First, I like your idea of a question.I've started writing flash fiction regularly and posting them on Instagram. I'm really enjoying it and it's great practice for editing/tightening up my writing because of the caption limit. Also the stories are drawing interest from potential readers of my first book I'd like to query/publish when it's ready. Several of them have been asking me to let them pay for more short stories, or for expanded versions of the stories I've already posted. I'd like to earn some income from it, but my following is still small.
Here's my question:
(1) If I collect these 400-word stories as an anthology in a PDF to sell on my website, does that shoot me in the foot like self-publishing a book on Amazon with lackluster sales would?
(2) Would it hurt my chances of being a debut with my novel in the future and make me less appealing to agents and publishers?
(3) Does it count as a book if it doesn't have an ISBN?
(4) Or what if I send short stories through a subscription email list? Does that interfere with my chances of being traditionally published later?
(5) Or is all of this silliness and trying to reinvent the wheel, and I should stick to selling short stories to magazines instead? I've been reluctant because I write YA and teens are online. (I am aware that the stories I've posted on Instagram can't be sold as first rights.)
I counted five.
This reminded me of a scene from The West Wing when the NYT Science reporter is asking CJ Cregg about Life on Mars.
Katie: This is Ralph Gish, our Science Editor.
CJ: Hi. It's my pleasure. Why is Science coming to the White House?
Gish: Um, are you familiar with the Nasa Commission on space Science and Research?
CJ: Only to the extent that I'm aware that it exists. But I can take your question to the president's science adviser.
Gish: This is not a science question.
Gish: Is the White House concealing a report from the commission containing two different pieces of evidence of water molecules on Mars? Is there a report that's not being released? A report from the NASA commission on Space Science and Research saying fossilized water molecules were found on a meteorite-I won't tell you when this thing blew off of the surface of Mars--but that this report ...
Brief interlude while CJ yells at Katie in the hall sotto voce for bringing her a question of "Is there life on Mars"
Gish: Is there an existing report that says anything at all and if so, what, and will it be made public and if not, why, and if not, isn't that illegal?
Which I gotta say, is one helluva question!
But I digress.
Here are the answers to your questionS:
(1) If I collect these 400-word stories as an anthology in a PDF to sell on my website, does that shoot me in the foot like self-publishing a book on Amazon with lackluster sales would?
No
(2) Would it hurt my chances of being a debut with my novel in the future and make me less appealing to agents and publishers?
No
(3) Does it count as a book if it doesn't have an ISBN?
No
(4) Or what if I send short stories through a subscription email list? Does that interfere with my chances of being traditionally published later?
No
(5) Or is all of this silliness and trying to reinvent the wheel, and I should stick to selling short stories to magazines instead? I've been reluctant because I write YA and teens are online. (I am aware that the stories I've posted on Instagram can't be sold as first rights.)
It's not silly to be careful.
Let's look at what you really want to know: are you going to mess anything up for future trade publishing by selling stories you've posted on Instagram?
Answer: No.
The question of whether you are a debut is one that can ONLY be answered by the folks who are setting the requirements of what a debut is. If it's a contest, their idea of a debut might be something far different than what the marketing department at GotBucks Publishing LLC wants to call a debut.
What these stories are very good for is building your fan base and your mailing list.
Don't worry too far down the road.
You're writing, and people want to read your stuff.
Maybe they'll be reading it on Mars one day!
6 comments:
Maybe look into Patreon?
There are video bloggers making a good living creating and posting videos. If I was starting my video production now I would do it.
Based on the authors I've seen get traditionally published after self-publishing, everyone's a debut because they just have you change your author name.
As Sharyn already said, I believe what you need is a patreon. It'll allow your followers to pay small amounts of money, to give them access to different tiers of content, stories and such. Look into it.
If I remember right, our dear QOTKU has said in the past that selling short stories in any format does not affect your debut as a *novelist*. Short stories are not novels. Even short stories put together in book form: not a novel.
And I agree with the Sharkly one here, too: anything that gets more readers is a good thing. Like having a newsletter and/or mailing list. These are people who are reading your stuff and are interested in you. Go for it! You're building a platform.
I think the deciding factor is in how many stories you have as a backlog and how often you can pump them out.
If you have a dozen or so, sign up for Patreon. It will allow you to collect some money.
Make sure to tie it to your newsletter, and vice versa. The part that is more important than what you collect from Patreon is how much you can expand your readership.
Several thousand such readers might get you past one of the dwellers on some threshold.
Thank you for answering my questionS. You were right to poke fun of me for that. Oops.
For those who are recommending Patreon, I thought about that, but it seems clunky for writers. Would Substack be better?
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