I've been throwing around the idea of publishing free short stories here on my blog from time to time. I'm still not sure if I will or not, because I just can't see giving my fiction away for free, or being the judge of whether my work is good enough to publish. Several writers I know are doing, or have done, free serials on their websites, and there has been some success with getting those serials published, but I wanted to do something a little different. The serial idea is interesting, but I couldn't write chapter to chapter with any sense of cohesion. The way I write, four chapters in there would be a lot of information that would have to be deleted or added to the first chapters. When I write larger works, the beginning and end are two different things and require a lot of re-writing to bring the story together.
I can count out doing a serial, but I like the idea of using my blog as a platform to introduce readers to my work. With my debut novel coming out soon as well as a novella, I think providing some free fiction could help encourage uncertain readers to give my longer works a shot.
Also, I have several stories that I just can't find the right publisher for. Stories that just don't seem to fit any of the guidelines. That doesn't mean there isn't a publisher out there for them that I have yet to discover, but I wonder if I should just publish some of these stories here.
Still arguing with myself about it. I may just send some of these stories to decent e-zines, that way I won't be judging my own work and the stories will still be free to read if they are accepted, though I do see myself publishing one here and there, so look for them. I just don't want to go overboard and give too much of my fiction away for free. Not that I would start selling my stories on smashwords or something -- I'm not established enough to do that! It's just knowing that once a story is published, no matter where it's published, it's a reprint, and thus it's value is depreciated. That's my greatest struggle with the decision to publish a story or two here on my blog.
But, I have a lot of stories to choose from, so expect something in the near future.
Why not publish stories when their rights revert to you - no problem with *you* publishing reprints.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll do that. I have have a certain re-print in mind that I'm certain very few people read. It's kind of long, so I'll probably split it into a 3-part serial -- easier on the eyes, having to read off of a blog and all.
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