I would like to know, from someone who has marketed a collection of short stories (or is otherwise knowledgeable in these affairs), about how many short stories a publisher is looking for to constitute a collection. Let's assume all the short stories are between two and ten pages long.
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6Enough to fill a book.– SF.Nov 24, 2012 at 1:14
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How big of a book?– tylerharmsNov 24, 2012 at 14:54
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5However big the publisher will offer a contract for.– Lauren-Clear-Monica-IpsumNov 24, 2012 at 20:11
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2I assume you have short story collections. Why not count 'em up?– Ken MohnkernJun 27, 2016 at 22:08
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Generally, the publishers want a certain page count. You need enough stories to reach that page count.– ShadoCatApr 17, 2019 at 20:06
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5 Answers
Short story collections are notoriously had to place over the transom. Typically a writer will have published most or all of the stories in other venues and then work with an agent to market the collection...at which point the length will vary widely depending on the publisher.
At any rate, there's really no rule of thumb due to the differences between publishers. Do you have publishers in mind? Have you published any of the stories in publications that are likely to be of interest to a publisher?
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I have published three stories (of ten) with different, small publishers. None of these houses have published anything beyond a magazine in the past. I'm seeing more and more small, indy publishers publishing collections, but I haven't gotten my hands on many to see what's average for number of stories. Obviously, a complete collection is a complete collection, but I feel like I have a few stories that could be added or removed to maintain the integrity of the collection. Nov 24, 2012 at 8:30
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1I think you're going to have to consider the number of stories as a function of the publisher you find. There's no real average to be had. Publishing your stories individually will hopefully open the doors to publishers willing to print a collection. I'd package up your collection with the stories you feel necessary and then, when you work with the publisher, discuss including more. Sorry I can't be more helpful, but it is such an individualized process.– ChrisNov 24, 2012 at 16:54
I think the thumb rule is 40,000 words totally. The reader who buys your collection will feel he/she has got his/her money's worth if there are at least 40,000 words to read. At an average of 2500 words per story, that makes 16 stories. Less no. of stories if they are longer.
Hope that helps.
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1A novella really cuts down the number of stories. I see that a lot in collections, one story will be a novella. Dec 12, 2015 at 19:59
My rule of thumb: Publish when the paperback is thick enough to put a readable title on the spine.
I use CreateSpace for my paperbacks. For CreateSpace, you need a minimum of 110 pages to put text on the spine. That gives 1/8" of room for the title. That's maybe an 11 or 12 point font (assuming all caps or small caps with no descenders), which is pretty darned small.
So I figure a minimum of 130 pages total, including frontmatter and backmatter.
The amount of text you need depends on a bunch of parameters that affect page count: trim size, font, font size, leading (aka line spacing), margins, paragraph length, amount of frontmatter and backmatter.
I know numerous writers (including me) who publish collections with 5 stories. My one collection (so far) has 27000 words, including 24000 words of story content, an introduction for the collection, and 300–500 of author notes for each story.
answered Jun 27, 2016 at 19:46
I'm in the UK but I've had my first short story collection published at the tail end of 2018 by an American publisher who had previously published academic publications, but was interested in branching out with my collection of fictional stories, which are all cello based, including a lot of historical research. I aimed for between 40 and 45,000 words, and provided illustrations for all the stories, and it was published as I submitted it, already proofread and with a list of illustration attributions and permissions. As I was writing in a field that also is difficult to place I feel very lucky to have found the right publisher for that collection. I have no agent at present, but joined the Society of Authors who give useful advice on contracts.
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1Welcome to Writing.SE! While an interesting anecdote, I'm afraid I don't see an actual answer to the question here. How many short stories were in your collection?– F1Krazy ♦Apr 17, 2019 at 11:12
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I like the specific word-count, but maybe if this is broken into paragraphs, that part of the answer would stand out more. Also, I agree with @F1Krazy - do you recall how many specific stories it was? Apr 17, 2019 at 12:59
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Welcome to Writing.SE Gill. We'd love to see more answers (and/or questions) from you in the future. We like to see more fleshed out answers here as a general rule. I am guessing your point is that the number of stories doesn't really matter, that it depends on the word count. That's a great point (and a bit of a frame challenge for the question, which is totally allowed). Perhaps you could state it more directly? Or be clear about your point if it's actually something else. Thanks!– CynApr 17, 2019 at 15:26
Go into a bookstore and look at a variety of shortstory collections, both by a single writer and anthologies. These are works that have successfully been published. Note the number of pages and the number of stories in each volume. Then do your calculations.
