book publishing help?

Question

alright well, i wrote a small short story, and everyone i've showed it too says its really good and i should try to get it published. only thing is i dont know how, anyone have any ways i can get it published. my friend has also told me about an online publishing service, where the people buy from you and you ship it to them or something, i dont know. anything on that would be cool too.

Answer 1

Aaron:
I have written and self published two books. Browse to Publishers & Agents. Many publishers out there. They will tell you how to send your manuscript and also what kind of stories they handle. I sent out many, many and got three answers to the negative. One took three years to answer. This is why I went the self publish route. Be very carefull, there are bad guys out there trying to get as many of your $$ as they can for nothing. Check (Warnings & Cautions for Writers.) Also, my books are listed on the net in Amazon and others and in three years I have sold not one book this way. The only way to sell books is with Book Signings. If you decied to go self publish, contact me and I will help for no charge.
Wayne Russell, The Vagabond Writer

Answer 2

unless the short story is about 50 pages long you'll have an issue getting it published. publishers, if they're willing to and few are, want a collection of short stories to make a complete book, like 150+ pages. if its 5o pages ish you might be able to get away with calling it a novella but i haven't seen many of those published recently.
what your friends sounds like he's talking to is self publishing, where you setup the book layout cover, etc and then try to sell the book to people on your own. but this leave most of the time and expense up to you.
my advice write more. get more short stories or write a full length book. you can also look into submitting it to a magazine. you'd have to find one that publishes the type of stories you wrote.