What to Do With Short Stories

What to Do With Short Stories Recently I received a simple email from a reader who stated she wrote mostly short stories, and she had no clue what to do with them. She felt the day of the short story was over, and that hers had no chance of being published. She also asked how to make any money with them. These days, short writing is often interpreted as free to read, and she wanted to make a dollar or two from her effort. I understood her frustration and desire. Immediately, I asked her how many publications did she buy each year that catered to the short story. She could count them on one hand. You can guess my response to that. If shes not supporting the short story market, how can she expect to make money from it? Same goes for poetry, mysteries, sci-fi and the rest. {Okay, rant over.) From there, I suggested the following methods to earning income from short stories: 1) Contests In case you are new to FundsforWriters, I post many contests, and only those that pay $200 or more. Short story competitions are popular in the contest world. They usually charge entry fees, which are used to fund the prize money and cover expenses of judges and online promotion. Try to work one a month into your regimen. Contests are no different from submitting to editors. You risk rejection, but you also play the odds of being discovered and published in addition to putting a few dollars in your pocket. 2) Self-pub shorts on Amazon Self-publishing isnt just for novels or how-to books. Whats great these days is that you can sell ebooks, e-shorts, or chapbooks online, regardless of word count. Your short might not make more than 99 cents, but its read, and youre on your way as a short story author. 3) Magazines and anthologies These calls for submissions dont holler loud, so youll need to pay attention to venues like FundsforWriters to find them. Of course you need to sign up for FundsforWriters, and preferably TOTAL FundsforWriters as well. (See https://fundsforwriters.com/total-subscription-special/ But here are some markets to help your efforts: http://thewritelife.com/where-to-submit-short-stories/ amazon.com/Novel-Short-Story-Writers-Market/dp/159963841X/fundsforwriters sfwa.org/category/information-center/advice-for-new-writers/where-to-submit/ http://thereviewreview.net/publishing-tips/show-me-literary-magazines-pay 4) Crowdfunding Do you have a short story project in mind? Pitch it in a crowdfunding campaign at Kickstarter.com , Indiegogo.com , Pubslush.com , Unbound.co.uk or any of two dozen others. These are the most common and reliable for authors. Study the successful campaigns and learn from the masters. Earn money for your project and build a following at the same time. Short people rock!