Potential Short Story Collection

Well, my loyal readers and fellow writers, today I am asking for some unique feedback and advice, which is why I have placed this in the Critique community. I am contemplating compiling my first collection of short stories, and while I still have to work out the financial aspect of it, I thought I would tackle a much more important step first: the theme/genre.

As you might have noticed, I have many, many short stories in my arsenal—several of which have not even made it onto Vocal yet. I could go with so many themes/genres: fantasy, non-romance (which is something that I have made up to explain my stories which take romance and turn it on its head), contemporary, flash fiction, etc. I have, however, settled on taking on one of three themes/genres for my first ever short story collection: horror, aliens, or retold fairy tales.

I already have multiple short stories—including microfiction and flash fiction—in each of these categories. I would still need to write more stories no matter which category I choose, but I am up for the challenge regardless of which theme/genre I go with. The problem is that I am having a hard time narrowing my choice down from these three categories, and I do not know where to go from here.

That’s where you, my readers, come in. I have already put up polls on Threads and X (I so reluctantly call it, though I still think of it as Twitter). However, the majority of my readers is here on Vocal. So, I would like to get your opinion of which theme/genre I should use for my first short story collection.

Again, here are the choices:

1.      Horror

This would include such stories as my Top Story “The Ghostwriter”, as well as my well-received stories “The Mischief”, “Eating Crow”, and “The Ceremony”. I would not limit myself to any specific subgenre of horror. It could be psychological, gory, body horror, etc.

2.      Aliens

These stories would include “Do Aliens Celebrate Christmas?”, “Breakout!”, and “The Stone Circle”. Of course, I would also include a printing of the beloved drabble series, Elon the Alien, complete with its new ending.

3.      Retold Fairy Tales

This collection would have such Stephanie classics as “Lips as Red as Blood”, “Neverland Lost”, and “La Belle Fatale”. These stories would include both uplifting retellings and downright twisted tales.

To cast your vote, just leave your thoughts in the comments below. You can discuss your reasoning if you want, or you can just simply tell me which of these categories you think I should go with. Alternatively, if you have followed my work for a while and think that there is a better theme/genre for me to go with, go ahead and leave that in the comments as well! I don’t mind a bit more complications if it means that I get the best collection possible for my first time out there. Also, if you have self-published your work before and have any advice for a first-timer, feel free to leave any advice that you might have for me or anyone else reading this piece. Trust me, I would definitely appreciate it (especially anything regarding the financial and technical aspects), and I’m sure that other readers would as well!