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A short story of mine has grown until it's become a bit of a monster - about 15K. I don't know if that makes it a novelette or a novella, but it's certainly too long for most of the journals I would normally consider for submission.

A superstitious dread of talking too much about my work before it's published prevents me from going into too much detail. But I can say that the story is told from an unusual perspective, that the setting is historical, and it's definitely non-realist (although it isn't genre fantasy or magical realism, either).

What would be a good market for experimental novellas? I tend to prefer print, but for this awkwardly-sized piece I'd (reluctantly) consider an ebook publisher.

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I should point out that I know about Duotrope, Writers & Artists, Poets & Writers, etc. I'm hoping for recommendations of actual publishers. –  micapam Feb 24 '13 at 22:21
The answers to this are going to be a bit vague, since we don't know all that much about the book other than its experimental nature. Maybe a better question would be to ask how to identify appropriate places to place the manuscript. –  Neil Fein Feb 25 '13 at 4:35
Thanks for your comment. But 'how to identify markets' isn't a question I want answered. So I've edited it to a more generic question that asks for recommendations of markets for experimental novellas. Is that better? –  micapam Feb 25 '13 at 8:38
You mentioned that you are familiar with Duotrope. They list a number of small-press, themed anthologies that seek novellas/etc. Have you checked out those? –  Anna M Feb 25 '13 at 13:43
The question is still quite vague, I think. –  Neil Fein Feb 25 '13 at 17:29

3 Answers 3

up vote 2 down vote accepted

You may be interested in this competition link for a novella.


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An actual answer to my question! Thanks elle6677. –  micapam Jan 15 at 21:31

Just go directly to ebook through amazon. You can freely market it through FB by all of the various free FB apps.

Self publish, it will result in a lot fewer rejection letters.

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Thanks for your response, Grevor. I'm not interested in self-publishing, as I need the perspective of an editor's outside eye. In any case, rejection letters are character-building :) –  micapam Feb 27 '13 at 3:47
Curious that I have the same opinion as you, Micapam. In fact self publishing has the drawback of having no outside evaluation to you work, besides I'm not really confident that there is a market for electronic publishing (specially outside English language) –  Psicofrenia Jun 27 '13 at 6:50
That's what the critique sites are for. Better than most editors, IMHO. Different media, different tools. –  Tannalein Jun 27 '13 at 20:56

I understand why you have reservations about self-publishing, but the market for novellas has always been thin.

If none of the outlets you find through Duotrope et al. suit your story, and you don’t want to just publish it directly, your best bet might be to build up your professional portfolio with shorter stories, and then publish an anthology that includes those stories plus your novella.

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