Short Story Promotion

[senseiseth]

So I had a short story published recently, and I wanted to know how to help promote that it was published and how to help engage the readership to help spread the word of the story's existence. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Philip Overby]

This isn't always the easiest thing. Here are some suggestions:

1. Word of mouth-Ask your friends, family, friends' family, friends' dogs, etc to check it out. If it's for sale in an anthology or collection it may be a bit harder for you to get people to check out if it's not free.

2. Social media-While this is a tricky road to navigate, it can work. I've had people comment on my stories after sharing them on Twitter or my blog. I'm not sure what the secret of using social media to promote your work is, but if you have people interested in reading on your Facebook or Twitter, that can help a lot.

3. Sharing it here?-We have a Self-Promotion forum where you can share your available work.

4. Find communities and groups interested in sharing work-I've found some cool groups on Facebook and Google+ that share stories and such.

5. Share excerpts in different places to maybe get people more interested-If whoever published it is OK with you sharing excerpts, then this can help. A little taste of what you have to offer can go a long way.

Hope any of these help! Good luck!