The Short Story Conundrum #amwriting

Artwork by Danielle Fine

My very first post at Spacefreighters Lounge was as a guest on the 14th June 2011, blogging about my inspiration for a short story I'd just self published the month before - The Bones of the Sea. (As a side note, I don't mark that as my debut publication because it was an experiment in all respects). It was the first short story I'd really managed since leaving school (my normal word count at the time was 40K and above). And the only reason I'd self published it was to 1. Test out the whole process of digital self publishing, which was still fairly new in general, and certainly very new to me, and 2. Because even at 3000 words I felt it was too long to publish on my blog for readers.

While I kept my novels and novellas going to small presses (until May of this year, when my main publisher and the third out of the four I've had then closed, and I took the decision to wholly self pub), I self published another three shorts, and had a fourth included in Tales from the SFR Brigade, a self published anthology (in which I helped with the Amazon version and produced a print edition for giveaways).

My sales figures are not huge, and Amazon's frankly cruddy decision to only pay 35% royalties on works under $2.99 (I refuse to charge that for a mere 10K words, though I know plenty who do) means each sale earns a pittance. That said, my second short story Terms & Conditions Apply earned back its editing costs in eighteen months, and paid for edits and artwork on the next two short stories (neither of which have achieved the same payback). Terms was a small but consistent seller.

Scifi Romance Short
GOODREADS | Available at...  
Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Oyster
ARe | Smashwords

Until this year. Poor ebook sales are why my main publisher went out of business, and I've seen a very definite drop in sales of my shorts. Going wide and/or experimenting with KU have failed to change that. Right now, my recently re-released novel Keir is my best seller, accounting for over 90% of my sales. The only time any of my shorts have seen movement is when I've done free days (but they did pick up a few new reviews, so I consider that a bonus).

So, the purpose of all this rambling? I've taken the decision not to release any more short stories as separate pieces from next year. The costs in editing and artwork aren't being repaid, and they don't appear to be helping me with exposure by having more titles. The fact that the cover for the short story generally costs the same as one on a novel means the edits can often cost less than the cover, just FYI.

This doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing short stories though. I'm currently working on a space opera short for another anthology call. I also have three more shorts on holiday themes (like Hallow's Eve) almost completed that I'd originally planned to release one at a time during the relevant holiday, with a collection to come. That's still the plan, but with a twist. The collection will include the new shorts, plus some of my current ones, available in digital and possibly print. The new ones will also be available separately, but for a limited time, perhaps until mid 2016. Then only the collection will be available after that. In the future, I will only release short stories as collections, so they'll take as long to release as a novella/novel would.

But this should be a better deal for everyone all round. The planned collection will contain seven titles in all, with three of them being brand new, previously unreleased works. I'll probably price the collection at $2.99 depending on the word count, a bargain since the separate releases would be $1.50. It means those who have already bought some of my short stories will overall have paid a bit more if they buy the new collection as well, (unless you picked them up on my free days. Sorry!) but in all that would be seven shorts for what would have cost $10.50 individually. It also means I should be able to put the collection out in print for those who prefer a paperback to digital, therefore giving new readers access to those shorts that are currently digital only. And a bit more bang for your subscription buck when/if I put them into KU. In the meantime, I get 70% royalties from Amazon instead of the measly 35%.

So what do you think? Do you think that's a fairer deal than the separate shorts, or do you prefer to try out one short before committing to more from the same author? Or would you be cross at having to buy the whole set to get the new stories if you'd already bought the previous shorts? (Bearing in mind that's why I will offer the new shorts individually for a limited time for this collection.)

Status Update
First round edits on the still unamed space opera short went back to my editor on Wednesday, and Reunion at Kasha-Asor (a novella length side story in the Redemption series for Keir) has gone in for first round edits this week. I hope to have a new cover reveal very shortly! Second round edits for Keir's Fall should be back any time. What possessed me to juggle three sets of edits at once, I don't know...

Meanwhile, I've been working on those new shorts for my proposed collection (teaser - it includes an Easter themed SFR, a winter SFR, and a f/f angel story, shhhh!).

Happenings
It's the second week of Scream! For the Cure. As always, go check out the basket of books coming up for auction this week by going HERE, and remember to come back to bid on Friday. My post on why I'm screaming went up yesterday HERE if you want to know why I'm so devoted to the cause.

This week I'm taking part in Audra Middleton's Villain Visitations on the 7th October. Come meet the oh so creepy Siah-dhu from Keir...if you dare!

Ping Pong
Greta and her guests will be sharing their favourite book characters on Thursdays for the next few weeks - come back and see who they love best and why.

This is Pippa Jay signing off...