Dear readers

Newspapers aren't likely to buy short stories. They have paid staff and rely on almost no freelance work.

You say you have a publisher yet you go on to ask if you should submit your short to a publisher, so I'm lost. If your publisher's worth anything, you don't have to worry about your short getting out to the masses; it's up to the publisher to handle the bulk of publicity and marketing. Are you talking about submitting the short to an anthology? And if you're already under contract to a publisher, you might be careful about submitting anything to another house; you could wind up in deep kimchi.

First of all make sure the story has no grammar or punctuation or sentence construction issues and that it reads with clarity and flow.

I think you need to say what kind of publisher this is before we can help. Approaches very greatly between publishers that sell off their website, vua online stores, via brick and mortar stores etc.

When you say "publisher," I think novels. I too am confused; is this a novel or a short story? Or do you have a novel already and are looking to publish a short story too?

For short stories, check your contract. Some magazines will give the rights back to you upon publication or after a period of time. One of my shorts had a three-month exclusive period, after which I was free to submit it elsewhere. Others have reverted the rights to me as soon as the issue was published. The story will be publicized through the magazine's normal outlets, but many (again, check your contract) will let you link to their website from your (or from you AW signature) or post a reprint on your webpage (if you have one).

For books, check your contract. Self publishers and publish-on-demand (POD) publishers will put all of the publicity and marketing on your shoulders. I have no experience promoting a novel (although I have one published POD), but many people will have a website for themselves or even for the book, will spend time on the phone with bookstores, libraries, reviewers, etc. This is, by all accounts, not a very rewarding experience. It seems to take prior knowledge of the industry and outlets.

I hope that at least gets you started. Feel free to clarify your situation and perhaps we can give you more direct input.

Bufty said:

First of all make sure the story has no grammar or punctuation or sentence construction issues and that it reads with clarity and flow.

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This.

But to answer the question, it depends a lot on what kind of publisher the one you already have is.

I have critted some of your writing over at SYW, and I think right now your problem shouldn't be looking for a publisher, but rather working on your writing skills.

It will probably help if you refer to IP Graphics as your "printer" rather than your "publisher." Then people can answer your questions better!

If you're considering printing a short story on its own, I would suggest submitting to magazines that already publish short stories. I think it would be hard to get people to buy a printed short story by itself.

Good luck!

Not to derail, but if they say 3000 words then you need to tighten your word and drop down to that amount. EVERY story can be pruned. You need to work on your story and get it in shape. This graphic place you are talking about sounds like a web site place. IMHO

Printing is a lot different from publishing, though.

If they say 3000 words, then it needs to be 3000 words. They will NOT excuse grammar/punctuation problems at all. There are other, better stories submitted which are 3000 words... why will they be kind to you if they could easily just publish those other stories?

I'm being honest as well. You need to be realistic about these things.

May i ask if English is your first language?

Will you be published in Africa? Things might be different over there than here in the USA, that's why I asked.

If your book is written in English, you will need to do more work on it. If it's written in your language....?......I'm sure you have it all polished. Over here if an agent only wants 3000 words....that is what they want. If your mother is going to publish your work she may allow you to have as many as you want.

I do wish you success with your work.

Kivandrohex said:

The college isn't going to publish it, their going to grade it.

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I mentioned because you talked about sending the story off to be published.

Kivandrohex--I'm not sure what you're asking. Is what you're writing for a class? Or for your mother's graphic design/printing company? And what kind of advice are you looking for?

Do you want a publisher that will print the story without suggesting any further changes?

I think the first order of business would be becoming an excellent writer.

So you have a publisher for [?], but want a publisher to help build your profile and promote [?]?

There are plenty of short story markets, try duotrope.com