Short stories publishing is a tight market, and only the best stories in contemporary and children's literature are published. To get most short story book publishers to take a look at a manuscript for a short story book, the stories must be compelling and moving.

More important than that, an author must be able to provide publishers of short stories with evidence that they have been published before. Most publishers will not waste time on someone who cannot prove they are publishable.

The process of working with short story fiction book publishers includes putting together a manuscript for publishing, but there are a few other steps you must take before presenting your work. These steps include:

1. Finding smaller magazine and journal markets to begin publishing stories.

2. Choosing publishers that are looking for the type of stories you write.

3. Writing an attention-getting cover letter.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Publish a short story in magazines or journals

Anyone in the short story publishing business will tell you that you need to build credentials as a fiction writer before you submit a manuscript to a publisher. The easiest way to do this is to get your best stories published in magazines and online literary journals. This is a good way to get familiar the process, which will come in handy when you're ready to work with a book publisher.

I recommend: NoHoArtsDistrict.com provides a comprehensive article that outlines the process of publishing a single short story. You will also need to find reliable sources that list magazines and journals you can submit to, like the one provided by Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.

Know what short story publishers look for when preparing your manuscript

Publishers look for many things from your manuscript, so it must deliver in order to be considered. First, your work must be grammatically correct and in the proper manuscript format. It must also tell a good, original story. If your story has all this, you're ready to send it out to publishers.

I recommend: If you are worried about manuscript format for your short stories, check out the example format provided by William Shunn. Daily Writing Tips goes through the process of how and where you can publish short stories, step by step.

Choose short fiction publishers that publish your genre

When choosing a places to submit your work, you must do your homework and find publishers that accept short fiction. Once you find that, you can narrow your search down to find the publishers that print short fiction of specific genre you write, such as romance or science fiction.

I recommend: TopicSites offers a complete list of publishers (both traditional and on-demand) that specialize in short fiction. The Market List provides both journals and publishers that work with short stories in a variety of genres.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Publishing a story is not something that usually happens overnight for most writers. Do not let rejection letters stop you from submitting your stories to other publishers.
• •  Be sure to follow publisher submission guidelines. If the publisher does not accept simultaneous submissions, for instance, your story could be rejected if you fail to adhere to this rule.ule.

Publishing short stories is almost as difficult as publishing poetry. The market is small, and the larger publishing houses will not usually publish a collection of short stories.

Keep the following in mind as you pursue short story publishing:

1. There are other short story publishers besides hardback book publishers, such as anthologies, print magazines and online magazines.

2. Keep your manuscript at the top of the editor's slush pile by carefully following the guidelines and proper manuscript format used by publishers of short stories.

3. Keep submitting even if you're rejected by short story publishers. Learn from each rejection, and continue to review and revise your work.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Try publishing short stories online

Most online short story publishing venues either don't pay or pay a small amount for short stories. However, it is an excellent way to gain some credits if you're just beginning to find a short story book publisher for your collection. Be wary of sites that publish everything that is submitted. Most editors don't look at that as a legitimate short story publishing credit since there were no editorial decisions regarding worthiness for publication.

I recommend: The Cafe Irreal and Sundress Publications are well known online short fiction publishers. To find other online magazines that are short story publishers, check out Every Writer's Resource, which lists online magazines along with reviews and links to the websites.

Submit to magazine short story publishers

Many magazines publish short stories on a monthly basis. Some pay well, and they are the most difficult to get into. The ones that don't pay as much are usually smaller and have a lesser circulation, but the odds of getting your story published is more likely.

I recommend: Cemetery Dance magazine is a good venue for short horror stories. Glimmer Train Press and ByLine magazine also accept short fiction, and have various literary contests.

Send your manuscript to short fiction publishers

Most larger publishing houses do not publish short fiction; however, independent publishers print anthologies and collections from the same author. Editors place ads for anthology submissions in literary magazines and online, and many colleges publish anthologies. If you've got a collection that is enough to fill a book, consider submitting it to independent short story book publishers.

I recommend: Independent publishers, such as Peppertree Press or Algonquin Books may be good places to send queries about your manuscript. The Market List also has listings for anthology submissions.

Consider self-publishing

If you are unable to find publishers for your short stories, consider becoming your own publisher. You have total control over the finished product. But the down side to this is that you will be responsible for hiring an editor, artist for the cover art, and a printer. Then you will be responsible for the distribution and order fulfillment. However, the upside is you cut out the middle man, and your profit margin is greater. You have two options here, you can be your own publisher and purchase your own International Standard Book Number (ISBN) or you could use a vanity press.

I recommend: Hire an editor to ensure that your manuscript is clean. You can place ads on Guru or Journalism Jobs. Your local college English professor could be a good alternative. If you decide to become your own publisher, buy your ISBNs at Bowker. If you want to use a vanity press, try Author House or Vantage Press.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Read magazines and books that are in your genre to see what types of stories the editors are looking for.
• •  Learn the correct format in which to type your manuscript.
• •  Be sure to follow the submission guidelines to the letter.

