How to Sell Your Short Stories

If you're interested in writing and selling short stories, you'll want to do some up-front planning. A market for short stories exists, but you may have to spend a little time investigating your options. The more you know about possible markets for your stories, the better your chances of making a sale. By developing a plan of action, you can locate markets for most genres of short stories.

• 1

  Determine the category or genre of your short story. Decide if your story is romance, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror or literary fiction. Examine similar short stories and determine the genre of those stories to help you decide. Knowing the genre you have targeted will help you locate a market for your story.

• 2

  Consult market resources such as the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market. This book is published annually and lists paying markets for short stories. Look on writing websites, such as fictionfactor.com, for lists of paying markets. Make certain these websites address the types of stories you are writing.

• 3

  Join a writing organization. Attend a local meeting, if possible, since the members may discuss what markets exist. Explore organizations such as the Romance Writers of America and the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. Examine their websites to see if joining the organization can help you sell your short story.

• 4

  Join online writers' groups that target the short story. Look on popular websites such as Yahoo Groups for those that focus specifically on short stories. Ask at your local library about critique groups that can help you polish your short stories before you submit them.

• 5

  Visit the websites for magazines you enjoy that publish short stories. Look for the author submission guidelines on these websites. Study the submission process for that particular magazine and then determine if your short story might meet its publishing needs.

• 6

  Polish your submission. Make certain your story is as good as you can make it. Be certain you've eliminated any typos or grammatical errors. Also make certain you have formatted your story to meet the submissions guidelines of the market to which you're submitting.

• 7

  Keep writing and create several short stories. Increase your chances of a sale by having many submissions out in the marketplace. Start planning a new story each time you submit a short story to a market.