I had about ten subject lines for this thread and still don't like the one I chose^^ I'm curious if anyone has put out short or flash fiction ahead of a novel release as a way to check interest in a particular story or character(s). Any ideas if this is a valid way to measure reader interest? Any experience with this, or other thoughts on self-pubbing shorts? Had any success publishing flash fiction on Amazon? --Thanks
There was a discussion recently you might find interesting: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/some-pondering-on-marketing-advertising.151478 To repeat what I said there: I don't have data, but I suspect there isn't much crossover between short story/flash sales and novel sales. It won't hurt, though, so I think it comes down to your time: do you WANT to spend time producing publishable-quality shorts/flash, or would you be better off spending your time on your novels?
It's all about platform with self-publication. You have to get people to your product by any means possible. If publishing a few shorts can help accomplish that, go right ahead. Your name is your brand, so anything you can do to get it out there can't hurt. But like @Tenderiser said, I doubt you'll get much traction or crossover with shorts through Amazon. Not directly anyway. You might have better luck publishing shorts in a blog and use that to drive traffic to your brand, and then from there you can link directly into your Amazon novel pubs. If you have some success attracting people to a blog of shorts and flashes you can always assemble them into a collection and pub it on Amazon later. Why not if the stories are already written?
I do not think it would give a meaningful indication. I have heard of one person self pubbing flash fiction. His goal was to aim it at commuters who would like to read something short while on the train. Not sure how successful he will be with it; but at least he had a plan.
I don't think that this strategy would be an accurate way to gauge interest for a novel. In my opinion, the main success would be gaining more exposure, viewers, awareness of your brand; and this certainly would help you out in garnering traffic to your main novels. I tried self-publishing a short and selling it for $1 on Amazon, and it is sinking. I think Homer Potvin has the right idea, putting short by short on a blog because it lets a reader dig into your material a little bit, without paying a fee. Though you only want to tease them, without giving too much away.
