So this is something I’ve been thinking about, just sort of tossing around in my head. Not sure if it’s a good idea for me, so I thought I would write a post on it and hopefully get some feedback.
I’ve been wondering if I should put together an e-book of my writing. I do think that e-books are the way of the future and as an added bonus, I’d be able to do it myself. It probably wouldn’t be a story, per say, but I would make a collection of the short stories (and possibly poetry? Though that is more questionable).
So, tell me your thoughts. Do you think I should do it? Would it be something that you would be interested in reading? What do you think?
What sort of stories are you thinking of? I’ve been doing a bit of research on the publishing market myself and it seems that a lot of people are finding a great niche in self-publishing for things short stories, poetry, and more reflective works. I’ve only run across a few agents who are interested in short stories (though that hasn’t been a focus of my search, so maybe if you went out looking, you’d find more?)
Well, I tend to write hmmm – not sure what my niche for short stories is, but darker works usually that examine the seedy underbellies of the human condition – like domestic violence or things like that. I’m not surprised that you didn’t find mind agents taking short stories because that’s not how it typically works in the short stories or poetry world. Typically, agents deal with longer works of fiction, novels, or with longer works of non-fiction. For short stories and poetry, typically your venues of publication are through magazines, usually literary and such, that you submit on your own. (A good resource for that being duotrope.com). I’ve done some of that in the past and I’m not ruling out ever doing more of it again in the future, but I tend not to have the right kind of style they are looking for or the right subject matter (for example, I often have younger protagonists, but there are not as many magazines with those kinds of work in them) and with a limited number of stories and poems they can put in them, it really narrows down their choices. But with the world of self-publishing opening up, I could make my own collection if I wanted to – something that you would almost never see nowadays from an unknown author because traditionally published books tend only to publish short story collections either on a theme or by authors who are already well known.
I always ALWAYS encourage wanna-be authors to go ahead and publish an e-book. It’s a low-risk way to follow your dreams. You never know what will happen unless you try!!
Marla Taviano recently posted…an affair: part 3 {day 7}
I know! I just don’t know if it’s the right path for my dream, so to say. I mean, for the longest time I have viewed myself as wanting to be published in traditional formats – because for a while, self-publishing wasn’t very legitimate. I realize that it is more so now and it’s a legit avenue, but there’s still part of me that holds onto that traditional way, so I’ve just been tossing it around in my head for awhile, which is the best path. And I mean, there’s nothing to say I can’t do both, but I wouldn’t want to put out there my second best – always got to put my best foot forward.