How I Marketed My Short Story Collection
Promoting short fiction titles is easier the publishing industry claims
For a lot of writers, marketing doesn’t come naturally. That’s sort of silly if you think about it: At its core, marketing is telling a story — just like writing. But in order for that story to effectively sell your book, you have to know who to tell it to when, and this can be the hard part — especially when it comes to getting your book in the press.
The way writers should go about this for a short story collection can be different than for a novel, something I’ve thought a lot about as I promote my own debut title, Tell Me What You See (Whiskey Tit, 2022). Short story promotion is much more focused but — at the same time — widespread.
Here’s why: Think about the way you describe what you short story collection is about. The answer likely varies, depending on which story from the book you think of first. For those writing linked collections where every story is set in the same town or is built around the same theme, it becomes easier to narrow the subject down to one sentence. But not all collections are connected. The main similarity between the stories in Tell Me What You See, for example, is they’re all set during covid. But is the collection about the pandemic? Not completely. Some stories are about quarantine, but there’s also a story about…
