Publishing Tip: The “Short Story” Edition

Self-publish and/or traditional?

A reader asks:

I recently self-published my second short story (KDP) and am now preparing to submit queries to publishers. I could really use some help!

Alle sez:

Your question doesn’t clarify what project you are submitting to publishers. If it’s those short stories, there are the two major issues I suspect you will face:

1. Publishers don’t publish individual short stories. They publish books. (A book of short stories is called a “collection.”) You’ll need more than two stories. You’ll need 40,000 or so words.
2. If you have a collection, it is important to know that publishers (I am sorry to report) won’t take you seriously if you’ve published only through KDP. Unless your sales are extraordinary. You’ll need to publish short stories in top-ranked magazines in your genre; and: new stories, rather than your current two.

Of course, individual publishers may have different perspectives. This is the information that I’ve gathered over the years.