If you’ve written a longer piece of fiction, but not as lengthy as a novel, you may be wondering where to get it published. (As it happens, I am too, because I just wrote one.) With so many literary journals preferring a “sweet spot” of about 3,000 words, a short story of 5,000 words, much less 8,000, words can be a challenge to publish. Once you get over 10,000 words, finding a home for your work can be daunting.

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Nevertheless it is not impossible. There are quite a few literary journals and publishers that accept longer short stories, novelettes, and novellas. In case you are wondering what the word counts are for these categories, Duotrope uses these guidelines:

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Short story = 1000 to 7,500 words

Novelette = 7,500 to 15,000 words

Novella = 15,000 to 40,000 words