Previously Undisclosed Publishing Goal: I want to do it my way

As far as short stories go, there are some pre-prescribed methods on how you should go about promoting your stories.  It's generally suggested that you use magazines (or e-zines) to your advantage.  Submit your story to the magazine and if they accept it and publish it you get a little bit of freelance money plus a way to introduce your work to new readers.

Once the one year (or whatever) contract with the magazine is up, you are free to publish your short story on your own as an ebook.  Then you use the usual internet promotion methods to further yourself as an author.

I feel like this is good advice and not at all a bad way to go.  However, I decided almost as soon as I first published that I'm not going to listen to it.  Here's why:

I want to see if it's possible to just be a self-published short story writer.  I kind of want to test the system.  There's a lot of chit and chat about how ebooks could revitalize the short story.  I want to see if this is true or not.

I feel like I'm as good a candidate as any for an experiment such as this.  I really don't like writing novels.  I could see myself writing more novellas but 80,000 word epistles are not my cup of tea.  Plus, the topics I choose to write about don't have immediate appeal (as in, they're not about sparkly vampires).  I was also unpublished before I self-published my first ebook.  So in terms of name recognition, I started from scratch with no cult following already buying my stuff.

But I do have a secret weapon: I can be extremely patient if the situation calls for it.  I have also already set up my own private teaching studio business.  So I've literally experienced the process of "word of mouth" kicking in if you give it enough time.

Basically, I want to try this my way and see if it works.  I don't want to be a novel writer that just crams short stories in here and there to help sell more novels.  I don't want to speedily pack together 100 short stories in an effort to make a collection that is novel-length.  And I don't want to spend most of my time submitting to magazines and writing by their guidelines.

Every story that I write is designed to be stand-alone or a complete experience.  I only put together collections if there is a connecting theme.  I want to see if all of this eventually appeals to a targeted niche audience.

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 29, 2011 at 7:14 AM

    I would love to see a resurgence of the short story - writing compelling short fiction is a unique skill within the craft, but it seems that novels get all the attention. I've been a fan of short stories all my life, and would love to see you have great success with your experiment!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alain GomezNovember 29, 2011 at 12:53 PM

    I figure it's worth a shot. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? No sales?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of "Ferryman" by Nigel Edwards

Summary: "A mythology grew up around the Ferrymen, fostered by a mystique which they wrapped around themselves. Some thought them amoral servants of a ruling elite, sanctioned to undertake work beyond legitimate resolution; others with more fanciful imaginations – or who were more devout, depending on your point of view – believed them emissaries of Evil, with a capital E." Could the Ferrymen become real in your lifetime? Should they? Read this thoughtful and disturbing near-future science fiction story and decide for yourself. Review: This was a fantastic short story.  "Well-written" doesn't even begin to describe Ferryman ; it's engrossing.  The simple, clean style perfectly highlights our precise  protagonist.  If this future Edwards presents to us does in fact become a reality, the character he describes is exactly the type of person who would become a Ferryman: highly competent with the hint of a god complex. What's  especially clever abou...
Read more

The Short Story Project

I was introduced to the short story genre in high school and simply fell in love.  It's completely different from reading a novel.  A novel is a lengthy involvement.  Character development and plot must transport you into the author's world as the story gradually unfolds. Short stories are distinct experience.  A good short story writer will make you care about the outcome of the characters even though you may not necessarily know anything about them.  It is a complete experience in one sitting; not too unlike reading a poem.  You read the short story/poem for itself and not for the hope that it will drag out for 800 pages and then maybe have a sequel. The short story genre has become a lost art.  When newspapers were at their height, a writer could make a name for himself by publishing a short piece of fiction every week.  Charles Dickens is a perfect example of this.  Since then, the literary world changed.  You have to have an age...
Read more

Interview with Author Hugh Howey

Welcome to Book Brouhaha! Why don't you start out by introducing yourself and telling us a little about "Wool." Thanks for having me, Alain! I suppose I'm just this normal guy who just wrote a little story called Wool. It's about a group of people who live underground. When their society turns on itself, it threatens all of mankind. In a way, it poses the conundrum of every revolution: How do you destroy an unjust social structure without the collateral damage being worse than the injustices were? I suppose the most interesting thing about me, personally, is that I lived on a sailboat while I was in college. This led to a career as a yacht captain, which sent me all over the Caribbean and the East Coast. I didn't start writing in earnest until my wife dragged me away from the sea and into the mountains. I've always loved the short form. I've been told that it isn't as marketable, even though science fiction has a long and glorious history of c...
Read more