Yesterday’s post, where I asked if the rise in digital publishing would result in the revival of the short story, is part of a series of thoughts I’ve been having since I’ve started working on my short story collection, Capital Comes Dripping.
Of course, the debate surrounding digital publishing, the likely demise of traditional publishing and all that is a debate that’s alive and well at the moment.
But the point of my post wasn’t chiefly to do with digital publishing. It’s to do with short fiction and its relative unpopularity compared to its bigger sister, the novel.
Is the short story collection underrated?
Big publishers are known for barely going near short story collections unless they’re already selling tonnes of novels, like Stephen King. I’ve found that small presses are a little more likely to accept collections, so perhaps the shake up in publishing might be a blessing disguise for short fiction writers.
Long Story Shorts from Affirm Press sounds like an exciting opportunity for short fiction and I kind of hope I can get my collection in working order before the deadline. But if not, hopefully it might contribute to a precedent of more publishers accepting more collections, even by unknowns.
Do people think the short story collection is underrated or do you think it doesn’t deserve the same status as a novel? And how are we going to revive the short story collection?
Delia Falconer made an interesting observation in her preface of The Best Short Stories of 2006. She wrote that Australia does not have a traditional of single author anthologies of short stories and felt that was a little disappointing.
I have to admit that I have had enormous trouble getting through any of the short story anthologies sitting on the bedside table. Nick Earls’ is the only one I’ve read from cover to cover – because it took me four stories to realise it was a collected works – it wasn’t marketed as such (which I think is also VERY telling of the situation in Australia). Having said that though – I really enjoying Friday’s when I have the time to sit and read the Flash Fiction and Friday Fiction short stories.
As for whether it is under-rated … I think novels and short stories are two different kettles of fish and simply publishing them in the same format does a disservice. You can’t treat a collection of short stories as a novel.
I see short stories as brilliant for people who want to read something short and satisfying over lunch, or while they commute. As a friend of mine said last year – he’d never commit to reading a novel, but he loves short stories.
I see the possiblity in the not to distant future, of being able to by an anthology of short stories online, as a digital purchace and have a story delivered each day until the anthology has ended.
My personal belief is you have to be savier with short story collections. That’s where Chinese Whisperings evolved from. I wanted there to be something to propel readers from one story to another, but for them to all stand alone as piece in their own right. I guess we’ll see in December if we pull it off.
As for Affirm Press – I think it’s a bold move and I hope it pays off for them. There is definitely a section of the market who want short story collections and this is were the small presses are coming to the fore – finding the niches in the market and exploiting them. I’m working towards the February deadline next year and hope my work will be considered … if not a good opportunity to work to a deadline to get a whole heap of work sorted finally.
I’m thinking of using my Fourth Fiction novella, along with another longish short story I’ve been mucking around with and then padding it out with some other short stories.
Think of ranted on completely off topic….
.-= Jodi Cleghorn´s last blog ..#4 Beginnings =-.
That was the 2008 edition of the Best Short Stories. My typing is crap tonight and my proof reading even worse.
Hey Ben, we have quite a few anthologies that sell well here, I think that it goes with your statement that people have short attention spans. However, I do notice that unless the shorts are by a well known author they don’t do as well. It seems as though short stories are snubbed a tad because that’s just what they are… sometimes, maybe it cheapens something in the readers mind, when really the story is just as good as an actual book.
It tends to be a conundrum…
I definitely believe that short story collections are underrated and that it should receive the same status as a novel.
I guess I’m in a minority, I LOVE short story collections. I’ve got many of them in my personal library and these are the books that get re-read most often.
Would I ever try to publish a collection of my own short stories? You betcha! Just as soon as I’ve written them.
.-= C R Ward´s last blog ..Ottava Rima =-.
Delia Falconer needs to do a little more research, there’s quite a number of short story collections by various Aussie authors ranging from Brett McBean through to the crime writers.
Having quite a number of short story collections in my bookshelves I would say the market isn’t quite as bad as people are making out. The continued rise of small press should see short story collections on the rise imho.
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