do this. Up to that point, I'd written only for myself - a long, rambling scifi-type epic I had been working off and on for over 20 years.

My first short story submission got rejected; the second sold. I've sold 25 total, most to AHMM, a few to EQMM and made it into two 'best of' anthologies. I've been reprinted, too, in anthologies in other countries, (sometimes without my permisson.)

So if you've got a good story, and the editor likes it, and the acquisition people say go for it, etc. etc., you can have few or zero publishing credits and still break through in the short fiction market.

I am now trying to sell a novel and my short story credits are proving helpful in gaining my book a little more attention than might otherwise be the case. But time will tell - the story is still the thing.