Can Short Story Writers Make Money Online?

One of the most popular online search phrases continues to be about making money online. For unpublished fiction writers searching for that ever-elusive break, it is the foundation of countless phrases entered into search engines on a daily basis. Writers, both published and unpublished, want to make money writing short stories. Wouldn't it be great if you could offload some of your short stories onto an attractive online forum which allowed the world to appreciate your talent - while also making money for your efforts?

Recently, just such a website was launched to provide that kind of money making opportunity for new fiction writers. The web site, PatronQuo.com , not only invites short story submissions from hopeful writers, but offers an attractive design, where the submitted short stories are showcased in an eye-pleasing frame. Prospective patrons receive all kinds of inducements to support the writers, while visitors to the site receive all kinds of inducements to learn more about the patrons.

As the self-described "starving writer" and owner of PatronQuo.com, J. Leland Kupferberg, describes it: "I see it as a form of vanity advertising for the patrons. We know that great starving writers are often poor businesspeople, and that great businesspeople are often poor writers. The hope for the patrons is that you - the reader of these short stories - will patronize them when you see that they're basically helping to keep your favorite starving writers...well, alive."

Though there is no shortage of sites out there that offer to showcase various fiction writers, Mr. Kupferberg designed his website to offer more than just a mass outlet to gain a - mostly non-committed - readership. "Most of these short story submission sites offer the writer little more than a free showcase of their fiction writing, with perhaps an opportunity to receive feedback comments (meant more to feed the ego than the gut)," Mr. Kupferberg observes.

The fresh, uncluttered design provides an intuitive and easily navigated browsing experience for visitors, who are encouraged to take concrete action in support of their favorite writers. A key unique feature of the site allows readers to track the earning performance of the participating fiction writers, while ranking their patrons in order of generosity. The message the site conveys to visitors is that not only can they now track their favorite writer's ongoing earnings and rankings on the site - set out clearly in a number of tables and charts throughout the site - but they can now also act to influence those statistics by stepping up and becoming patrons themselves, now furnished with their own charts and placement rankings as patrons.

As Mr. Kupferbergexplains it, "We live in an age of stats and rankings, where the need to know the box office take of the movie you just saw outranks your need to know its plot; where your need to know the medal standings of your country's athletes outranks your need to know their names. What can I say? People...love...stats."

As more and more members of the public try their hand at writing fiction, they'll increasingly turn to innovative websites such as these in order to get their literary work out there - and, hopefully, make a little extra money on the side. In that respect, Mr. Kupferberg believes he's created the ideal website for the ever-growing community of fiction writers looking to make money online. A site definitely worth checking out.