As a short story writer I sometimes find myself in the odd position of having written a story that is too long. I just put the finishing touches on a "short" story that I love. The first draft was around 7000 words but still a fit for the market I had in mind. I figured with editing and cutting and a bit of adding here and there I could keep within the word count required for my market. Yeah, right. I now have a finished piece of 8300 words and am scrambling to find a suitable market.
When I first started writing it was a struggle to get a thousand words, now I find myself writing in the weird place between short and novella. Too long for magazines and anthologies and too short for novella publishers. What do you folks do with these odd sized stories?
2 comments:
I had a piece around that size recently and managed to sell it to KZine. It's not a major money-maker, $5 per 1000 words as an advance on royalties, but I liked the editor. He made some good notes on my first attempt and after a rewrite he accepted it. They send a notice within 3 days of submission to let you know how long it will be for a response, and whatever they say, they usually stick to it. So I was happy with the publication.
The only downside is that my piece was scheduled FAR in advance. It will be published in May 2014.
Thanks for the lead, Dusty. And yes, with many paying markets and especially those who publish quarterly there is a long waiting period before publication. The up side is that you know it's sold and not going back and forth between markets.
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