It is my distinct pleasure to introduce a good friend of LongShortStories.

Brad Vertrees is a blogger, aspiring writer, vegetarian and a lover of all things literature. His blog, Brad’s Reader, found at www.bradsreader.com, has been going strong since December 2006 as a platform to discuss literature and writing. Since then, Brad’s Reader has evolved to include how technology is shaping the publishing industry, and provides a platform for Brad to indulge in his latest passion – ebooks.

Currently Brad lives with his wife and cat in the suburbs of Chicago. Aside from blogging, Brad also works as a freelance writer. Let’s give him a BIG LongShortStories welcome!

Resurrecting the Short Story

 Before the Internet, computers, cell phones and most of the technology we take for granted today, there were newspapers and magazines that kept people entertained. Those were the days when writers could make a living by selling their short fiction to magazines and receive a decent paycheck. They didn’t get rich from short fiction alone, but it allowed budding authors to hone their craft without worrying about paying the bills.

 Today, a writer is lucky to get paid for publishing a short story in a magazine. Most publications pay in contributor copies. If the author does get paid, it rarely exceeds $100. And if one writes a novel and is lucky enough to get it published, there’s no guarantee that they will make a livable wage.

 It’s ironic that the technology that drove out print magazines and newspapers also brought in a new era for the short story – a renaissance of sorts. The growing popularity of ebooks and related ebook reading devices hitting the market provides writers a perfect opportunity to distribute their work to a growing audience without going through mainstream publishing channels.

 How does this affect the short story? The answer is that digital publishing is made for short fiction. People who read ebooks, especially on mobile devices, can read a piece of short fiction while waiting at the doctor’s office, sitting in a coffee shop, or just wanting a quick read without plowing through a novel. In other words, short stories allow readers to easily get their ‘quick fix’ of fiction.

 For example, I like reading short stories by science fiction author Philip K. Dick on my iPhone. These are stories that I would not have otherwise read in print form. I find myself reading in places I usually don’t read – like in long checkout lines at the grocery store.

 Abundance of websites for short fiction

 Now that ebooks are becoming more and more mainstream, there are many websites that give readers a chance to read a diverse range of fiction that would otherwise be inaccessible. This site, LongShortStories, is a perfect example of the entrepreneurial spirit that writers should adopt to get their short fiction out to the masses. Wayne has used an excellent model that allows people to either subscribe to his fiction, or buy stories individually.

 Other sites, such as Smashwords and Feedbooks, give readers a choice of different ebook formats, allowing short fiction to be disseminated to a large audience. New websites that distribute digital fiction are popping up all over the Internet. Some specialize in short fiction, others in genre novels and even poetry. Readers now have a large collection of literature at their fingertips waiting to be read and enjoyed.

 Short story writers also benefit from ebooks

 The rise of digital publishing has leveled the playing field for writers. They now have more control over their work, where it’s distributed, its pricing, and they get to keep a larger share of the profits. When an author publishes a short story with a literary magazine or other publication, they get a flat rate whether the publication sells 1 copy or 1,000 copies.

 With short story writers now enjoying this independence, the market for fresh blood is opening to fill the literary world that was once open to a select few. In fact, writers today have a better chance to make a living off their work than ever before. Even during the golden era of short fiction, when the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald made a handsome living selling stories to the Saturday Evening Post and others, he was still at the mercy of those publications in regards to payment and distribution channels.

 The distribution channels available to print publications are limited. They must think in terms of paper supply, printing costs, shipping to retailers and the cost of mailing their publication to subscribers. For the short story writer using digital publishing, once the story is written, edited and formatted, there is an infinite supply. This means selling one digital short story costs the same as selling 2,000. The benefit to the writer is a much higher profit margin.

 Short stories are back because of ebooks

 For a long time the short story was considered dead, reduced to a select group of consumers who tilted heavily toward the literary side of fiction. Now, thanks to ebooks, short stories are making a big comeback and in the next few years we could see this literary form become even more popular than ever.

 If you’re a writer with a dream of writing the great American novel (a very noble dream indeed) consider starting with short fiction and selling it in ebook form. If you already have a novel (or novels) published, short fiction is a good way to promote your writing at a smaller cost to the reader and enticing them to buy your novel.

 If you’re a reader then there is a gold mine of great writing out there waiting to be discovered. The number of great writers waiting to be discovered is astounding. Take a chance on them. Buy their digital short fiction and support these indie authors. You never know when an unknown writer is going to hit the jackpot with a bestselling novel and you can say you discovered that writer before the large publishing houses.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 7:15 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.