how to sell short stories
As I've gotten involved in the podcasting community, I've run across a number of talented writers who've never placed a short story and are sad about it. The process of placing short stories seems mysterious to them.
I'm no pro (literally; I've never sold to a pro market), but all the stories I thought I could place in the last couple of years have found homes. It's been a while since I had a short story that I believed was marketable and just wasn't.
I remember that feeling of frustration, though. Some people helped me by answering questions, cmpriest particularly, and I spent a lot of time online puzzling it out. So here's Abbie's recipe for getting those first publications:
1. Start with about half a dozen short stories. Make them as good as you possibly can (beta, re-write, blah, blah, blah). If you're still fumbling with grammar and plot, you're not ready to start selling stories at all, but it seems like a lot of the people I meet in podcasting are actually competent writers. They may not be writing Asimov’s level stories, but they're writing stories that strangers enjoy reading, and that's all you need. I say to start with half a dozen (or 3 or 4 or 5...something more than 2!) because you probably have some stories that seem marketable, but just aren't, or they're going to be a lot harder to place than you think. If you put all your eggs in one basket, you'll get discouraged.
2. Get on http://www.duotrope.com/, plug in the specs for your stories, and start looking. I suggest screening for markets that pay something (contributor copies do not count). It doesn't have to be much. $5, even $1, but something. There seems to be a quality/respect line between markets that pay something and markets that pay nothing, and you want sales that will look good on your query letter and help you sell future stories. On the other hand, don't turn up your nose at markets that pay very little. It's unlikely that you will make more at this than you would working the same number of hours at minimum wage. This is true, even if you're selling to pro markets (unless you're eugie :) You're gonna spend a lot of hours and not get a lot of $ back. If publishing stories is not worth that to you, then don't do it.
You will find markets that appear promising. Go to their websites and find their submission guidelines. Never rely on Duotrope alone. When you submit, follow the guidelines exactly. Do whatever stupid formatting thing they tell you to do. If the site has an "About Us" section, read that. Find the editor's name, and address them by name in your submission. Over time, you will develop a standard query/submission letter, but always be willing to retailor it for any specific market. Follow directions.
3. Develop a submission/query letter. I do not claim to be an expert on query letters, but for short stories, they can be very brief. If you have no previous publications, just do something like this:
Dear [editor's name],
Thank you for considering my [word count] word story "[story's name]" for [market's name]. [Optional 1 - 3 sentence bio, depending on what the market seems to want.]
Sincerely,
[your name]
[contact info]
If you've had a few sales, it gets a little longer, but not much. Here's a recent successful query:
Dear Mr. Sherman,
Thank you for considering my drabble "Squid Ink" for _The Drabblecast_. You included my drabbles "Sacrifices" and "My Cat was Killed by Fairies" in episodes 69 and 82 respectively. _The Dunesteef_ played my story "A Cat Prince Distinguishes Himself" on March 11. I also have a story in the Spring issue of _The Greatest Uncommon Denominator_, and my worked appeared in the April 2008 edition of _Beyond Centauri_. My free podcast novel, _The Prophet of Panamindorah_, is available at podiobooks.com and on my website. I have another podcast novel launching in December.
I live in Portland, OR. I have been known to dissect roadkill in the name of science. I would totally get a squid ink tattoo.
All the best,
Abbie
If you can remember, always send these letters in plain text (hence the underscores instead of italics). Many publications read all their email in plain text, and sometimes things that are formatted in rich text break up into awkward, unprofessional-looking chunks when they get converted.
A query letter is not a magic bullet. Either they'll like your work or they won't, but at least you can make sure that they don't hate you before they even start reading.
4. Create some sort of spreadsheet to keep track of things. Mine includes the name of the market, name of the story, date submitted, method of submission (email, snailmail, website), date and nature of response (usually rejected and the date). That's all you really need, but you do need to keep track. You can also use this to keep track of interesting looking markets that you haven't yet had time to submit to.
