If you’re looking for short story submissions, chances are you’re hoping to get your story, published, right? That’s great, and we cover options and explanations on places to submit your stories.
Whether you’re a writer or create in other mediums, you’re telling a story. The power of story will dramatically improve exposure to your creations. Visual artists who include stories with their art sell more paintings and grow larger audiences.
This is good news for writers because it also means there are expanding needs for your writer skills. It just may not initially be exactly as you imagine it will be. So be open to exploration and ideation.
For example, business coach to mega successful companies, Cameron Herold, employs the visioning process religiously. He spends many hours over many days in deep visioning work creating three year plans that he draws out in “family tree” style mind maps. He then pays a writer to write it into a four page story. You can read more about that in his aptly named book, Vivid Vision.
Opportunities are expansive for creators who are eager to learn and earn from their artistic endeavors.
“Whether you’re a writer or create in other mediums, you’re telling a story.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
Can Writers Make a Living Writing?
Before we launch into short story submissions options, lets be candid.
The truth is that it is very hard for writers to earn money from their own books. However, the determined few, that work on building their audience while writing and publishing regular content stand the best chance over time.
In fact, it may be the only way today.
Gatekeepers Are Out, Fans, Followers and Communities Are In
If you’re passionate about being a published author, you can succeed if you go pro and make your writing your profession and your business. Even if it’s a side gig while you’re working elsewhere, if writing is your passion, then the time you spend writing should be enjoyable and not really feel like work.
Beyond that, we also share perspective and ideas that might set you on a slightly different trajectory while expanding your opportunities to build and grow your following.
Audio Article – Short Story Submissions:
“[For influence and brand building] today, there is nothing more valuable than an audience.”
~Joel Robinson, entrepreneur, cofounder-InfluenceLogic
Should You Publish Free Short Stories?
We’re in an age where people are hungry for “On Demand” entertainment, content, and pretty much everything. As content creators, authors, and storytellers, we generally have more ideas than we can fully develop.
For the ideator who has tons of stories whirling around in your head, publishing short stories to your blog, podcast (as audio), or as a vlog (video), could be a great way to publish more ideas regularly.
Create daily. The more you publish, the more your following will grow.
~iCreateDaily.com®
Growing a Following Trumps All Other Strategies
The more your following grows, of those who like your work, the greater will be your buying audience when you publish your writings in book form.
Words of Advice From a Successful Author and Entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vee, as he’s known, is one of the world’s leading experts on business building and social media. Gary lives and breathes the free content publishing model. He also recommends it to almost everyone, and more than that, he dishes out masses amount of valuable free content himself. Daily.
WARNING: Gary swears a lot in most of his audio-video content, so be prepared to ignore it or skip it if swearing is offensive to you. This clip is under 4 minutes with ideas specifically speaking to writers.
Publishing Your Short Stories on Your Sites
Benefits of Publishing to Your Own Website
Having your own website serves as both a resumé or portfolio, and place to build your own readership and following.
You can write and publish your stories on your own terms and let them begin to get exposure by sharing it to your social platforms. Eventually, you will be able to monetize your website through ads and affiliate income if you’d like to, in addition to your own publications and products.
Benefits of Publishing to Social Accounts
Publishing to your social media accounts helps to grow your following. You can establish an email list and grow a following of likes and subscribers to your social platforms.
Even if you wish to submit your short stories to be accepted on other platforms, it’s highly recommend to also publish to your own website and social accounts. Publishing audio stories—you reading your short stories—on YouTube and your own podcast will help grow your own audience.
By focusing on writing and publishing your own work, your audience will grow. Then you will be free to self publish to your audience, or, be more attractive to a publisher, should you wish to go that route.
Your website and social platforms are the place to start. You are free to publish your own writing as you wish and whenever you wish. Grow your social following first, before you write and publish your book.
Publish your work daily to your website and social platforms. Best to grow your audience before you write your book.
