Taking part in anthologies and short story collections, this author says, is a great way to get your foot in the door of the publishing world and attract new readers.

by D.C. Gomez

For most of my author career, I have been taking part in anthologies or short stories collections. At each stage of my journey, they were very helpful for very different reasons. As a “baby author” not sure of the process of publishing and marketing, anthologies provided a great venue to collaborate with other authors and ask questions in a safe space. I could build connections and make new friends in the industry. The authors in those collections were amazing mentors in helping me establish my author platform and teaching me how to promote my books on social networks. My understanding of the publishing world expanded during these projects.

As I grew more comfortable with the craft, anthologies were an amazing way to add exposure for my works. New projects gave me opportunities to create stories outside of my genre and pushed my boundaries. Short stories are a refreshing way to give authors a break from their principal works while expanding their skills and techniques. It also was a great way to keep up with the changing trends in the industry, as different projects focused on the emerging tropes. With a requirement of 8–12,000 words per submission, they were not an enormous time commitment on my part. I even had the pleasure of participating in a collection that made it to the USA Today bestsellers list.

After years of participating in different collections and projects, it was the perfect time to transition to publishing them. Together with the talented Jaime Dalton, we created The Tales Collections—an opportunity to not only create short stories we enjoy, but to provide a venue for other authors to be published as well. We have taken our many years of experience to create a fun journey for both the readers and the authors in the groups.

Anthologies are a great way for readers to be introduced to new authors without too much of a commitment on their part.

Anthologies and short stories collections are a great way for readers to be introduced to new authors without too much of a commitment on their part. Many of my submissions from those previous collections are the ones I currently use as reader magnets or giveaways for my tribe. It is a fun way to connect with individuals that might not be very familiar with my style of writing or my characters.

Like many things in the writing community, the popularity of anthologies changes every year. Fortunately, holiday anthologies and collections are still very popular and do very well with readers. If you are an author and have never taken part in an anthology, I would recommend joining a holiday one. For readers looking for new authors, anthologies are a great place to start.

D.C. Gomez is an award-winning, USA Today–bestselling author, podcaster, motivational speaker, and coach. Born in the Dominican Republic, she grew up in Salem, Massachusetts, studied film and television at New York University, and after college joined the U.S. Army and proudly served for four years. D.C. has a master’s degree in science administration from Central Michigan University, as well as a master’s in adult education from Texas A&M University-Texarkana. She is a certified John Maxwell Team speaker and coach, and a certified meditation instructor from the Chopra Center. One of D.C.’s passions is helping those around her overcome their self-limiting beliefs. She writes both non-fiction and fiction books in genres ranging from urban fantasy to children’s.

Learn more about D.C.’s books, and her passion, at her website.