The Most Important Thing You Need to Know
There isn’t a secret recipe to success so it’s no use looking for the answer here. If you want to write short stories and sell them there is one thing you need to do before you even begin to write your story. Market Research. You can’t write a story and send it off willy nilly. You may sell one or two that way, if you are extremely lucky, but for continuous success you need to know your reader.
I’d advise selecting one or two magazines that publish short stories. Those accepting them at the moment are, among others, Woman’s Weekly, Take A Break, Fiction Feast, The People’s Friend and Yours. You can find a full list of markets at www.womagwriter.blogspot.co.uk
Read through all of the stories in your chosen magazine and find something that resonates with you, those that might be similar to stories you would choose to write. Most importantly, read them with respect. Don’t sneer and pass judgement. It’s a hard market to crack and if you disrespect your reader your writing will come across as patronising. Guess what? No sale.
Get a pen and paper and make notes. What are the characters names, what ages? Where do they work? Where are the stories set? What are they about – family, romance, comedy, thriller? Each market has its subtleties and you need to make yourself familiar with them if you are to have any hope of success.
What is the word count? Each magazine has set limits. It’s no good sending a 700 word story to Woman’s Weekly when they only take 1,000 or 2,000 words. It will come straight back to you.
Now read the entire magazine, the articles, the readers’ letters, the adverts, the problem pages. You can learn so much about the readership by doing this and then you will be able to build a picture of your ideal reader. Do it as an exercise. Imagine a woman buying that magazine – what does she look like? What job does she have? Where does she live? Before you know it you will have a character; you may even have a story – get writing.
Editors are busy people. Make things easy for them. Present your work as per their guidelines, found on their website. If you are unsure how to set things out pop over to writer Sue Moorcroft’s website because she has the best example I’ve seen on how to present a professional manuscript. It will save you so much time and effort www.suemoorcroft.wordpress.com/manuscript-presentation
I’ll be talking at Words for the Wounded Literary Festival on 16th April and will be happy to chat about writing short stories for the commercial market throughout the day.
Tracy Baines’ stories have appeared in Woman’s Weekly, Best, Take a Break, The People’s Friend, Candis, My Weekly, Yours in the UK – and magazines in Scandinavia, Australia and South Africa. She has completed a book on Eating Disorders and is now working on a novel.