~iCreateDaily.com ®
RELATED: Do I need a website?
Get Paid While Growing Your Following
Instead of—or in addition to—short story submissions to other sites and platforms, consider freelance writing for other sites. You can create a freelancer profile to be hired to write articles, ghostwriting and co-authoring books, articles and white papers.
How awesome to get paid to write while growing your brand!
Benefits of Publishing on Other Websites
Publishing on other websites serves to leverage the audience of larger publications toward helping grow your readership and your website and social traffic because you gain views to your content from larger websites with larger followings. Most of these will allow you to link your own site in your bio, which is preferred.
Your freelance writer profile can include a link to your website, which will increase your site’s ranking and traffic. That you can actually get paid for doing what you love—writing—while growing your own online “real estate” is fantastic!
Your website is like your own “storefront”, on the World Wide Web. The more content you publish, the closer you get to a better position to be found organically on Google.
So even if you’re submitting your own article and story content for free, you’re gaining value. Never underestimate the advantages of subsequently growing your own site traffic for the cost of doing more of what you want to do: create and share it!
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make but about the stories you tell.”
~Seth Godin, blogger, entrepreneur, author, b.7/10/1960
Where to Submit Short Stories
We’ve sectioned these submission sites to align with different goals you might have as a writer. There are so many platforms for writers, that it can be overwhelming to know where to start. That means many people get stuck before starting.
However, keep in mind that many of the free services are able to offer free submissions because they make their money from upselling you to their services or paid-to-play anthologies. That’s not wrong… most people can’t work for free and most of those aren’t non-profit volunteer organizations. But it’s a matter of being aware of what you may be getting into and reading the reviews (search for negative and positive ones from the Internet rather than just their own testimonials).
Narrative Magazine
Writers can submit fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to Narrative Magazine. They are a nonprofit magazine that also offers prizes for writing. They have a social following of around 37,000. You can read their full guidelines and submission rules on the Narrative Magazine website.
American Short Fiction (ASF)
A non-profit online and print publication, that accepts stories from both prominent and up and coming authors. ASF accepts submissions all year round as long as it’s not stories that have been previously published. They also have separate guidelines for their short story submissions and competition. All the information is listed on the AmericanShortFiction.com website.
CRAFT Literary
Craft Literary accepts submissions for flash fiction, short stories, essays, and a few other articles. They pay writers a flat rate per publishing, and if it’s longer articles (2k words or more) they have other prices. While CRAFT will pay between $100-$200 for your original stories, they allow you to submit previously published stories but will not pay you for those.
The First Line
This is a quarterly print publication that pays both fiction and non-fiction writers for stories, articles, and poetry. Generally, each of their issues will have a theme. The First Line pays between $5-$50 depending on what you’re submitting, such as fiction, non-fiction, or poetry, and submissions are free.
One Story
If accepted, One Story publishes short stories in their print publications and pays the writers. You can read One Story’s submission guidelines and deadlines on their website. One Story is looking for original and unpublished stories from writers and pays $500 in addition to 25 copies of the publication if your story is accepted.
Wattpad
Unlike the above publications, Wattpad allows anyone to create a profile and publish their stories. You can write your whole story before posting it to Wattpad, or you can post and write a chapter at a time. The story size, genre, and story artwork is under your control.
There is no gatekeeper editor who needs to approve your work first. There are also monetization opportunities via Wattpad ads, but as with any platform in this social media millenium, you need to establish a large following for it to amount to any kind of substantial or sustainable income.
Wattpad connects 90 million readers and writers through the power of story. Find more Wattpad info for writers.
Patreon
Okay so Patreon is a unique platform and unlike any of the above. Patreon is a bit of a cross between a social platform and a website. Some creators do really well with Patreon. However, most, do not.
You can end up spending a lot of time creating content for your Patreon page, or, you can spend time growing your own. The ideal scenario would be to do both. If you’re going full time creator, seeking to earn a living from your creations, then Patreon may be another evenue strategy to consider.
