So!
I'll be the first to tell you that short story collections don't sell well—it doesn't matter whether you've had short fiction in The New Yorker, it doesn't matter whether you earned your mfa at Iowa, it doesn't matter whether you're drinking buddies with the ghost of Flannery O'Connor—they uniformly don't sell very well. Often an agent will only take a short story collection from a promising new author on the condition that they also get his or her first novel.
However! The short story itself can be a way of grabbing an agent's attention, and getting yourself represented is half the battle. For example:
Publishing short stories lends you street cred. True, the agent is more interested in your writing than in your biography, but a biographical note that includes "Chester A. Author has recently published fiction in The Atlantic, The Paris Review, and The New Yorker" will almost certainly catch an agent's eye. That doesn't mean (s)he will immediately sign you, but (s)he might decide to send a request for a partial rather than a polite rejection.
Literary agents read literary journals. I know a few (and know of several more) agents who regularly read literary magazines in search of new talent. The more you publish, the higher your profile.
Literary agents recommend writing and writers to each other. Even if your dream agent hasn't read anything in which you've been published, (s)he still has plenty of friends, colleagues, and friends of colleagues who may have. Remember: a huge number of new authors are signed based on recommendations rather than via queries culled from the slush.
Publishing short stories entails writing short stories, and writing short stories entails a ton of practice. It goes without saying, but if you've written enough to publish several short stories in reputable magazines and journals, you've put a fair amount of time and effort into your writing. I've said it before and I'll say it again: patience and discipline are worth more in this business than talent and luck (though you'll need some of the former and a lot of the latter).
There you have it, amigos and -as. So now, prithee, inform me: which magazines/journals do you regularly read or subscribe to? Where do you find new authors? Which authors or stories have you read recently that you loved, were excited about, or recommended to others?
I second that motion. Although, I also must admit that in the ebook market - short stories also does really well. I buy a lot of them as well as they are a great way to be exposed to new authors.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of Jesse Ball at the moment - after reading his story in the Paris Review (a year or two ago): http://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/5825/the-early-deaths-of-lubeck-brennan-harp-and-carr-jesse-ball
ReplyDeletethat made me search him out for his later novels (Samedi the Deafness, The Way Through Doors, and a new one on my too read list, I forget what it's called), and I wasn't disappointed. Not that I'm a literary agent by the way.
Wow. Who knew? I mean, I know short story collections don't traditionally sell well. No one wants the "quick" version of a story--at least, almost no one. Ebooks though... There's food for thought.
ReplyDeleteFodder for another post: Awards for short stories, which ones carry any real weight, and which ones aren't worth the space they take up in a query to mention (e.g., *Pushcart Prize nominee*)...
ReplyDeleteThis is a timely post, Eric. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI understand that all you say is true, and I've heard it from many others. But I find it to be sort of unhelpful advice for someone writing a novel. Unless that someone is the kind of writer who can churn out short stories while also slogging away at a novel (and working full time and having a family). But I generally find that I can only focus on one type of writing at a time. Also, the markets you're talking about are very hard to break into. So while it may be a good idea to send out stories if you have them, my advice to myself has been, "If you want to be a novelist, you need to finish that novel, and make it damn good." If you've written (and revised and revised) an 80,000 word novel, you've put a fair amount of time and effort into your writing.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see more markets that accept novel excerpts. That, I'd buy into.
I recently started submitting short stories to lit journals, because I've heard that's the traditional route to getting an agent. Not to mention it gives me an excuse to buy lit journals as part of my research for deciding which ones to submit to; the journals often have great stories. I especially like the stories in Glimmer Train and Paris Review. The writers in those journals make me think of the amazing actors who perform in tiny theaters in Chicago; they're often so so much better than the A-listers who get all the attention.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. However, I must take issue with the very beginning. I think this is ABSOLUTELY appropriate advice for genre writers. If you're in the SF genre, it's a good thing to have been published in Asimov's or F&SF. If you're a Romance writer, maybe Penthouse would be a good note on your bio. (Or maybe not?) Getting your writing out there, in any form that lets people read it, is a good thing. And getting a short story published in a magazine means you've already made the cut on at least one level, for one story. This is absolutely good advice, for any author, not just mainstream.
ReplyDeleteeBooks are one exception. Here's another one: short stories under a single topic, especially in the youth market. "Tales of the Supernatural" etc. These can be single-author works. My books "Ghost Cats of the South" and "Ghost Dogs of the South" are collections of short stories on the specific topic and, though regional titles, they have sold well.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me, or are half these posters pimping their short stories? Way to market, dudes.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Short stories are a great exercise for honing your craft.
ReplyDelete