#short fiction markets

[night-market-if]

A Kristus Story: A Night Market Holiday Tale

It's the most wonderful time of the year and Yule is in full swing within the Night Market. Join your choice of characters during the festive season and unlock the secrets of Kristus within Artisan Alley.  Will you show compassion? Will you understand the motives behind the season? Or will you kill a snowman? It's all up to you in this 87k interactive short.

A Kristus Story takes place a year or two after Book 2. You don't have to have started book 2 to read this story, but I do advise that you have read Book 1 of the Night Market. Available on my itch.io page.

Purchase here

[mumblingsage]

If I was feeling slightly smarter or more distractable today I'd write a coherent post about how short stories and poetry have often been written by marginalized writers who find short-form work more accessible given the demands on their time and other resources. This does not mean disabled writers, working-class writers, writers of color, women writers, etc don't write novels (and some fucking brilliant ones too)! But one concrete way we might all make the publishing world more inclusive is to read short story and poetry collections, buy them and review them, and generally encourage them as vibrant art forms.

I like novels a lot myself and don't want to come off as hard on them here. But many writers and readers regard the novel as the only form worth doing (even the only form possible -- witness confused reviewers of short story collections wondering why each "chapter" is about a different set of characters in a different place or time period). To what extent, we might wonder, does the infamous challenge of writing a novel in a month grow out of or feed into an over-valuation of writing that meets a certain length requirement?

[ellisnyeland]

Hey, do you want to read a FREE short story that Alex Brown at Reactor Magazine described as "a good reminder that queerness isn’t just an identity, it’s a way of being, a political movement, a revolutionary ideology, and a community"? Well if you do, my story "The Last Great Repair Tech of the American Midwest" is now available for free on Reckoning's website! Go forth!

[shannonellablog]

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON!!!

[bmpmp3]

when i was a kid i was really REALLY into fantasy books and comics but interestingly ive noticed as an adult im like. too picky about it? i still read and love a lot of fantasy fiction but while when i was a kid i loved it because of the fantasy worldbuilding but as an adult, 99% i like it Despite it all LOL like ive noticed i prefer most fantasy stories to not dwell too much on magic systems or whatever because i just dont care EXCEPT

except. recently i have discovered that actually i do really like fantasy, low or high, soft or hard, but you need one thing. you need your main character to really REALLY care about some hyperspecific aspect of your fantasy worldbuilding and make it the foundation of the story's scenarios:

either make them autistic and really into monsters or magic or whatever (a certain tasty dungeoning manga that i have been reading recently has taught me this) OR

make them a fucking business major and do real life financial stock market bullshit but like. in fantasy medieval times with wolf goddesses (spice and wolf <3)

[thewriterkb]

Stalls of flowers carve their way through Place Charles Felix in the old town of Nice, in what is known as the Marché aux Fleurs. The Market of Flowers.

Striped reds and greens decorate the tarpaulin canopies, shading the hawker’s heads from the blue Rivieran sky. This market stands between the conflicting identities that dominate the avenues of old Nice. The baroque Chapel of Mercy stands sentinel over the flower market on one side of the street, sombre marble figures lining the walls of the interior. The statues glare outside the chapel doors, visible to market patrons, as a reminder of what was. A strain to maintain relevance.

Meanwhile, back to the market, fronts to the flat sea of the Mediterranean shining a deep blue, the brasseries across the street clash with the gravitas of this nearby religion. Stylish people drink expensive wine under the provencial sun, pleasure and diversion of the French Riviera on full display. Ferraris, Maseratis and Porsches rumble by, almost more common a sight than the work vans of the city’s blue collar inhabitants.

Click Above Image to Read Whole Story

[crimeronan]

why don’t you think you could make a living writing fiction?? your fics are so good, you’re so talented!!!

oh thank you this is sweet 🥺 basically it's just about return on investment! fiction takes me a long time to write -- even short stories can take upwards of a 40-hour work week equivalent if i fuss with the editing enough -- and there's not a lot of demand for it. most of the people who really like my stories don't have a ton of disposable income; there are even fewer who'd want to actually SPEND disposable income on my original work. i know there's a handful of people who would like to! but a handful does not a successful career make

this, combined with the extremely low royalties that authors get thru places like amazon, means that if i DID want to make a living with fiction, i'd have to speedwrite short novellas that align with market trends, put as many out as fast as possible, and hope for the best in terms of landing on Hot Trends lists. this is the method i use with my nonfiction professional writing for clients, and it sacrifices a LOT of quality. you can't edit as much if your edits eat into your hourly rate

part of why i'm generally proud of my fics is bc i put a lot of time into telling the story Right. the way i want to. and i don't have the time to do that if i'm working for money :(

i do still intend to publish original fiction, it just probably won't ever be my full day job. i talked to a guy with a moderately successful sci-fi series years ago (i WISH i could remember his name or the title of the series) and his summary has stuck with me since: "i mean, it pays, but it's pizza-and-beer money. it's not paying-your-mortgage money"

that's pretty much how being an author is for everyone except some Extreme and Very Lucky outliers.

hope this clarifies!

