The revival of short fiction in a digital age

Back when I very first started writing short fiction for fun (sometime in the early to mid-90s) the short story was in a sad state. Most writers no longer made a living off writing just short stories, and the reading public was in the mood for something longer – the novel. And today the novel continues to dominate the literary scene, while short stories are relegated to small press literary magazines and maybe a few collections published as a book.

However, could we be seeing a revival of the short story, due in large part, to the internet and digital distribution? While short fiction still doesn’t come close to the popularity of the novel, in the next few years that might begin to change.

My hypothesis rests on the idea that a lot of short fiction can now be found and purchased on many websites dedicated to ebooks (and some stand-alone sites as well). For example, online ebook retailer Fictionwise has a section dedicated to short stories. And sites like Smashwords and Feedbooks also have a healthy stock of short fiction to chose from.

These sites and many more provide a lot more venues for writers to publish their work and for readers to find something good to read. One who writes short fiction no longer has to pin their hopes on small literary magazines or contests in order to find an audience.

Short stories are made for ebook reading devices

This is especially true if you have an iPhone/iPod Touch, where you can use a program like Stanza, download a story or two that can be read in a short amount of time – like in the waiting room at the doctors office, or while waiting for your flight to board at the airport.

Even with devices like the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, short stories are still perfect. They allow you to digest a perfectly satisfying literary experience without the time commitment of a novel. In today’s time-strapped society, I can see how the short story will catch on again and possibly regain its former glory.

Now it’s becoming possible to buy individual short stories for about the same price you’d buy a song on iTunes. Whether or not $0.99 will become the de facto price for short fiction on the web remains to be seen. Websites like Fictionwise charge more for a short story, often in the $2+ range for most stories – which is a little on the high side for me.

Good news for unpublished writers

The ability to publish and sell your short stories online and distribute them as a digital file means that unpublished writers can ‘test the waters’ and see how readers respond to their work. The type of feedback that is possible from this can be invaluable and help a writer really hone their craft so they can move on to bigger and better things.

Have you published and distributed your own short fiction online through sites like Smashwords? If so, leave a comment and share your experience.

Note: Stay tuned on July 20 (Monday), as I’ll be posting a very interesting and inspiring interview from an author who has really taken publishing short stories on the web to a whole new level!

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• Top 5 Reasons Why I Love Short Fiction
• Short fiction still healthy, despite low popularity
• Revisited: Reasons Why I Love Short Fiction
• Is the short story dead?
• History of the Short Story

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