I recently got a message from a fellow writer about a new website where writers can post their writing. This is yet another example of how the shared writing phenomenon has grown over the past five years.
No longer do writers have to force their way through the intensely narrow, subjective doors of literary gatekeepers, agents and editors who pick and choose a few pieces from the thousands received each month. Instead, writers can post their work, thus appealing to readers directly.
In celebration of this exposure, here's a list of such websites, should you choose to follow others' example. Note that the blurbs below are from the "About Us" sections of the various organizations, so as always, check out the site carefully before uploading your work. As far as I can tell, all of the following sites are free to join:
Wattpad
On Wattpad you’ll discover a new form of entertainment where you can interact and share stories across text, video, images and through conversations with other readers and writers.
Smashwords
Smashwords is an ebook publishing and distribution platform for ebook authors, publishers, agents and readers. We offer multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device.
At Smashwords, our authors and publishers have complete control over the sampling, pricing and marketing of their written works.
Smashwords is ideal for publishing novels, short fiction, poetry, personal memoirs, monographs, non-fiction, research reports, essays, or other written forms that haven’t even been invented yet.
eSnips.com
eSnips is a social content-sharing site, where you can publish and share any media type.
eSnips offers one account that allows you to share anything with anyone - giving you options on who and how you want to share with. You can create as many folders as you like, each for a different topic. Then you can decide what audience can view each folder
Scribd
Scribd is the world’s largest social reading and publishing company. We've made it easy to share and discover entertaining, informative and original written content across the web and mobile devices. Our vision is to liberate the written word, to connect people with the information and ideas that matter most to them.
Scribd’s patent-pending conversion technology has democratized the publishing process. Now, anyone can instantly upload and transform any file -- including PDF, Word and PowerPoint -- into a web document that’s discoverable through search engines, shared on social networks and read on billions of mobile devices.
Booksie
As soon as you join this free site, you can upload your work.
If anyone has uploaded their work via such sites and you're willing to share your experience, please email and I'll be happy to include your wisdom for those who'd like to try this approach, but would like to hear more about the process.
Happy writing!
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2 comments:
I did participate in sites like this when I first started writing. They usually do not offer any payment but is good to get your name out and some even provide a platform for critiquing. However, if you later decide to submit a piece to a magazine or other more conventional publication usually they prefer work that has not otherwise been published, even if is is just electronically. So if your goal is to profit from your writing you need to choose your site and your submissions carefully. I'm looking froward to sussing out the sites you mentioned Martha. Thank you.
Hey Byddi.
I think you're right that posting work to such websites is for writers who would like to share their work for free because:
1. they're not interested in traditional publishing
2. are not interested in earning money
3. don't believe there's money to be earned
4. would like to use the venue to experiment
5. would like to use the venue to develop a following, which would then allow the writer to approach agents/editors saying just that, i.e., "I'd like to request that you represent/publish my work, for which there's a ready audience I've established via five short stories that have garnered a total of 1,204 views and 200 comments on Smashwords..."
Thanks for weighing in, Byddi. And when you do check out the sites, feel free to pass along your thoughts.
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