by Georgina Crawford

Created on: May 19, 2010

In this current economic climate, it is highly unlikely that a previously unpublished writer could earn a living by writing short stories, as many magazines have reduced the number of unsolicited manuscripts they will take, and some have stopped publishing short story fiction altogether.  However, short story writing remains a valuable way to stretch your creative muscle and enhance your portfolio if nothing else, and can, at best earn a little money along the way. 

If you want to earn money from writing short stories, then you must be disciplined and methodical in your approach.  As with all writing genres, it’s important to make a start and get something down on that blank page rather than waiting for your muse to strike.  Write regularly, preferably every day; dedicate a set amount of time for crafting short stories and stick to it.  If what you write is rubbish, never mind, set it aside and move on to the next thing.  After a few days, revisit what you’ve written with fresh eyes; there may be something you could rewrite and use elsewhere.

Edit what you have written, and then edit it again.  It’s absolutely vital to sit down with the red pen and be utterly ruthless with your work.  Ask yourself questions, ‘who, what, where, when and why’ to make sure that the work will make sense to the reader not just to yourself.  Likewise, editors want to read a polished manuscript that is grammatically correct and of good quality; they are highly unlikely to accept a rough draft.

Keep scrupulous notes about which manuscript you have sent to whom, with the date it was sent, so that when a story is returned, you can rewrite it and send it out to a fresh publisher.  In addition, retaining world rights on your work when you send it for publication means that if your story has been published in one country, you can still send it for publication in another, thus earning twice or three times for the same piece of work.

Read the editor’s rules.  Each publisher will require something slightly different from your manuscript in terms of content, format and the like.  It would be a shame to have a manuscript declined for simple formatting errors.  Likewise, it’s important to do a little research prior to sending stories out to ensure that you are sending the correct genre to the right publisher.  There is a good market for science fiction, horror, erotica and the like,

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