Do short stories sell, and can make you some quick cash on places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iBooks (among others)?
Let’s get right to my answer. Since we are friends here, I’m going to tell you the truth. They do, but certainly not to the extent that novels and longer works do.
Recently well-known author Dean Wesley Smith wrote about a plan about making a living writing short fiction. According to his plan, if an author was to write 50 short stories per year (averaging one short story per week), bundle them into 5 & 10 story collections, and continue doing that for five years – by the end of the five-year period, you’d have a nice passive income of approx $40,000 a year from then on.
His theory is an interesting one, and has been debated heavily on places, like the Writers Cafe at Kindleboards, whether it’s realistic for a new writer to achieve such figures.
The reason it is being debated is because many author’s believe that it relies too much on assumptions:
- It is possible to sell five copies of your books across all platforms (average)?
- Is it likely that what customers will pay for a short story collection, will be the same now as it will in five or ten years?
- Will customers even pay $3.99 and up for those collections now?
- Will author royalties remain the same over the long-term?
While I like Dean’s theory (and respect him greatly for his expertise), I feel it has too many unknown factors. I’d rather see figures about what short story writers are making NOW based on REAL FIGURES.
So let’s look at some.
Right now in the Amazon store, the No. 1 short story on Amazon under the short story category is a book called Throttle by Joe Hill & Stephen King (perhaps you’ve heard of him?) This book is 47 pages long (approx 16,000 words) and selling for 0.99 cents (to limited locations mind you). It’s got a sales rank of #274 which probably means it’s selling around 50 copies per day (rough estimate). Because it’s a Kindle single it’s eligible for the 70% royalty so it’s currently making Harper Collins approximately $1,000 a month (and the author’s probably $50 a month each). Not bad for Harper Collins. But not all of us can be Stephen King.
The highest independent author in the Amazon short story category is Primal Origin by Jack Silkstone. It’s ranked #2053, so is probably selling 20 per day. At 35% royalty, Silkstone would be making around $200 a month. Again, fairly decent for an (approx) 12,000 word story.
Of course, not every short story is listed under the ‘short story’ category.
I could find only ONE short story in the Amazon Top 100. A romance called When First They Met by Debbie Macomber sitting very nicely at #78. (It’s approx 10,000 words). At 0.99 cents and 35% royalty, Ballantine Books (Random House) is bringing in a nice (approx) $945 per month (based on around 90 sales a day).
As of writing, there are no independent short story author’s in the top 100 (although quite a few novels from indie authors are there).
Who cares. I’m not trying to hit the top 100. I just want to sell enough to make some decent money.
Fair enough.
I searched online. I searched high and low. And the only independent author that I could find who has a successful short story series is Hugh Howey with his excellent Wool franchise.
That’s not to say that you can’t making money with short stories – you can. But except for a few outliers, you just can’t make a lot. The fact is that short stories, and short story collections just don’t sell as well as full length novels.
Let’s look at another example.
David Gaughran has both one novel, two short stories and a non-fiction book under his name on Amazon. From his fiction, his novel A Storm Hits Valparaiso does the best. It’s ranked #143,740, whereas his two short stories are ranked #282,085 and #269,040 respectively. (His non fiction sells the best overall – but that’s not surprising – non fiction generally is easier to market than fiction). His novel is also $4.99 making him $3.49 per sale, as opposed to the 0.35 cents he makes on each short.
My point: Novels sell better (and make you more money) than shorts do. So if you goal is to make money, you should be thinking novels.
But you can still make a little money with shorts. I know, because I do. It’s just not as much as you think it is. The erotic romance sells far better than the Dystopian thrillers. Not surprising really. But I’m a writer, and there is more to writing short stories than just money. I also like *shock* the writing part and *horror* knowing people are reading it part.
I can’t test Dean’s theory because I won’t be exclusively writing short stories. Not forever. After I finish up the erotic romance series I’ll be starting on a short novella trilogy. I don’t know the genre yet. Just know I want to write something longer next time. But I’m not ready for a full novel. So novella it is. Three in fact. Now I’ve just got to figure out the genre. Hmmm.
But I still know the novella’s wont do as well as a novel. I’ll get there – eventually.
Short stories DO sell on Amazon, but not in great numbers. And at this stage I don’t believe you could make a good living doing it. If you know different, prove me wrong.