5. Start submitting. Most markets are going to tell you that they don't want "simultaneous submissions," which means they don't want anyone else looking at your story while they are looking at it. I think this is unreasonable, and here's where I'm going to tell you to do something naughty. I usually have my stories out to 3 places at any given time. Not dozens. Not everywhere I could find. Just 3 places. Invariably, one or two of those places will sit on it for months, sometimes as many as 6 or 8. Some will never respond at all. If you actually went one-by-one, it would take you years to exhaust the markets for even the most insignificant of short stories. These places should not be able to stop you in your tracks that way. They don't get to hold your work hostage forever. If a market has a reputation for swiftness and they really emphasize their no SS policy, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I'll submit solo and wait for a few weeks and see what happens. This isn't a blanket policy, but it's one that works pretty well for me. It also staves off despair. If your story is rejected at one place, you can say to yourself, "Well, it's still under consideration at those other two places."
If you do submit to more than one place and your story is accepted somewhere else, always be polite and immediately send other markets an email saying, "I would like to withdraw my submission of thus-and-such." You do not need to explain; just withdraw it. I have never had anything accepted in two places at once, and the likelihood is tiny. However, you still don't want to waste their time. Be polite to them, as you hope they will be to you.
However, if they appear to have no consideration for you, limit your consideration for them. I count stories rejected by default after 3 months and move on. I have had one accepted outside that time-frame, and for a long time, my default was 6 months. Whatever you chose, I would suggest having a cut-off point beyond which you consider it a default rejection. This will give you closure and tidy up your bookkeeping. Do be aware that pro and semi-pro markets are the worst about sitting on your stories forever and ever, and sometimes they do accept them after a year. *shrug*
6. Expect rejection. Expect loads of it. For me, it's often the 8th or 9th or 10th market that accepts a story. And you're doing this times 6. Say to yourself, "I'm going to send each of these stories to at least a dozen places before I retire them, maybe 15 or 20. I'm going to see a LOT of rejection letters."
7. Be flexible. If an editor tells you that he/she liked the story except for X and X is something you can change, offer to do so. That's how I made my first fantasy sale. The editor might not go for it, but if you're polite, they won't fault you for trying.
8. Be persistent. If you exhaust the markets for a story, especially the kind with limited markets available (such as a drabbles or really short flash), put the story on hiatus and return to it in 6 months to a year. Do an edit, and if you still think the story is good, do a new search. New markets crop up all the time. Submit again.
If you throw enough darts at the board, you are going to hit something. As you get more experience, you'll get better at aiming.
I'm no pro (literally; I've never sold to a pro market), but all the stories I thought I could place in the last couple of years have found homes. It's been a while since I had a short story that I believed was marketable and just wasn't.
I remember that feeling of frustration, though. Some people helped me by answering questions, cmpriest particularly, and I spent a lot of time online puzzling it out. So here's Abbie's recipe for getting those first publications:
1. Start with about half a dozen short stories. Make them as good as you possibly can (beta, re-write, blah, blah, blah). If you're still fumbling with grammar and plot, you're not ready to start selling stories at all, but it seems like a lot of the people I meet in podcasting are actually competent writers. They may not be writing Asimov’s level stories, but they're writing stories that strangers enjoy reading, and that's all you need. I say to start with half a dozen (or 3 or 4 or 5...something more than 2!) because you probably have some stories that seem marketable, but just aren't, or they're going to be a lot harder to place than you think. If you put all your eggs in one basket, you'll get discouraged.
2. Get on http://www.duotrope.com/, plug in the specs for your stories, and start looking. I suggest screening for markets that pay something (contributor copies do not count). It doesn't have to be much. $5, even $1, but something. There seems to be a quality/respect line between markets that pay something and markets that pay nothing, and you want sales that will look good on your query letter and help you sell future stories. On the other hand, don't turn up your nose at markets that pay very little. It's unlikely that you will make more at this than you would working the same number of hours at minimum wage. This is true, even if you're selling to pro markets (unless you're eugie :) You're gonna spend a lot of hours and not get a lot of $ back. If publishing stories is not worth that to you, then don't do it.
You will find markets that appear promising. Go to their websites and find their submission guidelines. Never rely on Duotrope alone. When you submit, follow the guidelines exactly. Do whatever stupid formatting thing they tell you to do. If the site has an "About Us" section, read that. Find the editor's name, and address them by name in your submission. Over time, you will develop a standard query/submission letter, but always be willing to retailor it for any specific market. Follow directions.
