| Author |
Message |
    
Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
1961
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 04:20 pm: |   |
I've pulled a couple of lists of magazines off the internet and submitted some short stories to them.
Besides a couple of rejections, I've been notified that some have gone out of business.
I guess the fall out in the publishing world extends to slicks as well. |
Joyce Scarbrough
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
875
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 13, 2006 - 03:26 pm: | |
There's an article in this month's Writer's Digest about the future of the market for short stories. It's changed and gotten more difficult, but the consensus was that it will survive.
Toyce
~Joyce Sterling Scarbrough
True Blue Forever
ISBN 0-9722385-9-X
Second edition now available from Authors Ink Books
http://www.authorsinkbooks.com
Coming soon . . .
Different Roads
For first loves that get lost, hearts that call to each other, and the roads that lead us to the ones for whom we are meant.
Read the first chapter at http://www.authorsden.com/joycelscarbrough1
Pour yourself a glass of bubbly and check out Champagne Books http://www.champagnebooks.com |
Harry Simenon
Unity Member
Post Number:
1128
Registered: 10-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 13, 2006 - 03:52 pm: | |
Hope that the market for short stories will not be a short story. |
Fred Dungan
Unity Member
Post Number:
1658
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 13, 2006 - 10:37 pm: | |
Considering that my local Barnes & Noble megastore stocks the magazines in the front and the books in the back, I wonder if the question shouldn't be whether magazines will survive, but whether books will survive. No joke, there are three times as many customers rummaging through the magazine racks than there are browsing the bookshelves.
http://www.fdungan.com/vigilantes.htm |
Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3291
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 14, 2006 - 05:49 am: | |
The public has a very short attention span.
Suddenly, the tales I write which some (not at this board) have decried as being too short to be a novel don't seem so bad...
Mindsight Moderator
Aston's Blog
MWWB |
Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
1967
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 14, 2006 - 10:36 am: | |
I like short stories (they are cousins to screenplays) because they don't drag on and on. The tale is told and it's over.
Another thing I like is the anthology concept. If you have a 350 page novel, it takes X time to read to find out who done it.
A 350 page anthology gives the reader numerous plot lines to dine on in the same X.
I like short fiction more and more. |
Stephen Lodge
Wandering Member
Post Number:
139
Registered: 06-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 14, 2006 - 10:56 am: | |
A book should be long enough to read completely on a coast to coast flight. And chapters short enough to be able to complete one a night if you do your reading before falling to sleep.
Steve
Novels by Stephen Lodge:
"Shadows of Eagles"
"Charley Sunday's Texas Outfit!"
"Nickel-Plated Dream"
|
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
1881
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 06:17 am: | |
I was first inspired to write by a short story. It was called "Fifty Grand" and was written by (you guessed it) Ernest Hemingway.
I've only written one short story (Well, two if you count the one for the best selling "Mindsight Anthology.") and I guess my biggest problem, from a writer's perspective is that the markets pay so little for your work. Although once established it gets bumped up a bit (Doug Allyn is now pulling in about $3,000 per story)
Dennis Collins
Moderator
www.theunrealmccoy.com |
Gloria Marlow
Unity Member
Post Number:
1750
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 07:42 am: | |
Steve,
I agree completely. That is a perfect length.
Gloria
Gloria Davidson Marlow
**The Butterfly Game***Shades of Silence***Flowers for Megan**
|
Jackie Grant Miller
Awareness Member
Post Number:
30
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 08:01 am: | |
Does a book with 250 pages qualify or looked at as a Short Story?
Peace & Good Writing
Jackie Grant Miller
ISBN 141207782-2
Trafford Publishing |
Todd Hunter
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
3295
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 03:07 pm: | |
I'm fairly certain 250 pages disqualifies anything from being a short story...unless you're using 48 point font and double-spacing...
Mindsight Moderator
Aston's Blog
MWWB |
Bill Nelson
Unity Member
Post Number:
1980
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 03:41 pm: | |
Jackie,
I don't know if there is an indisputable cut-off, but it seems that forty pages is about the outside (assuming 250 words to a page = 10,000 words) for most of the guidelines I've seen.
Many ss contest set a limit on what they want, like 2,000 words, or 5,000 words max.
This is short FICTION, by the way. Short technical material is another ball game.
A 250 page book, at 250 words per page, is sometimes classified as a Novella. However, some publishers seem to say 60,000 words is the cut-off for Novel classification, while others insist on 75,000. It depends on the package they want to sell. A hardcover at $30.00 plus dollars is going to be 150,000 words. A slimmer soft cover maybe 60,000 to 80,000.
On the other hand, you could have a short story anthology--maybe 10 stories at an average of 20 pages each--and you would have 200 pages at 50,000 words and still be Short Story!
Have I confused you sufficiently?
Good! My work is done.
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