Thanks for your advice and guidance. I’m just finishing the final chapter of my first short story. I intend on purchasing an isbn number to publish online as an ebook. I know the immense odds that stand before me being a beginner. I intend to become a leading author of short stories and my goal is to sell 10 million copies within the first month. I just had to post this to make you smile. Watch for my name. The title of my book is too valuable to release at this time. Unrealistic is what I’m shooting for and hopefully my success will shatter the expected possibilities among short story writers the world over. I wish not to prove YOU wrong. I just want to shock the shit out of the industry. Thays all.
LOL 😉 Good luck! Can’t wait to see your name on the NYT bestsellers.
How do you go about selling (publishing short stories through amazon? No information provided on amazon short story page
Hi Bentley,
You just publish your story as you would any other book. Short stories aren’t treated any differently than novels. Just put the word count/page count in your description so customers are aware it’s a short though 😉
Thats what Im talking about…be extraordinary!
You’ve got to start somewhere.
Good luck
Hi Tabitha!
Currently my stories are posted on sites such as fanfiction.net and liovejournal. I’ve been thinking of publishing a set of short stories, or maybe one with just under 26k words, just to see how it’d go on amazon or other sites. Would this be a smart idea? I mean, I’m not expecting to hit the 100 list day one, I’d like to eventually, and its not just to make money, but $200 or so a month isn’t a horrible idea.
Any advice?
I think it’s a great idea.
You really have nothing to lose, you’ve got the stories written already and now you just need a cover. Put them up for 0.99 cents each or a collection for $2.99 or something and just see.
Worst thing that can happen is that you make no money, but then you are not making anything by not having them for sale anyway.
Go in with no expectations and be happy with a sale or two per month (you just never know how well they are going to do – I have some that sell only 1 or 2 copies a month and one that is in the low hundreds – it varies).
Give it a shot and good luck!
t
‘But I still know the novella’s wont do as well as a novel. I’ll get there – eventually.’
Tabitha: You wrote that line. One unwanted apostrophe and one apostrophe missing. Do you really feel comfortable giving advice to writers?
Don: Writers write stories. Wanna-be’s comment on random blogs and are obsessed with grammar rules.
LOL. Yes Don that was a tad hard… It is the storytellers who make money, let publishers obsess about grammar when you get a contract with one and they are paying a salary. Until then, getting noticed is so above all that. If no-one knows who you are, and you are just biting your nails over where that past participle should go or of a comma is incorrectly placed, you will never make it. Flip side to that: do watch the obvious ones, and hire a proof reader ( I do this…) if time is slim.
see, i just did one, a typo, ‘of’ should be ‘if’… Am i falling into insecurity now, you bet your ass I am not…
Thank you for posting! I write mostly novellas and short stories and I was wondering if people even tried to sell stories under 10,000 words and it looks like they do! I would be happy with even a modest income, I just really want to get my work out there and I wondered if I had written those works in vain. I love your honesty and writing style! All the best with your new novella series.
Sara
Thanks Sara,
Absolutely you should put your stories up! My shorts still outsell my novels at the moment (sigh). So I’ll be writing some more shorts/novella’s soon.
All the best,
Tabs.
Tabitha with respect and need,
I happendly write stories and stories to tell in written( a book not more than 1,500 words), and English is my second language. I want to sell at bus, train, and airport stations for leissure reading to keep or to give. Now, I am in need of cashflow so I intent to sell as iternet post jokes for 99 cent only for The USA, Europe, and Australia. I will sell in book form only in my country Indonesia, for the purpose of skill and work of making simple book and income of course. I really need help. I don’t know with iternet. Best regards honggo.
I have just put my first book, (50 short stories) on amazon kindle edition Having read your article, I am wondering whether stories averaging 1500 words are too short for the market. What do you think?
Not too short if you’ve got them bundled in a collection of 50. Quite a respectable size I’d say! Although shorts are still a harder sell than novels.
Hi Tabitha,
I have just stumbled across your site and have found the above article refreshingly informative. I have an existing collection of short stories, (21,000 words) as well as a novel i wrote years ago, (70,000 words) and currently have no idea as of what to do next. I have allowed varying people to read bits and pieces and am pleased to say that they have all been very positive. I have considered placing the short story collection on Amazon in the hope that it may generate some money, however if it fails to do so then i am willing to live with that. Do you have any advice, tips on pricing etc, i would greatly appreciate any feedback.
Hi Richard,
Here is what I would do if I had a short story collection and a novel. I’d pull one of the short stories (or about 5,000 words) out of the collection and make that perma-free. (To make something perma-free set it at 0 on Smashwords so it filters to B&N and Apple and eventually Amazon should price-match). Have a call to action at the back of that freeb, to purchase your collection or novel. Something like, ‘if you enjoyed this, check out my other work,’ with links. (Amz links in the Amz edition, and links to your website in the Smashwords edition). That should get you both visibility and your work, ‘working’ for you.
