Writing short stories is unlikely to provide a new writer with a full-time income instantly, but it is possible to build up an income writing short fiction. The secret to success is to write stories in a chosen genre, and find the right market for them.

Magazines

Many magazines do publish general short fiction, but the market is highly competitive. No writer could realistically expect to get enough stories published each year to provide a full-time income. Even when a story is accepted for publication, a writer has to wait many months before it is published, and then waits to get paid.

Book Publishers

Books of short stories by a new author are rarely published. Usually an author needs to have a good reputation as a novelist, or be a successful writer, before a collection of short stories gets published.

Writers of short stories for children do have a big advantage. Publishers will consider short stories for children in book form. There are also more opportunities to contribute stories to weekly or monthly publications for children, and for children's stories to appear in other formats.

Specialist Publications

Short story writers who specialize in one genre of fiction can benefit by writing for specialist magazines and small press publications. There is always a demand for stories written specifically for readers of sci-fi, horror stories, fantasy and erotic fiction.

Short stories that appeal to fans of a particular genre have good potential to be published and sold on the Internet. Some websites make it possible for those fans to download short pieces of fiction, after paying a subscription or fee .

Electronic Publishing

Every short story writer should consider self publishing using new technology. Electronic book readers are becoming increasingly popular, and these provide a whole new market for fiction writers.

Amazon has a Digital Text Platform for writers to publish on Kindle. Writers who use this are paid 35% of the selling price each time their title is sold through the Amazon Kindle Store.

Single stories or collections of short stories can be self published at Lulu. Ebooks can be supplied direct to customers, and Lulu will keep 25% of the selling price each time, as commission.

Publishing on demand is a great way to generate income for writers of short stories who are prepared to do plenty of online marketing and promotion.

The short story format is certainly going to remain popular, thanks to new advances in technology. Now is a good time to get started and build up a reputation as a short story writer. Writing short stories for a living could become a reality for more writers in future.

Learn more about this author, Ruth Belena.
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