Publishing Advice

[Wolfrunner]

I have been writing some short stories and I need some advice in terms of what to do if I want to publish them. I have read here and on the internet in general about sites where stories can be published for free and I have also heard about Sci Fi magazines.

Do any of the writers here have any advice on how to publish short stories? I will be grateful for any ideas on this matter.

 

[TheFindersSeries]

When it comes to publishing your stories, it depends on what type of format that you want to publish them to. If you have several short stories written already then you could publish them as a single book of short stories. On the other hand, if you want to publish them individually, then I would recommend submitting them to short story magazines. I know of several writers that have fared well with them.

Now, if you are wanting to publish a book as I suggested at first, you have a couple different options available to you. The first is to submit them to a publisher or agent and hope that he gets around to reading them. From there they can decide to help you or ignore you. While this will take time to get your work into print, they do handle all the sales and marketing for you which can save you a bundle of money and time.

The other option is to self publish. You submit your work to a print on demand printer and they take your work and put it into a book for you. Each company has their own requirements but that is easy to find out about.

The one that I use is createspace.com because they have the higher percentage payout and the greatest flexibility when it comes to pricing your stuff. The drawback to using this option is that you have to handle the marketing of your book yourself. One nice part is that your book will automatically become available on amazon.com with these guys since they are part of the amazon family.

For a more middle of the road service, I would recommend xlibris.com (I think that is the name of the company) They will print the books and handle the marketing for you but they have up front fees that are a little high and they offer only 25% of the sale price of the book. Also, they set the price of most of the books unless you are willing to pay them a thousand or so in up front fees.

I hope that this is helpful to you. Also, let me know which option you use and I will be on the lookout for it on release.

 

[Wolfrunner]

Thank you for your answer.

I had been told that one of the best ways to get started is to publish the short stories in magazines first and if the readers like my style (and stories of course) then I can start to work on something bigger.

I will try the magazines 1st and maybe try it through an agent to see where it leads.

Thanks again for your answer.

 

[TheFindersSeries]

That is not a problem, Wolfrunner. I do my best to give you all the relevant information that I can so you can make the best decision for you and your circumstances. Let me know what mags publish your stuff because I would love to take a look at it. Who knows, I might even be able to offer some other advice for you as well.

 

[astonwest]

Definitely get several of them published in magazines first. That will show whether or not you're ready to put together a collection on your own.

Some places to start looking for magazines to submit to:
www.ralan.com
www.duotrope.com

Enjoy!

 

[Patrick G Cox]

Getting started in the publishing/writing business is a painful one. I have been a published technical author for some time now and still get published that way - but publishing fiction is a whole different ballgame. Getting a magazine editor to accept your stories is quite a battle. I suggest a subscription to someone like First Writer - they advise you on lists of magazines and publishers (and agents) looking for work. Their notices are invaluable as they give a link to the relavant website and you can check whether your work is what the editor is looking for, the format and submission requirements and so on.

You can also publish "online" through sites like FanStory, YouWriteOn and others. The advantage here is that you can test the waters and get feedback on your writing and style and it helps a great deal if you are prepared to take criticism and act on it where it may be justified. It certainly helps you to polish a story and tweak it until it is ready to start hawking round the agents.

Most of the big publishers won't look at your work at all unless its been sent in by an agent. Getting an agent can be the hardest thing to do of all as they will only take something that really grabs them and they believe they can sell to a publsher. Self publishing is another option, but remember, you have to do all the selling and marketing (You have to do a lot of this even if you are published by a mainstream publisher anyway!) and its your money you're trying to get back and spending lavishly trying to promote your work.

Don't be put off though, keep hammering away and polishing the story. J K Rowling spent 10 years trying to get the first Harry Potter into print.