by
Louis Martinez
If you love writing, you may have stocked up a virtual pile
of short stories that lay about in your files and do nothing but hog space on
your hard drive. After all, it tends to be a whole lot easier to pump out short
stories like a literary assembly line than it is to craft a novel-length story
with a grand, over-arching theme. Given that, one may be able to stir up as
much content in short stories as they can in long stories, but in significantly
less time. A day or so may be all it takes for a dedicated writer to draft a
short story; show it to a group of trusted writers for honest feedback; and
refine it into a high-quality piece of work.
In the many years it could take to complete a single novel, one
could have alternatively completed hundreds of short stories. And the catch?
That lonely novel, and the several hundred short stories stacked up
side-by-side, would likely all sell for the same starting price. And so, for a
writer who isn’t well known, it becomes abundantly clear that writing short
stories is substantially more productive than writing novels.
Now, I don’t mean to imply novels are a waste of time and
effort. On the contrary, they comprise an important part of our world and should
not be neglected. However, if you find yourself writing lots of short stores, why
not put them to good use?
One of the most common, and perhaps the most efficient means
of selling a short story is as an eBook through Amazon. Getting started is
quick, easy, and explained here step-by-step. This is no get rich quick scheme, but writing never really
is. You’ll probably start by selling pieces for $0.99 and only get paid 35% of
each sale. In the beginning, a new writer should be happy to make a dollar or
so a month. But after a few years and a few hundred stories, who knows? Things
could really take off. And no matter what, your stories will always be making
more on the market than they do on the hard drive.
I hope you’re feeling motivated to take the plunge and get
your work out there, but before you do, there are two things I’d like to say.
First, get lots of feedback before you publish anything. And
I mean harsh feedback, from passionate writers who aren’t afraid to tear your
work apart. You don’t want a bad reputation for publishing sub-par content.
Anything you put out there in your name should be your very best, because once
something’s on the Internet, it may haunt you forever.
Second, be cognizant of copyright law. Unless you
self-publish, you may be selling away your rights to the content you produced,
and exactly what rights you sell will determine what you can and cannot do with
that content in the future. Your publisher will tell you what rights you’re giving
up by selling your work to them, and it is your responsibility to know what
that entails. Copyright laws may seem daunting at first glance, but you’ll be fine.
A good writer just needs to understand what rights they have, and what rights
they don’t.
I hope I convinced you to get your work out there for the
world to see, or at least got you to consider it. Don’t be shy. Just do your
best; make sure you’re putting out good work; and be glad in the end when all
those tales put some extra money in your pocket.
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