How to earn money writing short stories
Making money as a writer is not easy, especially if your forte is fiction. Short stories are a particularly difficult niche in the fiction field.
These independent works of fiction are usually between 1,000 and 4,000 words and are built around a single theme or mood. Many writers write short stories for fun but never think of monetising them because they don’t think it’s possible.
Fortunately, this has changed in recent years, and there are now more opportunities than ever to earn money from writing short stories.
If you enjoy writing short stories and are wondering where you can host your work to make money, consider submitting it to one or more of the following platforms.
Woman typing on her laptop at home.
1. Vocal Media
Vocal is a contribution platform that allows writers to publish short stories, poetry, personal essays, reviews and just about anything else.
What sets Vocal apart from other platforms are its writing “challenges”, which award impressive cash prizes to the three best contributions. These challenges sometimes include short fiction pieces.
For example, one recent challenge called for a post-apocalyptic short story with a heart-shaped medallion. The first place prize was $20,000.
Outside of challenges, short story writers can get paid for their work simply by having their stories read. Even if you have a free account, you can earn $3.80 for every 1,000 reads. However, if you upgrade to the Vocal+ subscription, these earnings increase to $6 per 1,000 reads.
You can also be selected as a lead story and earn small creator bonuses for your fiction.
Vocal also has a large community of supportive writers, with several active Facebook groups dedicated to other people’s stories.
Once you’re logged into your Stripe account, you can withdraw your earnings whenever you want, as long as you’ve earned at least $20.
2. Medium
Medium is another contribution platform similar to Vocal, but pays for the time members spend reading your story rather than a fixed amount. Note: your readers must be members for you to get paid for them.
Fortunately, Medium is a great platform with over 700,000 paying members. While most of the articles published are non-fiction, some publications offer short stories and other works of fiction.
Writer’s Blokke, The Lark, Creative Cafe, The Junction and Fiction Hub are just a few of the Medium publications you can submit your work to in order to expand your reach and income.
You don’t even have to be a paying member to join the free Medium Partner programme and earn money from your stories. Just connect your Medium profile with your Stripe account, and Medium will automatically pay you your earnings each month.
3. Wattpad
Wattpad is a platform designed specifically for fiction writers. It’s a great place for your work to find readers – and potential publishers.
It runs regular short story competitions, similar to Vocal. You can win gift cards, promotional material and unique opportunities. For example, “The Magicians” contest offered a grand prize of $10,000 and the winner’s story was made into a digital short film.
Wattpad offers some other ways to monetise your short stories through various programmes. One of them is paid stories, where your readers have to pay to read your story. There is also Wattpad Studios, a partnership between Wattpad and entertainment companies that turn stories into TV series, movies, digital or print videos.
To benefit from these programmes you need to have an established presence on the platform, but it’s a great way to get your work noticed.
4. Amazon KDP
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing allows writers to self-publish their work on Amazon and start earning money within 48 hours. The service is free and can help you reach a wide audience.
You have total control over the price of your book. Best of all, you keep a large share of the profits: between 35% and 70% of the sale price, depending on where the book is sold and whether you choose KDP Select.
The KDP Select programme offers additional benefits that increase the visibility of your book. However, it comes with exclusivity requirements, which means that your book is reserved for Amazon.
The Select program terms expire after three months, which means you don’t have to stay in the program forever once you’re published. This makes KDP Select an attractive option for new authors who need help getting the word out and marketing their book.
The only caveat is that your book must be at least 24 pages long. But if your short stories don’t meet this requirement on their own, you can compile them into an anthology.
Woman typing on her laptop at home.
5. Penpee
Although Penpee is a UK-based site, it is open to anyone around the world, as long as they are over 16. You can start with a free account, which allows you to post short stories of up to 6 chapters or 7,200 words, with a limit of 1,200 words per page.
You earn money when other members spend their Penpee credits to read your story. Credits are given to readers when they create an account, and they can also earn them by logging in every day, recommending their friends and writing reviews.
Each time a reader spends three credits to read your story, it is equivalent to 6 pence, or about 8 cents. A user spends four credits to read your chapter, but you only keep 45% of those credits with a free account. If you upgrade to a premium subscription, you keep 70% of those credits.
You can also earn extra money if your story makes the rankings.
While it’s not the kind of platform that will make you rich overnight, you can make money if you get an audience.
6. Literary magazines
While there are many options available for publishing your work online, don’t forget the power of print. There are still many literary magazines looking for promising writers to submit their stories to.
AGNI is one such magazine that was founded in 1972 with the aim of finding and supporting new talent. It has even published writers who have gone on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. If your story is accepted, they pay 10 dollars per page.
Carve is another magazine that publishes a quarterly print and digital magazine. It also runs quarterly short story contests and pays $100 for them.
Be sure to read the submission guidelines carefully, as they sometimes contain rules about publication rights and specific submission deadlines. For more information on sites that accept short content, see this article.
Final words on how to make money with short stories
One way to maximise your earnings from your short stories is to publish them on multiple sites. It depends on the publication, but many of these platforms allow you to keep the rights to your work, which means you can republish it wherever you want (for example, I usually publish my short stories on Vocal Media and Medium).
Try several platforms and you’ll probably find the one that suits you best. Then, with time and patience, you can build up a following and your news revenue can become very lucrative.