Short story focused ‘zines are in the same mess. Since it’s becoming more and more expensive and fewer readers are there, they have to go after “known” authors to keep the punters interested in actually buying their product. Thus, it’s very difficult to find a traditional ‘zine that’s doing something avant garde or taking risks.

I think smashwords and podiofiction is where the majority of short stories are going to end up. For sale, that is. Either that or in online zines. Since there are fewer and fewer paying outlets interested in short fiction, a new market is going to evolve. And perhaps the smashwords outlet is exactly where it’s going to go.

If anything, I have become more persistent and not discouraged at all. I am not giving up. Heck I am really not complaining except for one small eye opening thing.

If I pay $8 for a mag and dont like a single story, at all, and I can pay a couple bucks and get one very good story, well then.. I am smart enough to know how not to get burned more then once or twice. Its a process.

I can format it pretty ok, but I can’t make it look like the PDF, only plain text and the scene break graphics.

As for the quality of the story dictating the price, I would really hope that as authors we feel the quality of the story itself is up to par before we tried to sell it to anyone. I guess in theory, I’m thinking if I sold just 200 copies of my story over a year’s time, I would earn as much as I would if i had sold that story to a traditional short story publisher. Will I sell 200 copes of each story? It’s hard to say, but I have hope and I’m incredibly patient.

I want to know the price points. Is $2 too much for a 3300 word story, or is $1 a fairer price? Does the quality of the story enter the price? Obviously we don’t want to sell rubbish, but how would to gauge that?

Setting up for an eBook for Kindle or Smashwords isn’t hard, at least of you aren’t trying to be too picky like me. I haven’t finished the process yet. I made my PDF very presentable for the printed page (I hope) if someone wanted to print it, but it isn’t translating to the Kindle format. I might just need to let it go. Of course, maybe people will buy directly from my site if they know they’ll get a better formatted (IMO) document.

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Don’t forget you can also submit to podcasts too like The Drabblecast and Pseudopod, just as an FYI. I’ve been rejected from one of those too, also without editorial advice, though. But if one does get picked up, you get listeners who are already geared towards social media.

Your post reminds me that the mediocrity that you speak of is not limited to short stories, but all forms of media. But then I state the obvious.

As a fan I have been disappointed in the lack of quality stories of late. That is my opinion sure. But if I am going to pay $8 and get crap when I can go online and pay a fraction of that and get good, quality stories, then that is what I am going to do. It is all about the quality, not the price, at least for me. I am willing to pay, and I think most people will, but burn me a few times and I will look elsewhere. It is a whole lot easier to take a chance for a couple of bucks then to shell out $8.

The question remains, are my stories good enough? I don’t know. I do know I will keep plugging away at the old model and I just may try some new ideas too. I am too much of a traditionalist to give up on the old way, but I think I am flexible enough to try something new.

I like the opportunities out there. I may just give it a go.

Sure, on the rare occasions where a story gets picked up, you get some readers, but most of these magazines have limited circulations. And the odds are tremendous against anyone reading your story in the magazine and then spreading the news by word of mouth. On the other hand, as you build even a small network of people using social media, if a handful of them buy it and like it, they will spread the word. And buying is so cheap and easy.

Last week, I published a collection of three humorous shorts and in a few weeks, I’ll publish a collection of three horror shorts. After the second one is out, I will get to work promoting them. The prospect of spending tens of hours preparing short story submissions as opposed to spending that time trying to spread the word does not appeal to me. That’s not to say I will never submit a short story again or that I believe e-pub/self-pub is the answer to everything. But as you’ve noted, there simply is no good reason to remain stuck in doing things only one way, just because that’s the way it’s traditionally been done.

Short story focused ‘zines are in the same mess. Since it’s becoming more and more expensive and fewer readers are there, they have to go after “known” authors to keep the punters interested in actually buying their product. Thus, it’s very difficult to find a traditional ‘zine that’s doing something avant garde or taking risks.

I think smashwords and podiofiction is where the majority of short stories are going to end up. For sale, that is. Either that or in online zines. Since there are fewer and fewer paying outlets interested in short fiction, a new market is going to evolve. And perhaps the smashwords outlet is exactly where it’s going to go.