Don’t be afraid – what have you got to lose? If they don’t sell great, then so what? Even if you make coffee money, it’s still more than you’d make with them sitting unread on your computer. 🙂
Go have fun!
Tabs 🙂
Thank you so much for your advice, i will get to it and let you know what happens.
Hi Tabitha,
I really enjoyed reading your advice. Quite encouraging. I’ve never published any of my stories other than in a friend’s self-published collection, but yes, I would like to put up some of my stories on Amazon. My stories average around 5000 words, but I’m trying to trim that down even more.
I am writing my ass off all the time, and I’m very passionate about the craft of writing. I just need to put a few stories up on Amazon and see what happens! Again, thanks for your wise words and encouragement. ~Michael~
Thanks Michael! Good luck with your stories. 🙂
Did someone say short stories do not sell as well as novels???
Let’s debunk that. It is a staggering statement. May be perpetuated by failed writers and biased publishers as I can tell YOU the figures for kindle shorts are in the 10s of 1000s in each genre…
Many writers specialise in short tales and up to novella length. Stephen King has lots of his own to accompany his novels. Most of the best indie writers have submitted collections offering 8 to 15 tales per collection with others that offer many more than that. And they submit kindle shorts, like the writer above, submitting tales that are 5 to 40 pages long.
People are buying them. Check the Amazon markets rather than some fabricated nonsense about low volume of sales.
The marketing is no different and anyone who says differently is wrong.
We live in a bite sized information world where folks want quick reads. This has boosted the popularity of book apps with lots of short tales and flash fiction. You will find lots of flash fiction books on Amazon, these are tales no more than 1000 words in length packed together into a meaty collection of micro tales.
They are selling. I can’t give examples without looking like I am promoting so just go browse the Amazon markets and B&N and iBooks.
Going by the stars and downloads for a number of authors on Amazon, looks to me like many are doing well. But those not doing well tend to moan and post the most, so too many just hear a one-sided and lopsided opinion.
Again, it comes down to marketing. You can write about anything. It is how you market it that decides how much exposure comes your book’s way. PR folks. Got a great short story – go market the heck out of it through influencers and bloggers in your genre.
Not to mention the 1000s of markets for short fiction, take a look at the horror tree for just one site example listing markets.
Don’t believe anyone saying shorts sell at a fraction of the volume of novels. It is a biased, untested and false statement.
Thanks for this article, was definitely some food for thought in regards to length. It makes me wonder if novella’s will be the ‘new thing’, particularly if they can be cranked out in quantity.
Great article, just what I was looking for, thanks ever so 🙂
I’m wondering however, I have a good subscriber base on Youtube, could that possibly generate some interest on short stories, both dealing with the same genre? Do you have, or know of anyone using multiple platforms to cross-generate sales\views? Or have any thoughts or advice…?
Thanks
Hi Jed,
I don’t have experience (or know of others) using Youtube, but I’ve been dabbling with Facebook with okay results. Mainly I’ve been playing around with ads to see what the fuss is about. Nothing major to report yet, but it looks promising.
t
Vic….right on. It’s all about knowing oneself, one’s writing capabilities, and one’s dreams. But, as always, it’s all about sitting down on one’s ass and writing……right? Thanks for you comment…it made my evening to feel and hear you passion and enthusiasm for the written word. I like to play with words….doesn’t everyone???
30 days ago I put on amazon a 6000 word short true story. It’s sold about 50 all with good reviews. I now have requests to furnish the book to several book reading clubs . My prices are 2.99 on line and 9.99 for 35 page book. Again not one bad review. My question is it would seem that these book reading get together is a great place to merchandise – if your story is a good one. This is my 1st book.
That’s great! I need to get back into writing shorts again. I miss them 🙂
Thanks for the input I am a.newbe. I was a wantabe. Best to all. Gary
I am a new author, I have just finished an 80,000-word novel, and have a number of short stories, my best is 2,937 words. And this is my take on short stores: I would rather read a 500-word good short story than to read a 20,00 short story that is not very good. I also do not like the idea of selling a terrific short story for peanuts. Now this may sound strange, but I don’t like to read, I may have read one novel in my life, why do I not like to read, the reason is that it is not creative.
Again 6000 words equal 30 minutes. Say up front 30 minutes and your reader is committed if your story MOVES. Gary Wayne Smith work-a-way 1963.on amazon.