Comments on: My Short Fiction Rates

By: Brad R. Torgersen

Brad R. Torgersen — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:11:02 +0000

Dean Smith and Kris Rusch suggest that you never take it off the market, ever. Keep sending it out — you will have to get creative about what constitutes a “market” after awhile — just as long as it pays.

Me? I just got the first of two checks for a story I wrote early in the summer. When the second check arrives, that story will have earned an average of 12¢ per word, which is substantially above “pro” SFWA rate, but well below what Scalzi — as well-known bestseller — can command.

Generally, once your name becomes a Name, things that were once rigid, become flexible, even liquid.

For myself, I write short fiction because a) it’s good practice for me and b) if I fuck up a short story, it doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as fucking up a novel — that feels fifty times worse — and c) it’s a way of increasing name recognition, such that editors pay (a little) more attention, when that inevitable novel manuscript hits their desk.

By: William Schafer

William Schafer — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:27:47 +0000

A couple of years ago I actually set aside a couple of bookcases specifically for short story collections and anthologies. Given the number of them we publish, I don’t think it’ll come as as surprise how much I value the formats.

Bill
SubPress

By: darms

darms — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:31:14 +0000

John,
I completely agree that you need to be paid what you think your work is worth. That said IMHO it’s a shame you don’t do more short stories as that’s the format that brings out the best in a writer. There’s something special about telling a good story in but a few pages as opposed to the length of a novel and the novels of yours I’ve read cannot be easily reduced to short stories (unlike some authors I will not name). However, were you to look at my library, the books that show the most wear are the short story collections. They are what I most frequently reread.

By: Craig Ranapia

Craig Ranapia — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:31:47 +0000

Bill@32:

Sorry for the topic drift, but in the context of recent threads, thanks for giving me a lot of pleasure over the years while proving that “small press publisher” and “exploitative douchebag” don’t have to be synonyms.

By: Craig Ranapia

Craig Ranapia — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:29:31 +0000

Diana@31:
Here’s the thing about writing for newspapers. You learn to hit your target.

And if you take a while to learn, a good editor can quickly provide a masterclass is sending your ego on permanent vacation. :)

By: William Schafer

William Schafer — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:18:48 +0000

Jeff @39. What I’ve advised a few writer friends to do in such cases, if they feel they have a good story on their hands, is put it aside, and use it as an original in a short story collection, where a decent amount of original material can add a few thousand dollars to an offer from a small press.

Best,

Bill
SubPress

By: Jim Allen

Jim Allen — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:56:01 +0000

Interesting info. I’ve been writing non-fiction magazine stuff and supporting myself for almost 20 years. Plus a number of NF books and “word whore” advertising or tech writing that comes my way. Wanting to write fiction, never doing it. The excuse to myself has been “no time” but I think the reality is the uphill part of it (all over again in my case), working for little or nothing and taking away from stuff that pays the bills. All the years freelancing has been great training in the work ethic and I can put words together under pressure. Not really sure how much all that buys a person in the fiction arena. After reading this, I have an inking… maybe more than I thought.

By: Nick Mamatas

Nick Mamatas — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:13:08 +0000

Jeff,

There is an awful lot of “churn” in the fiction market. By the time one burns through all the pro-paying venues, often sufficient time has elapsed that some other genius who slipped and fell in a supermarket and decided to start a magazine with his or her settlement money is ready to go with a magazine or well-paying anthology from an independent press.

There are also the semi-pros that pay fairly well (say the former pro-rate of 3¢ a word) and that may even cough another two pennies for something if they like it and a writer asks, and even for relative nobodies (like me) certain minimums can be set.

I wrote a story for a new webzine earlier this year—it’s not a “professional” magazine by any measure, but I was asked for a story and presented my rate card: flash fiction for $50 or short story (which would be quite short, actually) for $100. They chose the flash fiction option, liked the story, paid, published it, and have since used it (and a similarly solicited story in their second issue) to encourage higher quality submissions.

Then there are, as you know, the prestige venues that have already been mentioned (.e.g, LCRW) and a couple that have not (e.g., Flurb). They pay only a little but as they essentially act as an internal bulletin for certain parts of the field, are worthwhile to publish in.

Then there are the out-of-field venues worth trying, at least for certain sorts of SF/F/H anyway, that pay well.

By: Jeff V.

Jeff V. — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:40:49 +0000

Hi John,

For aspiring writers who write short fiction, the traditional advice is is that you start with the highest paying market and work your way down. That makes sense.

But here’s my question: Suppose a writer has worked his/her way through all the top-paying markets, when should that writer take a story off the market? At what point should the writer say, “If this isn’t good enough to be published there, it isn’t good enough to be published anywhere”?

Thanks.

By: Tony Noland

Tony Noland — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:37:16 +0000

Irrespective of the figures involved, kudos to you for being willing to share the info. This is extremely helpful for new/unpublished/minimally published writers.