Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Hi, I'm wondering what group members think about short stories in ebook format. I've recently had a few published, one of which is literary. As readers, would you prefer an anthology/short story collection, or do you like the idea of short stories that are published individually?

Hello Betsy

I'm quite attracted to the idea of a stand alone short story as an epub. I think it would work well on an ereader, along with your suite of books and magazines.

Am also toying with the idea of using the s/story as a means of advertising my novel (which is an eBook). The s/story has the same characters as the novel, and at the end I'd say something like "If you would like to read more of these characters etc etc". I have a feeling I've seen this sort of thing done in print.

I think you might like to check out Trestle Publishers and Smashwords.com to see what is published. The range is varied.
On Smashwors.there is opportunity for the story to be under 25K words and also above 25K words.
Some genre appear to be more popular than others.
As a reader/writer I'd prefer a short story collection to singles. Mind you I've done both . Plus turned the stories into audio books. Doing so mean I can copy from a master disk and 'give away./
Betsy wrote: "Hi, I'm wondering what group members think about short stories in ebook format. I've recently had a few published, one of which is literary. As readers, would you prefer an anthology/short story co..."

Betsy wrote: "Hi, I'm wondering what group members think about short stories in ebook format. I've recently had a few published, one of which is literary. As readers, would you prefer an anthology/short story co..."

I think it's an excellent idea. It opens up a whole new market for short fiction, and sounds like a very good way to interest readers in something longer.

I think I would prefer a single story by a familiar author than the same story as part of an anthology where you never know what quality you'll be getting with the other stories. A single author collection, however, would be better than either if written by someone I greatly admire.

Well, it's good to know that there's interest in individual stories. I think it does expand the short story market too, because not all stories lend themselves to specific anthologies.

My previous books are nonfiction pediatric health, so I don't think I'll have a whole lot of returning readers. On the fiction side, I'm essentially starting from scratch as an author. I have a novel in the works, but at this point my short stories are the only fiction of mine that is published. Untreed Reads acquired the stories and published them in ebook format. I would post a giveaway, but Goodreads doesn't allow that for ebooks.

They aren't publishing as many theme anthologies as they used to, and most of those are by invitation anyway. These days, you either have to be already established or know the editor -- or both.

I noticed that Goodreads won't allow giveaways for ebooks. I have a book out as an ebook from Kindle and as a trade paperback from Lulu, but since the paperback isn't listed at amazon yet, so far as they are concerned here it doesn't exist. I have physical copies of the book I could give away, but that doesn't count.

Are your stories related to your novel in any way?

Hi Teresa,
Since you have physical copies that you can give away, you might contact Goodreads and ask about that if you haven't already.

My short stories aren't related to my novel and they aren't related to each other. All three stories and my novel are realistic, contemporary fiction, but they are in different genres. I didn't necessarily plan it that way, but the stories that fit best at Untreed Reads went into their lines. So I have one that is literary (Nibs), one that is mystery and suspense (Fingerprints), and one that is literary romance (Candlelight). My novel is young adult. :)

I just saw that there is a short story category in this group. Now, I'm wondering if I should have posted there, but this is turning in to a good discussion.