Why You Shouldn't Get Your Short Story Book Published

Filed under Promote your book.

ebookI recently attended the 20 Photos, 20 Stories book launch. Afterwards I spoke to one of the organisers Nik Perring. Nik is a writer and he asked what advice I would give to a writer looking to get his short story book published. I gave him a truncated answer at the time but the question has kept me thinking. So now, rather belatedly, here’s my answer:

No one buys short stories

Well that’s not strictly true. There is a small market for short stories but this is mainly through very small publishers aiming at niche markets. If, as a writer, you a looking to simply see you work in print and are not looking for any real financial reward, then a publisher such as Comma Press would be ideal.

However, if you are looking to build your profile as a writer or use short stories as a spring board to novels, then you need a different approach. The reality is that any writer looking to make a living from the written word, will at some point need an agent and a large publisher. Unfortunately a short story collection will not really help in this process.

Give them away for free!

This said I do think short stories can play an important role in developing a writer’s career. However, this is not as a vehicle to make money but instead a way to raise a writer’s profile. Short stories by their very nature offer quick, digestible chunks of writing that a casual web viewer can consume. It is this approach of providing accessible and free short stories that is the key.

My advice is for writers to produce a short ebook of their stories and then give it away for free on their site. An ebook has the advantage of providing a ‘take away’ for readers. They can click the link and download the text to read later. It also gives readers a chance to spread your work, they can share the link with friends and hopefully build a following for the book.

The practical approach

So here is a step-by-step guide to boosting your presence with short stories:

  • Write a collection of stories,
  • Edit, edit and edit again,
  • Get them checked by a third party (we can help if you like),
  • Put them into a simple ebook format,
  • Upload onto your site, create a separate page promoting the story and link to the ebook,
  • Blog about your new book, email the link to friends and chat away on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook,
  • Send your book to key bloggers and try to set up email interviews,
  • Do a virtual book tour where you guest post on other peoples blogs,
  • Finally (and only after building a following) I would look into creating a self published version of the book and consider selling it via your site and Amazon…but that’s a different post for another day!

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  • http://glynpope.blogspot.com/ Glyn Pope

    I think that writers should see that short stories, novels and poetry are all very different. A short story is as difficult to write as a novel. You can’t just dash of a quick thousand or two words and expect to impress the world that for some reason you can then write a novel. You can ruin your reputation by writing a lot of useless stories that nobody wants to read.

  • Gary Smailes

    Glyn: This is a great point. I think the one thing that is never said about people’s work is that it must be good. In fact it must be amazing. For my suggestion to work then readers must be prepared to tell their friends about the short stories they have read, this will only happen if the stories are worth talking about.

  • http://www.declanstanley.com/ Declan Stanley

    I’ve just come across the #frictionfriday hastag on twitter which gives writers another way to promote themselves and their stories.

  • http://alissagrosso.com Alissa Grosso

    Great advice. I’ve made a little money here and there with short stories, and always thought that some day I would collect them in an anthology, which I can still do, but using that anthology to promote my other work is a great idea.

  • http://girliegeekblog.com GirlieGeek3152

    Great advice! I have a collection of shorts that would migrate into a novel. I’ll have to consider that option. It’s a good one!

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  • Gary Smailes

    I think the key is to provide your on-line readers with a ‘give-away’, something they can take from your site.

  • Gary Smailes

    I think the key is to get over the idea that you are giving it all away for free. People pay in time and attention. Someone who downloaded and read your work is much more likely to become a fan.