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Originally Posted by bhartman36
Hi, Everyone.
I'm starting to write more, and interested in getting my short stories published. I've got one published in an online lit magazine, one that I self-published on Amazon, and one that I sort of dashed off on Wikinut (that I've since been editing to clean it up). I've also got a bunch of unpublished material and I will probably be putting the whole thing together into a compilation soon. Is it worth it to wait around for the submission process to take its course w/ various magazines, or should I try to publish the stories to Amazon/Smashwords? And what do you think the effect of doing that would be, if I was to do a compilation and seek either to put that out electronically myself or seek a publisher?
Any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks!  |
It depends a lot on the path you want to follow. What you'll need is readership and, unless you already have a built-in market, it's difficult to gain a readership in the self-publishing arena--especially for short stories. Getting published in known publications with existing readerships allows you to build a following which you then might be able to transition out of the traditional publishing arena.
As to collections, almost no publisher is going to consider a collection from a new writer without a really good reason. Winning a major prize like a Pushcart or a Stoker or a Hugo (just to spread it around the genres) might get a publisher's attention. Sometimes a publisher will publish a collection from someone they just bought a novel from, especially if the author has a following in the short story market.
That's not to say it's impossible to succeed by going the independent route. It's just really difficult and requires a lot of time dedicated to promotion.