[beingquixotic]

This book is written by Clayden Knight and @darknight-blues 52 copies sold worldwide and 25+ copies sold only in Usa.

[night-market-if]

Post Chapter Five - Belladonna and Hazel

Both Hazel and Bella's shorts are up on Patreon! Sorry it took so long. We have had some personal issues happening. However, go join at the Velvet Guard tier to read about these gorgeous women, on top of the other three stories I've written this month.

🪷✨🪷✨ If you want to support me 🪷 ✨🪷✨ 

🌿Book 2 WIP🌿 Book 1 Free Demo 🌿Book 1 Steam🌿Book 1 Itch.io🌿🌿Patreon 🌿Discord🌿FAQS🌿

[spoldhamauthor]

Ok, not sure how to write this so I am just going to do it as if I were voicing my (increasingly jumbled) thoughts.

I love to write. I always have. In recent years I have attempted to sell some of my writing in exchange for a fair price. Nothing wrong with that, right? Failing miserably on the whole 'making a living' bit, but I have given thousands of downloads away. Not many reviews to show for it, but that's another story, pardon the pun. The few reviews I do have are pretty good, on the whole.

Without boring you with the whole sob story background, now more than ever I need to SELL my writing. Personal circumstances, illness in the family, yada yada... I have never asked for something for nothing and I am not going to now.

If you have read this far then thanks, I have a question for you:

Would you ever consider paying one or two pounds/dollars to have a fun limerick written for or about you, or someone else? For a milestone birthday, anniversary, whatever?

That's it, thanks. If you feel like checking out my work or buying a book then thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know it is a cliche, but it really does mean more to me than you know.

If you are just going to leave derogatory, abusive or ignorant comments then just know that I have more than enough shit going on in my life at the moment, I am not going to waste a second of my time reading through yours. Ask yourself why you need to make those comments, and what they say about you. Then speak to someone, if you need to.

To everyone else, thank you. I hope life is treating you well.

These are just a few of my limericks, some general, some with a horror theme and some personalised. I have already written many more. I try to post one every Sunday on Written Undead (Facebook.) These are just for fun but if you enjoy them, let me know!

[jocotheoddity]

Silvia’s day started off as usual, clocking in to work at the shop, opening the blinds, sweeping up any leaves, petals, or other debris that had fallen onto the floor in the night, and doing a quick check of the greenhouse. In the greenhouse sat a large collection of flowers, succulents, and other plants, all ready to be clipped to make a bouquet or repotted to be sold to excited customers. On this day, an outburst of mealybugs had taken much of the section of the greenhouse dedicated to pothos plants, and she’d gotten so sidetracked in trying to clean them that she only noticed it was opening time because the booming clock tower nearby had begun chiming 8. A month later, Silvia saw a set of pictures in the newspaper. The first, what looked like an ant, with what looked like branches shooting out of where its head should have been.

I wrote a fun little piece for class! Inspired by the recent MLP infection AUs, specifically the Everfree infection by mrsgendered on Instagram!

[rhythmicreverie]

A soldier, bound by honor, Sacrificed for his people's cheer; In ancient Rome he stood tall, Yet his spirit soared beyond all. Through ages and cultures, we see, Heroes who made a sacrifice, For the greater good in history, Their stories etched in our minds' embrace.

[jannahill]

Here Truth & Fiction Collide

“ All eyes were on Wall Street, but truth be told, the market crash paled in comparison to the Navarro County drought.” The news of Black Tuesday came and went as little more than dry morsels between flapjacks and red-eyed gravy. Black Thursday was no different. Margin calls and ticker-talk; it was all a foreign language to the average man of Navarro county. New York, Chicago and any place not…

[shortfictionweeklychallenge]

Ten Years Ago Today

A decade of prompts from Short Fiction Weekly Challenge.

Week of 1/17/2014

Marketing - Somebody’s always trying to sell our characters something. Ads, promotions, coupons, flashy events, and more try to attract footsteps and wallets. Sometimes our characters are trying to sell something – be it services, unwanted equipment, or a cargo hold’s worth of hot merchandise. Besides all that, somebody’s got to be the face of advertising campaigns. Sometimes the advertising is right on and sometimes it’s…exaggerated. Write about your character’s experience with marketing.

[yourhorsetales]

One Of The First Steps Achieved In Book Marketing

FrankenDawgie is IndexedOver the last few weeks, I’ve been posting more about my character, FrankenDawgie. The aim of this is to make potential readers aware of his existence long before his story gets published. If you put “FrankenDawgie” into Google search engine, it will come up with a total of 6 results including Instagram, Twitter (I’m still going to call it Twitter..), DeviantArt and…