SOOP’s Annual Short Story Contest – Includes Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry
SOOP hosts a rolling annual no-fee Short Story Contest designed to honor excellence in writing short stories and flash fiction, especially for emerging Authors.
SOOP, which stands for Something Or Other Publishing, is an author driven publishing platform that unites authors, readers, and service providers.
We love the concept and what SOOP is doing is one of our visions for iCreateDaily.com. However, they’re way ahead of us in the creation of their “revolutionary publishing platform”. So we’re sharing this here should it serve you, because that is our first goal: Creation Connection and Contribution.
Writers Weekly 24 HOURS SHORT STORY CONTEST
24-Hour Short Story Contest is just $5.00. Check out the deets and see if it’s your cup-a-tea.
These are just a few of the top sites that allow you to submit your work. We’ll add to the list as we come across good ones. If you know of any you’d recommend adding, please let us know.
Short Story Submission – The Bottom Line
No matter the platforms you choose, your success is largely dependent on how much time, energy and effort you pour into it.
Most creatives submit their work to other platforms for traffic and exposure. The reality today is that the larger your following the greater the likelihood of your submissions of any kind, being accepted.
The larger your following, the more likely your work will be chosen by publishers… if you decide to choose them, because by then, you’re at choice and won’t likely need them.
“The larger your following, the more likely your work will be chosen by publishers… if you decide to choose them!”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
What to Do When You Can’t Do It All
If you’re working on your creative pursuits part-time while working and/or parenting full time, start with the social platform that you frequent the most and consciously work to build that.
Is Instagram your thing? Then post Instagram stories of intriguing passages from your short stories. If you love to give character and voice to your stories by reading out loud, your best options are YouTube and/or your own Podcast (or that of others).
Start with whichever platform makes the most sense for you and keep publishing there each day. Focus in one area and expand from there for best results.
“The best way to build a bonfire with green wood is to keep adding fire to the same spot. Eventually it will blaze. Same for your aspirations.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
When — and Why — to Be Everywhere
If you’re determined to pursue your creative endeavor and aren’t easily overwhelmed, you should consider creating content consistently on multiple platforms. Each platform will feed and support the other. This is vastly more doable if you’re already able to be full time in growing your own brand.
Not everyone is on every platform. By spreading your content across multiple platforms, you will grow to learn more about your most receptive audience, who they are, what they like most and where they like to hang out.
Focus On One Platform First – Expand From There
In this article we elaborate on how to do that with content creation that leverages one thing into many. But first, focus on the platform you’re already using most and grow your following there through consistent daily posts before spreading yourself too thin.
Quantity and persistence will get you the outcomes you need.
~James Altucher, entrepreneur, author, podcaster, b.1/22/1968
Benefits of Submitting Short Stories
The biggest benefit of submitting your short stories to other sites is how it expands your reach and helps grow your public credibility as a writer.
There is still a prestige factor of having a publication approve of your work and publish it to their following. While we’re all for the concept of choosing yourself, submitting your work to prominent sites helps you build your own readership.
Also, there are platforms that pay for your content. As a writer or author, it takes years of work to turn your words into a sustainable career. However, you can escalate that process by freelance writing for others. This provides recognition, public exposure as a published writer, and helps grow your following as indicated earlier.
The Downside of Submitting Short Stories
Building your own reader fan base takes time, and this is just one avenue to help you. But it takes time and the process isn’t completely in your hands. Publications are looking for work that adds value to their readers so it’s incumbent on you to research where you submit your short stories.
Questions to Consider for Short Story Submissions
Consider these questions when researching options:
- Read the requirements of each publication
- What are the publication’s main content themes?
- Do their fans on social media seem to engage most in any specific topics?
- If you can, buy one of their print publications as well to get an idea of their style.
