Short-Story Fiction Book Publishers Key Terms

Understanding commonly used short-story book terminology

By Kristina Seleshanko

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.

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