Earn an Income Writing Short Stories
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What if I told you that you could make money writing short stories? You don’t necessarily have to write short stories and publish them as ebooks; however, you can publish in magazines, journals, or blogs and still earn an income.
There are many reasons why you should write short stories. Firstly, it’ll help improve your writing skills. Secondly, in the time it takes you to write that novel, you can write and publish several short stories and already be well on your way to building a brand for yourself.
Thirdly, you’ll be able to gain visibility. The more works you have out there, the better chances you will have in earning an income as an author.
Suffice it to say, my novels don’t bring in nearly as much money as I had hoped. It’s my short stories and novellas that are generating enough of an income for me to be able to write full-time.
I know quite a few indie authors who make a decent income writing short stories and novellas. I have a few published novels, but my primary source of income comes from my novellas and my short stories, my non-fiction books come in second, and my novels come in last.
All the hard work and money put into writing and publishing a novel and they are slowly bringing in a return invest several months later when I earn back the cost of my novellas within a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on the niche that I published in.
Success doesn’t happen overnight, but if you do your research and write to market, you may find success happening fairly quickly.
What is a Short Story
Short stories are basically that, a short work of fiction the revolves around the main character, the protagonist. It should also include an antagonist. The story is short and to the point without any detours. It wastes no time getting right into the action, shows you what’s going on, and quickly ends it. It doesn’t have a lot of word space for in-depth descriptions.
A novella is what happens when your short story took a minor detour or two. The story offers a small background into your character’s lives and they form relationships with one another.
A novel is where your characters took a road trip stopping at many destinations along the way. Novels contain a much larger setting and a more in-depth backstory. You get to know a lot more about the characters on a deeper level.
There can be a cliffhanger when it comes to novels and novellas. However, in a novella, it’s preferable that your main character's story was over with in the first book unless one or both of them shows up as minor characters in the second book or the second book is about a minor character from your first book.
There are no cliffhangers for short stories. It should have a plot where two characters interact with one another and that it isn’t too complex. Your short story should be a snippet of your character’s lives without adding too much detail.
Your short story needs to be believable and draw your reader's attention. I’m not saying you can’t use magical creatures or shapeshifters, you can. I’m saying that you need to show your readers a part of your character’s lives that will tap into their imagination and get them to feel for your characters on some level. Maybe it’s sadness, happiness, or anger, but you want to grab your reader’s attention. Build up the suspense. Have your readers invested all the way through your story.
Depending on the length of your short story, you can write one or two in a day. Depending on what kind of short story, you can write more than one a week.
Short stories can either be good for you or not so good. A short story will have a word count from 5K-10K. A decent short story should run around the 8K-10K word mark. Some authors can make a fair wage or earn a decent living from publishing short stories. It all depends on what you write and how many titles you publish. If you choose to write to market and publish several titles a year, you can start to see a nice flow of revenue coming in.
For some authors, short stories are best if they are in a series, or they follow along with one another. You could use a short story to add a teaser in between novels, or if you are breaking up your novel into parts. Maybe you’re stuck on your novel and need to boost your imagination to help you break through your writer’s block. You can also write and publish a plethora of steamy short stories.
Personally, I enjoy reading short stories, but I cannot answer for everyone. However, I like them better if the storyline doesn’t feel rushed or cut short. A great short story should have a plot that flows with a theme and a conflict, and at least one or two memorable main characters.
The same goes for a novel as it does for a short story: you don’t want to dump a lot of info, then rush through all the good bits. If it’s short, make it enjoyable. Focus on the objective of the story.
Novellas seem to be just as popular as short stories. Novellas range from 20K — 40K words. Some novellas can start out as an idea for a short story. I know some of mine began that way. At times, I have a hard time writing short stories as I kept writing and adding to it. What originates as a short story turns into a novella, then turns into a series here and a mini-series there.
If you would like to know more about writing short stories and how to make an income from your work, please check out my book, How to Write Short Stories and Start Making Money.
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