Of course, you might follow every guideline and write the best story, and still get turned down. Rejection happens, and many editors don’t have time to even give you a reason for rejection. There are magazines that even tell you up front that if they reject you, don’t bother resubmitting the same piece.
It can take awhile to get traction on any site, including these larger sites. Getting approved and published doesn’t mean immediate success. They have built a trust factor and following over time, and you will have to do the same, no matter what platform you use.
You’ll definitely want to showcase articles and short stories on your own site as well. It’s far easier to build a portfolio and following via your own website and social following. It takes time, but it’s worth it because it’s yours. (We mentioned this earlier, but in case your skipped that part ?)
We go more into brand building in this article and this podcast.
Commit for the long haul, because that’s what it takes to succeed.
“Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.”
~Ray Bradbury, author & screenwriter, 1920-2012
The Truth About Author Earnings
So yes, earning money as an author is challenging but not impossible. We all know of highly successful writers.
So focus on what’s possible and do that.
Like the Ray Bradury quote, just imagine writing 52 short stories in one year!!! It’s absolutely possible, including publishing some — if not all of them. Those that don’t get published for purchase on Amazon could be posted for a free read on your website or social page.
52 Pushups – Yes You Can
You probably can’t do 52 pushups right now either. Most can’t. But… if you do one a day every day for a week, and then add one each week for 52 weeks, by the end of the year you will be able to do 52 pushups at one time. (Sooner if you can already do more than one).
Once you go through the process of publishing your book in Kindle the first time, it’s more easily replicable the next time. Can you imagine publishing one short story per week? That’s just 5,000 words max, approximately, which is about 1/3 more than the length of this article at 3,220 words or almost 6.5 pages.
“A short story can be anywhere from 1,000–15,000 words, but most publications only publish short stories between 3000–5,000 words. Anything less than 1000 words is categorized either as a flash fiction or a micro-fiction.”
SOURCE: WritingCooperative.com
More Great Advice from Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vee’s Advice on How to Sell More Books
There are a couple of secrets I have for everybody that wants to write a book. My belief is that you actually sell your book a year or two before you actually sell your book.
~Gary Vaynerchuk, Belarusian-American Magnate, author, b.11/14/1975
“People don’t want more content, they want more access [to you].”
~Gary Vaynerchuk, Belarusian-American Magnate, author, b.11/14/1975
How to Sell More Books on Instagram or Facebook
Also, How to Sell Books in Bulk
This next video is advice from 2015 so while some of it’s still relevant, keep in mind industry changes that might cause some of the details to vary.
Do I Need a Website?
If you’re creating full time for your brand, you will want to stake your claim on the real estate of the world wide web with your own website.
Which Social Media Platform is Best?
Chances are you’ll want — and need — multiple avenues of pursuit for exposure. This article will help you sort through the best social media platform for creators and writers, and thus for you and your brand building.
Get Gratitude.
The Day is the Way.
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Hello! I’m LeAura, owner and co-creator of iCreateDaily.com®. As an autodidactic philosopher, generalist, personal development advocate, entrepreneur, writer, editor, author, ideator, media publisher, and podcaster, I’m passionate about helping others achieve their best possible life! Our small family of entrepreneurs, writers, investors, educators and creators own and run websites around topics we enjoy, such as gardening, health and fitness, creativity and pets, with more to come.
While my greatest teacher is Life… my formal training includes certifications in mediation, fitness, and strategic intervention coaching, including marriage and family. Today, the synergy of creating websites, articles and podcasts, brings together all my favorite things: family, learning, growth, creating, connecting and contributing. To share these with you is a privilege, that serves my lifelong aspiration to help others.
My personal areas of creativity are in writing, masterminding, ideation, synthesis and bringing ideas to life through business and entrepreneurship, all with a pervasive spiritual foundation with a focus on elevating the lives of others.
Want to submit your photos, videos and/or article content for publication? We love to consider your contribution for publication! creators@icreatedaily.com