Reprinted from Farmington Writers Circle, April 25, 2019.
I have seen several comments on television shows that no one has made money on publishing short stories since probably the days of Hemingway. I don’t know how true this is, but I know that, except for the most professional and most competitive, very few markets pay very much for a short story. You can find this out by researching pay in the Writers Market or using Duotrope. One would have to write short stories constantly and have them published constantly in order to make a living from them.
However, for me the value of a short story is not in the money it brings. The value is in the publicity and “face time” (an old Navy expression about the time one has in the boss’s full view or with his attention focused on you) in front of the public. “Face time” equals exposure to people critical to you career.
If then, face time is the primary reward one has from a short story, then it would behoove an author to have as many of his stories in front of public (i.e. published) as possible. But creating a short story is time and labor intensive. As in most endeavors, it is important to reap as many rewards for as few products in as short a time as possible. This is simply being efficient and the more efficient, the better in any endeavor. The next question then is how to do this with a short story?
Once you have a story published, many, if not most, magazines will not touch it because they want first rights. There are many that will publish it, but by far the majority will not pay or will pay only a fraction of what they pay for first rights. However, you still have face time with its publication.
Therefore, the trick with a short story is to have it continually reprinted while keeping as many stories in front of the public as possible, whether they are traditional short stories, flash fiction, micro-fiction, or whatever. One advantage of the web is that usually the publishing website will let you link your byline or bio to your website, drawing more traffic to you and to your works. Once that story is on the Internet, it is often up there forever. So why not have as many links as possible to your website for all eternity?
The submission process is usually fairly simple and straightforward, if you have some experience with submissions, but may be challenging if you don’t. There are some key points to remember about reprinting a short story:
- If possible check the circulation or readership of the magazine where you will be submitting your work. As with stories being printed for the first time, the best approach is to publish with a publisher that has the largest circulation possible. It’s better to have your work published on a website that has 20,000 visitors/month versus 1,000/month. This is more face time with less effort. For that matter, depending on your viewpoint, it may be more worthwhile to have a story published for no pay in front of a readership of 20,000 versus being paid $10 to have it published to a readership of 1,000. With reprinting, it is possible to do both.
- Keep a history of where and when your work has been published. Some publishers will want to know where and when it has been previously published. Use any method you want, but I suggest using Excel or a submissions engine like Duotrope to keep things organized. Duotrope has a lot of advantages. It is worth the $5/month charge to take a lot of administrative tasks off you shoulders.
- Read the submissions guidelines and restrictions on post-publication as well, whenever you submit a story to a publisher. Adhere to them. Some publishers will return the rights to you as soon as the work is published. With some, you may have to wait several months before resubmitting elsewhere. Some publishers won’t reprint your story without knowing that you have full rights to reprint the story. Be ethical; follow their guidance. It may save you some heartache later. All a publisher can do it to blacklist you, but why be blacklisted anywhere?
- Study literary rights. Know the difference between first rights, reprint rights, and any other rights out there. Don’t get yourself blacklisted or in bigger trouble. This is simply being professional.
Take care, and I wish you much success with your writing.
Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher 