Writing short stories can be more challenging than a novel so they're excellent for developing craft, plus they can also be a good side income. Today I talk to Alan Baxter about how to get ideas for stories, and how to write and sell them. In the intro, I talk about my ARKANE boxset hitting the USA Today bestseller list and how you could do it too through ad stacking. Plus, Wattpad in-story ads and the new digital-reader.com/2016/08/13/kindle-motion-good-bad-ugly-amazons-new-enhanced-format-screenshots/">Kindle Motion format. The corporate sponsorship for this show pays for hosting and transcription. This podcast episode is sponsored by 99 Designs, where you can get all kinds of designs for your author business including book covers, merchandising, branding and business cards, illustrations and artwork and much more. You can get a Powerpack upgrade which gives your project more chance of getting noticed by going to: 99Designs.com/joanna Alan Baxter is an award-winning author of dark fantasy, horror and sci-fi with 6 novels and over 70 internationally published short stories as well as writing for video games. He's British but lives in Australia and he's also a Kung Fu instructor and British National Champion. His latest book is Crow Shine: A Dark Fantasy Short Story Collection that includes his award-winning short stories. You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below. * The changes in Alan's writing life since he was last on the podcast and the markers of success for an author. * Whether there is a recent increased interest in Dark Fantasy. * On the way Alan's hybrid author business works. * Defining short story, novelette, novella and novel. * How Alan is inspired and how he decides whether to use an idea for a short story or a novel. * The differences between an award-winning short story and one that doesn't sell or receive acclaim. * Why Alan writes more short stories than novels. * The markets writers can submit short stories to and whether the market for short stories has grown with the rise of ebooks. * Alan's list of recommended short story authors and books if you'd like some reading! You can find Alan at www.AlanBaxterOnline.com or on twitter @alanbaxter Transcript of Interview with Alan Baxter Joanna: Hi everyone. I'm Joanna Penn from thecreativepenn.com and today I'm here with Alan Baxter. Welcome back to the show, Al.