Wonder whether to publish flash fiction on blog to Amazon etc.

[Paul Gr]

I've published a couple of episodes of a flash fiction story on my blog and am wondering whether to extend them into a short story and publish it on Amazon etc.
I've seen short stories as short as 12 pages on Amazon and have enough other episodes of my story in reserve to reach that target.
This isn't my main work in progress, it's just a little entertainment for me, a way of escaping from final editing my WIP, which I don't like.

[Bill Hiatt]

I've published a couple of episodes of a flash fiction story on my blog and am wondering whether to extend them into a short story and publish it on Amazon etc.
I've seen short stories as short as 12 pages on Amazon and have enough other episodes of my story in reserve to reach that target.
This isn't my main work in progress, it's just a little entertainment for me, a way of escaping from final editing my WIP, which I don't like.

My answer would have been different a few years ago. Then, a short story might have attracted some interest on Amazon. Now, partly because there are so many free and cheap novels, a short story published by itself tends to languish on the digital shelves.

What short stories are really good for is as reader magnets for building a mailing list. I'd explore that possibility first.

[Jeff Tanyard]

There's not much downside to publishing them so long as you're not paying for covers or editing or anything.  If your costs are zero, then I say go for it.

If you put it in KU, you'll want to take the stories down from your blog.  I seem to recall Amazon's spiders finding stories posted on blogs and declaring them to be afoul of the exclusivity requirement, though maybe someone else can comment on that more definitively.   

As Bill said, short stories are probably best utilized as reader magnets, so you'll want to consider that.

Best of luck with whatever you decide. 

[Lorri Moulton]

I publish everything.  Recently, I raised the price of my shorter stories from 99c to $2.99.  I don't sell a lot, but I seem to sell a few more at the higher price. 

My shortest fiction book is 37 pages, but that's a collection of 10 short stories.  It was also the first thing I published (for my dad).

ETA: It's the lavender cover and has a photo for each story.  It took me all day to figure out how to publish that book...but my dad was very happy.

[Post-Doctorate D]

Another option to consider is a short story collection, especially if they share a common theme.

If you put it in KU, you'll want to take the stories down from your blog.  I seem to recall Amazon's spiders finding stories posted on blogs and declaring them to be afoul of the exclusivity requirement, though maybe someone else can comment on that more definitively.   

I recall that is the case as well.  Or, that the rules (way back when) were sufficiently vague that it was better to err on the side of caution and remove them from websites where you might have published them.

[Bill Hiatt]

Another option to consider is a short story collection, especially if they share a common theme.

If you put it in KU, you'll want to take the stories down from your blog.  I seem to recall Amazon's spiders finding stories posted on blogs and declaring them to be afoul of the exclusivity requirement, though maybe someone else can comment on that more definitively.   

I recall that is the case as well.  Or, that the rules (way back when) were sufficiently vague that it was better to err on the side of caution and remove them from websites where you might have published them.

Yeah, Amazon won't object to a Look-Inside sized sample, but anything bigger will be counted as distribution under the terms of the Select agreement.