If you're committed to writing short stories, there are ways for making the most of short story fiction book publishers and getting to see your work in print. You can self-publish, of course, but it's far less expensive to find short story book publishers and submit your work directly to them. However, publishers for short stories often don't accept direct submissions, but require you to have an agent, who submits work for you.

There are several ways to get your work in the hands of publishers of short stories. Try these techniques to get their attention:

1. Find an agent who will represent you and submit your work to short story publishers.
2. Use submission services to story publishers so you can concentrate on writing.
3. Enter short story publishing writing contests to get the attention of short story editors.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Seek out a literary agent to represent your stories to short fiction publishers

If you really want your writing to be seen by short stories publishers, then find a literary agent to represent you and your work. They know editors and publishers, and know where to submit your work for consideration. They make the contacts and do the legwork, while you continue to write and produce more short fiction.

I recommend: Many agents won't read one or two short stories, but will read a compilation of short stories. However, the Writers Literary Agency accepts short story proposals for a publisher specializing in short story publishing. Agent Query allows you to search for agents who will represent your work to publishers of short stories.

Use a submission service to make publishing stories easier

If you're not a full-time writer, you may find it difficult to find the time to write and then submit your work. If you use a submission service, they'll do the submitting for you, which gives you more time to write your short stories. You send them a sample of your writing, they'll evaluate it, and let you know if they think they can help you with submission to short fiction publishers.

I recommend: Writer's Relief is a submission service that will evaluate your work and submit it to adult and children's short story publishers for a fee. Their website includes information on how to publish a short story and a checklist for writing a short story. FirstEditing.Com offers manuscript and short story editing, and can create query letters for you, too.

Find short story contests to gain the attention of short story book publishers

Large short story contests are often judged by editors from publishing houses publishing short stories. If you gain the attention of the editor, then you may end up publishing a story with that editor. Look for contests that offer a decent prize for the winner, and that are offered by reputable agencies or groups.

I recommend: The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition closes in May of each year, and you can submit your work online. Writer's Digest Magazine offers an annual writing competition that includes a short story category.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Publishing a short story is one step on the road toward full-time fiction writing. Work at your craft, take creative writing classes online or in your area, and read about the business of writing in magazines geared specifically to writers. If you're interested in a specific genre of writing, such as romance or suspense, read how-to write books about that genre to learn everything you can about writing.

If you dream of being a famous short-story writer, you'll need to brush up on short-story fiction book publishers' key terms. Most authors of short stories find publishing success in magazines where there is more demand for short fiction. Still, some smaller book publishers do seek short stories for anthologies. So if you long to see your name on the cover of a book, you should first gain some credits in the magazine world and then try submitting to book publishers. However, book publishers have their own jargon that may be confusing. Here are some terms you're likely to run across when seeking short-story book publishers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Anthology

When short stories are published in book form, they are published in anthologies. Anthologies are books containing an assortment of shorter literary works, either by the same author or (most commonly) by a number of authors.

I recommend: Apollo's Lyre explains what anthologies are and how to submit to them.

Manuscript

A manuscript is a short story (or article, poem or book) that's either typed on plain white paper or printed out from a word-processing program on plain white paper. Authors are required to submit their full short story to a publisher in manuscript format.

I recommend: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America offers tips on preparing short-story manuscripts (even those not in the genres of fantasy or sci-fi).

Flat fee

Short-story authors rarely earn an advance (unless they are fortunate enough to have an entire anthology focus on their own writing, which is rare unless they are famous). Instead, authors usually earn a flat fee when their short story is included in an anthology. A flat fee is a lump sum paid by the publisher for the right to publish the author's manuscript.

I recommend: Haypenny Press, publisher of a mystery anthology, discusses a flat-fee payment in its writer's guidelines.

Royalty

Royalties are rarely paid to short-story writers, but some anthology publishers offer them. A royalty is a percentage of the book's sale that is paid to the author. It may be based either on either the gross or net sales of the book.

I recommend: Accentuate Author Services explains how its contest may land short-story writers a royalty-paying book anthology contract.

Vanity press

A vanity press is any publisher that makes writers pay to have their short stories (or other literary works) published. Many vanity presses target poets and short-story writers.

I recommend: Firefox News explains how to recognize a vanity publisher.

Simultaneous submission

A simultaneous submission occurs when an author submits his or her manuscript to more than one publisher, editor or agent at a time. It is taboo to submit simultaneously without mentioning that you have done so in a cover letter. Some publishing houses refuse to look at simultaneous submissions.

I recommend: Moira Allen's Writing-World.com explains the pros and cons of simultaneous submissions.