Monday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

THE NEW GOLDEN AGE OF SHORT FICTION: 12 REASONS TO WRITE A SHORT STORY THIS MONTH

By: Anne R. Allen

I recently heard from a writer who said she felt disrespected by her writing group. They were all working on novels and memoir and didn't take her short fiction work seriously.

I saw another writer on Google Plus asking for help because his work kept coming in at around 40 pages—like that was a bad thing.

They were dealing with a common problem: short stories (up to 30K words) and novellas (30k-50K words) haven't been getting much respect since the demise of the fiction market in mainstream magazines two decades ago.

(Those word counts are from Writer's Digest. Some people use the term "novelette" to mean a story in the 10K to 30K range.)

For the past twenty years or so, most writers have treated short stories as practice pieces for classes and workshops—like the finger exercises piano students do before they graduate to playing real music. 

And many of us have been treating novellas as unfinished, failed novels that need "fleshing out."

But that's so last century.

Shorter fiction is having a renaissance in the digital age. In fact, this may be the new golden age of the short story. 

The New York Times reports, "Stories are perfect for the digital age...because readers want to connect and want that connection to be intense and to move on. That is, after all, what a short story is all about." 

Book marketing guru Penny Sansevieri said in the HuffPo: "short is the new long. Thanks to consumers who want quick bites of information and things like Kindle Singles, consumers love short." 

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Colorful Words from the Greek http://ow.ly/wIbEX Daily Writing Tips
2. Writers On The Move: Tips on Writing Humor, Part Two http://ow.ly/wIc3C
3. Five Qualities of High-Concept Stories for Your Written Work | The Writers Bureau Blog http://ow.ly/wIc4V
4. The Secret to Crafting High Stakes | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/wIc5o
5. Cover to Cover III: Owning a First Draft http://ow.ly/wIc6g
6. A Writer's Journey: What Is The Right Length For a Chapter? http://ow.ly/wIc89
7. 10 traits of a great script http://ow.ly/wIcic
8. How Passion Can Make or Break Your Writing Career - The Write Life http://ow.ly/wIckV
9. What are the Basics of Writing Well? http://ow.ly/wIcpI
10. Finding Readers Week: Mrs Woog’s Tips to Create Conversations on Your Blog : @ProBlogger http://ow.ly/wIctr
11. FedEx’s Price Rise Is a Blessing in Disguise for Amazon | The Passive Voice |  http://ow.ly/wIcwd
12. Book Soundtracks? Now Possible with Booktrack | Where Writers Win http://ow.ly/wIcyh
13. Orchestrating a “Craig’s List” Free eBook Event | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/wIczZ
14. 8 Tips for Writers Using Pinterest - Social Media Just for Writers http://ow.ly/wIcHc
15. How To Market Your Book To The Locals - Four Secrets http://ow.ly/wIps7
16. Anne R. Allen's Blog: The New Golden Age of Short Fiction: 12 Reasons to Write a Short Story This Month http://ow.ly/wIEda
17. WriteIntoPrint: Self editing 4 fiction #7 Interior Monologue http://ow.ly/wIEWx
18. AdviceToWriters - Advice to Writers - Keep the Momentum Going http://ow.ly/wIFf1

Happy writing and running, Kathy