Ponderings

I find myself at one of those points we writers all reach, where I’m considering my work to date and pondering which direction to take. This particularly involves my short fiction, which I always struggle to find markets for.

Okay, yes, it is substantially my own responsibility that I continue to write stories that don’t have ready markets. I know that adult magazines consider stories with a fairy-tale flavor too juvenile for their readership, and I know that a 2,000-word short story is too long for juvenile magazines. But, bless me, that’s what I keep coming up with!

So I send submissions to 1 or 2 magazines with a remote chance of publishing me, because that’s all the markets there are. After that, I just have these stories without anywhere else to submit them. And so it goes.

I’m reluctantly coming to the conclusion that if I want my stories to be read, I will have to create a market for myself. It wouldn’t be the first time I set out to make something happen because I needed it to. I started volunteering with SCBWI in the early 2000s, because I couldn’t afford to travel for my career. I’m happy to say the local chapter is still going strong, too.

So I could go whole-hog and start a magazine for the readers I imagine when I write my own work. An actual magazine! The idea scares me to death, because it’s such an investment and there’s so much I don’t know. Also, it’s pretty cheesy to publish your own work and call that a magazine. Thus, in all likelihood, my stories still wouldn’t be published.

A more realistic goal might be to self-publish my stories in a series of collections. Perhaps 3 or 4 at a time, with a modest price tag. Since there are about 16 of them, depending which I choose, I could stretch that out for as much as two years depending on frequency.  Since I’ve finally got another microphone, I could podcast concurrently and have these available in e-book or audio.

To be even more modest, I could just do another podcast. Spring Break is in two months, and I’m sure I could get another novelette ready to record by then. However, I suspect that would not be enough. To build audience and achieve some recognition, I think I’ll need to push myself toward the second option.

This is what I’m currently pondering. The options, the expenses, the time away from my novel in progress. Those of you who have done this before, I would welcome your insights and advice. Thanks in advance, and stay tuned for further announcements.