How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories

by Joanna Penn

Write more stories, strengthen your craft, and grow your author career.Short stories give you the freedom to experiment with new ideas, characters, and genres, without committing months or years to a novel. They can help you strengthen your craft, build your creative confidence, grow your audience, and create additional streams of income.

But how do you turn a promising idea into a satisfying story? Once it’s finished, what should you do with it?

Bestselling author Joanna Penn shares practical guidance drawn from her experience writing, publishing, licensing, narrating, crowdfunding, and marketing short fiction as J.F. Penn.

You’ll learn how

Find compelling story seeds and develop them into complete short storiesCreate emotional impact and land an ending readers won’t forgetExperiment creatively while improving skills you can use in longer fictionDistinguish between self-publishing, professional markets, competitions, anthologies, audio, and collectionsUnderstand rights and contracts so your stories can earn in multiple ways over timeUse short fiction to attract new readers, grow your email list, and expand your existing story worldsTurn a collection into a marketing event or special editionEach chapter includes questions to help you apply the ideas to your own writing and author business. You’ll also find real-world examples from Joanna’s career, along with the complete short story The Black Church and its author’s note as an example.

Whether you have an unfinished story tucked away, an idea you’ve never dared to explore, or a collection you’re ready to publish, this book will help you take the next step.

Your stories matter, even the short ones. It’s time to write them, publish them, and help your readers find them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing

140 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2026

About the author

Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling fiction and memoir author as J.F. Penn. 


She’s also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. She lives in Bath, England with her husband and two British shorthair cats, and enjoys a nice G&T.


See also Goodreads author's profile as J.F. Penn.

Reviews

[Roger Alix-Gaudreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short book on writing, publishing, and marketing short stories (as the title clearly indicates). A lot of the advice is fairly general, but I did take away a few new ideas about writing and using short stories for marketing. The book is loaded with relevant resources, some of which you may want to consult for deeper advice on the approach to writing short stories. As Joanna says, short stories are a completely different art form from novels, and there are reams of scholarship out there. If you're looking for deep guidance on how to write short stories, this is not that book, but it's got useful advice to get you started and pointers to other books that might help you.

[Claire Kinmil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book gives a good, short overview of how publishing and marketing short stories work. It also offers pointers on how to capture ideas you might eventually turn into stories. However, it doesn't explain how to write a short story or how a short story differs from a novel. This is why I think the title is slightly misleading. It should just be "How to Publish and Market Short Stories."

[Nick Rogers · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Great tips and advice on the genre, especially on AI.
Thanks.