I've written a bunch of scary'ish short stories and I'm going to put them together into a book but I can't find a publisher. Can someone direct me to one?
Try reading 2008 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market. It has great information on agents, editors and publishers for novels and short stories. Remember to do your research and not to go into this to quickly. Choose a publishing house that suits your needs and consider learning about Publishing Law first if you are going to be unagented. Have you ever published anything before? For a new writer, the publishing world can be a daunting place. Make sure you go in prepared. Good luck with your stories! ~Natalie
I agree with Natalie. The publishing world is no picnic, and my personal advice is that you get and editor to review any work that is considered being sent. Also, if this is your first publishing attempt, why don't you send short stories individually to literary magazines and such? I would think that it would be fairly easier to get work published in a magazine then have a whole book of them sent to a publisher.
Jon666, InPieces is correct in that it would be easier (and possibly more profitable and offer more exposure to readers) if you submitted the stories to different appropriate markets. With single author collections (as you proposed in the thread's initial question), they are rarely published (compared to novels and even anthologies) because they normally do not sell well--even for well known authors with an established audience. Thus, very few publishers do them...and almost no major publisher would even consider them (I don't know of any) from an unknown--unpublished writer. Terry
sorry to say, terry is right... your chances of getting a paying publisher to take on your stories as a collection are nil to none... even if you should make a name for yourself as a good writer, by having them published in reputable magazines and journals, there still is such a miniscule market for short story collections, that you may never find a publisher to take yours on... it's a sad fact of writing life... the only exception might be one of the small indie niche presses, if your stories fit a specific genre they deal in, like new age, horror, erotica, gay/lesbian, and such... other than that, self-publishing will be your only alternative, imo...
I know quite a few publishers of Dark Fiction, now advertise on Myspace. Some paying, some not. There are two sites you can go to for publishers of dark fiction. Ralan and Duotrope. Google search and you should find them pretty easily. The only way to get a book published like you are hoping to, is to build a name up for yourself. Getting published is difficult and even those who are published already and have had a few fiction pieces that have done rather well in sales, can still find getting published again rather difficult. I'd start small before you jump into the deep end of the pool...
don't know how this spam escaped notice for two hours, but i sure hope it's dealt with before another two go by!... seems a lifetime banning offense, t'me...
I am presently setting up my own self-publishing company. I did an extensive study of POD and Vanity Press options and they ALL proved to be non-viable from a commercial standpoint. My impression is that virtually all of them only exist for their own profit, not for the benefit of the authors. The only way I could get self-publishing costs down to the point where there is potential for profit was to build an entire PC from scratch. This approach demands a lot of start up money, an immense investment of time and a strong background in marketing. Even then, it's risky. I would not recommend it to you or the vast majority of "new" writers. Follow the advice in the thread above and don't waste your time with self-publishing, unless you can afford the risk and are willing to be 100% responsible for the sales efforts.
that's the point of any business, isn't it?... only legitimate charities exist only for the benefit of others and not for those who run it to make a personal profit... regardless, your cautions are well-founded and should be taken seriously by all...
Perhaps I did not state my feelings clearly...my impression of POD and Vanity Press is that they pump up desperate writers with FALSE expectations. I have no problem with any company turning a profit so long as it is based on honest presentation of the facts...honesty that I find lacking in the advertising and publishing practices of these venues.
If you have many stories, why don't you create an official site for them, and upload a few there to get others interested. I did like that and I upload one chapter a month. You will never know who will read your stories, so take a shot.
Everyone has made valid comments about approaches to publishing here, but I thought I would add some things worth noting. I do agree that there is a far more accessible market for your tales if you submit them individually as short stories, and there is cerainly nothing wrong with doing that. Nothing wrong that is, unless you habour a desire to eventually have them in a book as a compilation. When you sell a short story for publication, be very careful to check the rights of ownership. In many cases, you will be exclusively selling the rights to that publisher (including syndication worldwide), and that would prevent you from later having the freedom to compile them into a collection for publication in another format. 'But it's my story' will not wash in circumstances such as these, because if you sell it for publication, it aint your story any more. Sure, you wrote it, but your rights to it may have left town. This is also something to be careful of if contemplating 'vanity press' options too. Slowly but surely, the stigma of vanity press and POD publishing is erroding as publishers realise that the internet is changing the way sales work, in much the same way that it has changed the music industry. So, you can get your book in print, even if it is little more than a rambling mess, but the arbiter of quality is not fully sidestepped in doing so, since nobody will buy your book if it sucks, regardless of who printed it. But there are many authors who hope that self-publishing - in whatever form - can be an interim option to get their book 'out there', in the hope that it will later be picked up my one of the major publishing houses. While not an unknown phenomenon, it is a rare one, and not always for obvious reasons. Check the rights of some POD and self-publishing specialists, and you might notice that one or two of them have some clauses buried in their agreements which result in your rights to transfer to a major publisher having been spirited away. Or requiring a settlement to release it. You can get your book published tomorrow if you want to, and some places will even do it for free, but you might find that is not always a wise thing to do. Al
sorry to have to disagree, al, but most publishers of short stories only buy 'first serial rights' or other 'first rights'... you'll rarely come across a magazine that buys 'all rights' and if there are some that do, they are probably not as 'legit' a venue as writers should want to be associated with... those fake anthologies that sell you the book your piece is printed in may buy all rights, but no one should deal with them, anyway... i'll have to nit-pick on that, too, sorry to say... the word 'published' should be changed to 'printed'... those you seem to be referring to are not legit publishers who pay writers for the privilege of publishing their books... having your books put out by pods or any of the various other versions of vanity press does not = being 'published' in the real world of literature... otherwise, your advice re always checking which rights are being awarded before signing anything is right on target... love and hugs, maia