3. Develop a submission/query letter. I do not claim to be an expert on query letters, but for short stories, they can be very brief. If you have no previous publications, just do something like this:
Dear [editor's name],
Thank you for considering my [word count] word story "[story's name]" for [market's name]. [Optional 1 - 3 sentence bio, depending on what the market seems to want.]
Sincerely,
[your name]
[contact info]
If you've had a few sales, it gets a little longer, but not much. Here's a recent successful query:
Dear Mr. Sherman,
Thank you for considering my drabble "Squid Ink" for _The Drabblecast_. You included my drabbles "Sacrifices" and "My Cat was Killed by Fairies" in episodes 69 and 82 respectively. _The Dunesteef_ played my story "A Cat Prince Distinguishes Himself" on March 11. I also have a story in the Spring issue of _The Greatest Uncommon Denominator_, and my worked appeared in the April 2008 edition of _Beyond Centauri_. My free podcast novel, _The Prophet of Panamindorah_, is available at podiobooks.com and on my website. I have another podcast novel launching in December.
I live in Portland, OR. I have been known to dissect roadkill in the name of science. I would totally get a squid ink tattoo.
All the best,
Abbie
If you can remember, always send these letters in plain text (hence the underscores instead of italics). Many publications read all their email in plain text, and sometimes things that are formatted in rich text break up into awkward, unprofessional-looking chunks when they get converted.
A query letter is not a magic bullet. Either they'll like your work or they won't, but at least you can make sure that they don't hate you before they even start reading.
4. Create some sort of spreadsheet to keep track of things. Mine includes the name of the market, name of the story, date submitted, method of submission (email, snailmail, website), date and nature of response (usually rejected and the date). That's all you really need, but you do need to keep track. You can also use this to keep track of interesting looking markets that you haven't yet had time to submit to.
5. Start submitting. Most markets are going to tell you that they don't want "simultaneous submissions," which means they don't want anyone else looking at your story while they are looking at it. I think this is unreasonable, and here's where I'm going to tell you to do something naughty. I usually have my stories out to 3 places at any given time. Not dozens. Not everywhere I could find. Just 3 places. Invariably, one or two of those places will sit on it for months, sometimes as many as 6 or 8. Some will never respond at all. If you actually went one-by-one, it would take you years to exhaust the markets for even the most insignificant of short stories. These places should not be able to stop you in your tracks that way. They don't get to hold your work hostage forever. If a market has a reputation for swiftness and they really emphasize their no SS policy, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I'll submit solo and wait for a few weeks and see what happens. This isn't a blanket policy, but it's one that works pretty well for me. It also staves off despair. If your story is rejected at one place, you can say to yourself, "Well, it's still under consideration at those other two places."
If you do submit to more than one place and your story is accepted somewhere else, always be polite and immediately send other markets an email saying, "I would like to withdraw my submission of thus-and-such." You do not need to explain; just withdraw it. I have never had anything accepted in two places at once, and the likelihood is tiny. However, you still don't want to waste their time. Be polite to them, as you hope they will be to you.
However, if they appear to have no consideration for you, limit your consideration for them. I count stories rejected by default after 3 months and move on. I have had one accepted outside that time-frame, and for a long time, my default was 6 months. Whatever you chose, I would suggest having a cut-off point beyond which you consider it a default rejection. This will give you closure and tidy up your bookkeeping. Do be aware that pro and semi-pro markets are the worst about sitting on your stories forever and ever, and sometimes they do accept them after a year. *shrug*
6. Expect rejection. Expect loads of it. For me, it's often the 8th or 9th or 10th market that accepts a story. And you're doing this times 6. Say to yourself, "I'm going to send each of these stories to at least a dozen places before I retire them, maybe 15 or 20. I'm going to see a LOT of rejection letters."
7. Be flexible. If an editor tells you that he/she liked the story except for X and X is something you can change, offer to do so. That's how I made my first fantasy sale. The editor might not go for it, but if you're polite, they won't fault you for trying.
8. Be persistent. If you exhaust the markets for a story, especially the kind with limited markets available (such as a drabbles or really short flash), put the story on hiatus and return to it in 6 months to a year. Do an edit, and if you still think the story is good, do a new search. New markets crop up all the time. Submit again.
If you throw enough darts at the board, you are going to hit something. As you get more experience, you'll get better at aiming.