Get Published Sooner Why do writers have a hard time getting published? Writing a novel is really hard. Writing a novel good enough to get published is even harder. Even if you do write a novel good enough to be published, getting noticed by agents and publishers is nearly impossible. And by the way, if you decide to self-publish, your odds of being the next Amanda Hocking or John Locke are too low to mention. However, there’s another option: Short Stories. Short stories have traditionally been the training grounds for writers learning the craft. Writers like Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway, and even Mark Twain didn’t start out writing novels. They learned the art of fiction by writing short stories. Short stories can make your career. Maybe it’s time to stop slaving away at novels and learn how to write and publish short stories.