Short Stories
April 22, 2011 | 
Author 
Ray Bradbury inspires enough writers, I would think, with his worldwide success and proliferation of short stories and novels. The people over at Write 1 Sub 1 grabbed hold of his idea about how to get published frequently and ran with it.
Write one story in a week, and sub one story in that same week. (Most likely not the same story!) Crazy? You can watch Ray Bradbury side-stepping blow-up godzillas as he wanders around his house wearing white shorts (at least I hope they’re shorts) on Youtube and think… well… yes, a little bit crazy.
But writers are supposed to be a bit crazy, aren’t we? Something enters our mind and it sinks it’s gleaming, scythe-like claws into whatever bit of gray stuff that controls creativity and doesn’t let go until we type it out. Bradbury started writing young, got rejected plenty of times, and went on to publish sometimes more than forty shorts in a year. That is simply awesome, stupendous, uber 
Writing a short story each week for the rest of the year seems rather daunting, but I know I can do it because I used to do it. I used to whip out a new short story every week, then set it aside and let it molder. Most of them are trunked now. Some of them have been tweaked and polished.
Those are the ones I will start submitting.
I’m coming late to the game on this “Write 1 Sub 1″ blog plan. Many other writers started at the beginning of the year. There is no catching up, but there is catching the wave. Starting Monday, I will dust off a completed story, send it out somewhere appropriate and start work on another.
My biggest problem now is that many of my short stories end up as novels. I can’t deal with another novel right now.
Posted in 
I just finished reading “Ex Post Facto” by Steven Thor Gunnin in “Elements of Time,” short story anthology from Accentuate and Twin Trinity Media.
The day seems normal enough when a family of four gets on a plane for a much-needed vacation. When another passenger seems to recognize the father, however, things change quickly. A very emotive tale about what happens when one man’s past catches up with him.
Getting your short story accepted in a magazine is a thrill in itself. It is hard to do and takes a lot of dedication, research, and time. When you finally do get your story accepted, it is clear you have a winner. So, why not milk it for all it is worth? You can increase profits from a short story by selling reprints.
Selling Short Story Reprints – Rights
Before you try to sell your short story for the second or third time, be sure you have the right to do so. Most magazines or e-zines use up your first electronic or first North American rights, or first serial rights. They might also keep exclusive rights for a certain period of time: anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years. They do this in order to be able to use your story in anthologies, reprinted magazines, or maintain on the ezine website for a longer period of time. Read the contract.
How to Maximize Profit by Selling Short Story Reprints
Finding the right market to submit your short story to requires several kinds of research. To increase your chances of being accepted and published, you must submit to the right short story market. Utilizing market listing websites, examining writer submission guidelines, and reading sample issues of the magazine or ezine are all important. This article will lead you through the process of researching the right short story market for your fiction writing.
How to Research the Right Short Story Market
The first step in researching the right short story market for your manuscript is exploring short story market listing sites.
Magazines or ezines? Professional, semi-pro, paying, token, for the love, copies?
The vast array of places to get short stories published confuses the heck out of me.
Should I start with the pro markets and work my way down? Is it totally a waste of time? Do I really have to read sample copies of every single mag and ezine I’m interested in?
After all the stumbling questions are asked, it really comes down to two things: where do you want your story to be published, and who will accept it.
I’d love to have a story in Fantasy & Science Fiction, or Fantasy Magazine someday. Dream big, right? So, I submit. And I keep submitting. And I write. And I keep writing. And I edit. And – you guessed it – I keep editing.
There is no secret formula. There is no magical method that will garner you acceptances every time you send out a manuscript. Just don’t give up.
Elements of Time
Available from Twin Trinity Media.
Elements of Dimension continues the Twin Trinity short story anthology series with more top-quality stories and poems. This book explores the themes of science fiction, fantasy and reality. I have one short story, "Death Obeyed," and one poem, "Tale of the Suburban Dungeon" in this book.
"Elements of Time" short story anthology is available now. It features winning stories from the Accentuate Services contests plus themed poetry. Two of M. Lori Motley's short stories, "Inescapable" and "No Time Like Now," are included.
"Elements of Soul" short story anthology is available now. It features fifteen winning stories from the Accentuate Services contests plus themed poetry. Two of M. Lori Motley's short stories, "Summer Heat" and "Flood of Tears," are included.