I finished my short story… publishing advice?

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  • #140681
    MineralizedWritings
    @mineralizedwritings
      • Rank: Chosen One
      • Total Posts: 3006

      Hello yall! You heard that, I’m basically finished with my short story. It just needs a tad of editing. I was originally going to publish to KP, but my mom brought up the point that if it isn’t copyrighted, it could get stolen. so here’s the deal. I know nothing about this whole thing, and I’ve put a lot of effort into this story. It’s going to be 5000 words when it is edited. So yeah. I dunno what I’m doing. The publishing platforms I’ve seen out there are overwhelmingly for horror, dark fiction, and spec fic. Man, what’s happened to this world 😬. I’ll probably do KP as a last resort, but it isn’t as far reaching for connections as I would like. And yeah, could my work be stolen? Yes no, or kinda? Idk, just looking for a bit of direction.

      I know there are women’s fiction anthologies every once and awhile, but mine would likely stick out like a sour thumb. It’s dystopian, and kinda different, however it has enough Christianity in it to make it seem a but odd to a secular publisher.

      Published authors have any advice… @booksbyjayna ? XD

       

      @freedomwriter76 @godlyfantasy12 @loopylin @theloonyone @keleih-h @anyone else

       

      "And so I left this world just as I had entered it. Confused."

      #140685
      GodlyFantasy12
      @godlyfantasy12
        • Rank: Chosen One
        • Total Posts: 6645

        @mineralizedwritings hm, I’m not entirely sure I can help as, while I am published it’s been thru other ppl and I haven’t had to lift a finger XD

         

        (my parents surprised me the first time and that boom currently isn’t being sold really due to I wrote it when I was like 14)

        and the second time it was a poem for an anthology and I just sent it into a contest and was blessed enough to be one of the winners 😊

         

        I will say I understand your concern for having ur work stolen, as it was and still is sometimes a huge concern of mine, but I’ve coke to realize that those horror stories are usually few and far between at least for me, and KP seems to be a fine/safe place (some of that is due to its not far reaching community)

        If u don’t want to publish on KP however I would suggest looking on YouTube for tricks on publishing short stories, as YouTube tends to have a lot of advice for self publishing/indie authors 😊

        #IfMarcelDiesIRiot
        #ProtectMarcel
        #ProtectSeb

        #140734
        TheLoonyOne
        @theloonyone
          • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
          • Total Posts: 446

          @mineralizedwritings

          Ooh, I’ve thought about this. @loopylin and I were talking about how webtoon (a web-comic site) and a lot of publishing sites were pretty bad and thought of creating a Christian or just cleaner website of our own. Not sure if we’ll ever actually finish it (since we’re both very big procrastinators) and if we did, things could still get stolen, but it’s an idea. I don’t know much about publishing, though. The one thing I’ve gotten published was through my local library. I also know that you can self-publish, but then if you want it to reach a bigger audience, you’d have to do that on your own. Sorry I can’t be much help, I hope you find something that works!

          #140762
          MineralizedWritings
          @mineralizedwritings
            • Rank: Chosen One
            • Total Posts: 3006

            @godlyfantasy12 @theloonyone

            Thanks for the advice guys! I actually looked up getting a copyright and it’s not nearly as hard as I thought, so even if I get it on kp I’d have the copyright in case it was stolen. So lol I have it half figured out now.

            And loony (I have such a aversion to calling you loony, it sounds so mean lol) that sounds great, I never use webtoon because of that concern and a christian site would be awesome!

            "And so I left this world just as I had entered it. Confused."

            #140804
            Jayna Baas
            @booksbyjayna
              • Rank: Wise Jester
              • Total Posts: 93

              @mineralizedwritings

              Congratulations on finishing your short story! That’s exciting! It sounds like you’re getting the copyright thing figured out, but just let me say that legally your work is protected by copyright as soon as you create it. There’s no such thing as not having a copyright. The difference is that registering your copyright with the US Copyright Office gives you greater power to defend your copyright in a court of law and sue for infringement (or, alternatively, prove your ownership if someone were to sue you for infringement). But as long as you created the work, you already have the copyright. It’s just harder to prove.

              Now, as for publishing—it depends on what you’re wanting to do. If you just want to get it out there and don’t really care if you get money from it or if many people have access to it, publishing it on a website is fine. If you want to make it widely available and earn money for it, you can publish short stories through Amazon/Kindle the same as full-length books. Amazon also has a serialized option for publishing stories in parts. I haven’t personally tried that program, but I have published shorter works through Kindle and can answer questions if you have them. I do recommend having at least one other person edit your work for you, since it can be really hard to see the errors in your own work. Hope that helps. 🙂

               

              ​Jayna Baas
              Christian Author/Editor
              www.booksbyjayna.com

              #140856
              Otherworldly Historian
              @otherworldlyhistorian
                • Rank: Loyal Sidekick
                • Total Posts: 231

                @mineralizedwritings

                 

                You could also see about entering it in a contest like https://www.artandwriting.org. I think that ones season is over this school year but you could edit and enter next school year.

                Through darkness,
                light shines brightest

                #140864
                Starshiness
                @starshiness
                  • Rank: Loyal Sidekick
                  • Total Posts: 174

                  @mineralizedwritings Congrats on finishing your story!! And this is a great question; I personally don’t have any advice, because I am in a similar boat actually 😅. So thank you for asking, I’ve been wondering the same thing 😂. Specifically, I’ve been interested in publishing in an anthology… so I’m curious, does anyone know of any that are open to submissions?

                  I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

                  #141030
                  MineralizedWritings
                  @mineralizedwritings
                    • Rank: Chosen One
                    • Total Posts: 3006

                    @starshiness @otherworldlyhistorian @booksbyjayna

                    Thanks for the advice guys! I got a critique (Harsh but very informative lol) and I might not be ready to publish yet… lol.

                    "And so I left this world just as I had entered it. Confused."

                    #141047
                    Jayna Baas
                    @booksbyjayna
                      • Rank: Wise Jester
                      • Total Posts: 93

                      Thanks for the advice guys! I got a critique (Harsh but very informative lol) and I might not be ready to publish yet… lol.

                      Oof, that can be tough, but it sounds like it was good for you and you’re taking it well. Keep up the good work!

                      ​Jayna Baas
                      Christian Author/Editor
                      www.booksbyjayna.com

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