I’m curious as to what makes more sense, possibly more successful if I am fortunate enough to sell “my book” Also, do you ever plan ahead knowing your going to write , say 10 short stories into one book? Or plan to write novel specific type work? I do however like the idea of working on about 10 smaller projects at once. I have enough separate ideas for short stories IMO your opinions?
Write to your strengths. Novels may be easier to sell as an unknown author, but there are a lot of magazines that publish short stories, so you can still make a name for yourself. There are different skills involved to each type of story, but each can delight readers. Meanwhile, it never hurts to work on developing your skills for both novels and short stories.
Everyone says it's easier and more profitable to sell a novel. That being said, I've never sold a novel, but I have sold short stories. It is ridiculously hard to sell even an excellent story to magazines and journals. Brace yourself for a ton of rejections. But it will be easier to sell a collection if you can sell some of your short stories individually to other publications first. Rights for the work always (or should always) go back to you after a short story is published. You just have to give them a mention when later published. You'll see this a lot with short story collections. And I do know someone who was contacted about publishing a collection after two stories were published. Where you publish can be as important as what you publish. I'm not saying that's a good thing or bad thing, but it does seem to be a thing. I have heard short story collections with linked or connected stories do better than just a straight collection. But I think novels are always or almost always going to have better sales. Also, I had to write more than ten short stories before I was writing anything that was going to sell. I thought my stories were good enough at the time, but they weren't. Maybe you'll be better or a faster learner than me, but, still, I have to write about ten stories and really edit, rewrite and polish them to get one good one. The short story marketplace is extremely competitive. Read what's being published now. Read collections and publications and really get a feel for the type of stories that are selling. This is really important if you want to have any success as a short story writer. There is no reason you can't work on more than one thing. I continue to write short stories and other things while working on a novel. Good luck with everything.
You can try self-publish your work if you can afford it. Advertising and book covers will be your obstacles.
Nice input, I like the idea of getting some ideas in progress. If I survive the gate keepers down the road, I can make a name for myself at some point. I can make a few different shorts from some material I been sitting on. Just need get work done.
I don't know if this tool has been discussed but I've used it to make leaflet covers for a friends kitchen design business and, when I've been struggling to write, I've spent time instead trying to create book covers. I find it helps to motivate me when I can see the cover in 'print'. It's not Photoshop but its powerful enough even for non creatives and each design costs five dollars to download, so worth a shot.... https://app.myecovermaker.com/
