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Q&A

Where can a new author sell the first chapter of a book?

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Where can I publish my work online and get paid for it?

I'm just new to this and this is my first work and it's still chapter 1. It's a fantasy and mythical story.

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2 answers

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If you want to publish a shorter work AND get paid for it, then it almost certainly needs to be a complete stand-alone short story, not the first chapter of a longer work. If you can successfully rewrite your chapter into a stand-alone story, then there are actually plenty of both print and online outlets that buy stories in the fantasy genre. The most prestigious and well-paying are well-established print publications like The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Here's an additional list of other paying fantasy markets.

It would be irresponsible to not warn that fiction writing is most definitely NOT a reliable source of quick money, particularly for a new writer. There is a LOT of competition, and many of your competitors will have been writing professionally for years and years. Even well-established writers often struggle to pay the bills, or work second jobs to subsidize their writing careers. It's quite common for writers to have years of writing under their belts before their very first paid sales. You can always self-publish online, and put your work up for sale, but it's very unlikely that people will pay for an unfinished book by an completely unknown author (unless you're an amazing salesperson).

If you just want to be read, and you don't care about being paid, there are a lot of non-paying online outlets that feature work by all comers. In particular, if you write fan fiction, or work that plausibly fits into the world of an established fantasy franchise, there are passionate communities of fans who might embrace your work, and established places to publish it. In that case, however, you're basically legally prohibited from profiting from your writing (the profits would belong to the copyright holders of the franchise).

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Short answer: You can't.

It takes time to create longer works. Even experienced writers will go back and edit earlier chapters, move things around, etc. If you're not experienced, you may do this even more as you learn your craft.

To publish a novel, including self-publishing, it needs to be complete. You might only put out a chapter at a time, but all the chapters are ready to go. No publisher will take on a novel at any other stage, unless you're very famous.

An exception is a series. For example, my spouse has a 5-year contract with a publisher for his comic series. It comes out quarterly (in theory). In order to get the contract, he had the script for the first year complete, plus some of the art. With most of the script done for the 2nd and 3rd years, and outlines for the rest.

To make money with your writing, start small. Find sites that pay for articles or short stories and submit to there. Some nonfiction sites will assign you work, others will consider already completed work.

Don't expect a lot of money. If you have to pay someone else to complete your work (an artist, for example), publishing is often about losing money. You will get paid outright for one-offs in a magazine or some anthologies (assuming you get paid at all) but mostly any payment is through royalties. Which means you may never see a dime. Read your contracts carefully but even good contracts don't mean you'll make money.

More experienced writers can put ebooks on Amazon and other sites, offer work on Patreon, submit comics to ComiXology and DriveThru Comics, etc. If you have a great idea, you might be able to use Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and so on.

Bottom line: keep writing, but get a day job.

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