Where Can I Post My Writing

Top Websites for Fiction Writers to Share Their Writing

So you've written a story and don't want to self-publish or have it sit in a literary agents slush pile? But also want to post your work online and get feedback? These website are great outlets for all writers. Musicians have Soundcloud. Vloggers have Youtube. Up and coming and established writers have websites like these:

Wattpad

Wattpad is a community for readers and writers spanning across different genres.

Pros and Cons

Accessible by app and website
Large reader and writer audience
Great network if looking for beta readers and feedback
Great resource for building social network with other writers
Stories are ranked out of the top 1,000 books in a specific genre (some genres included: classics, general fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction, poetry, spiritual, teen fiction, mystery, horror)
When a writer updates their story, their followers are notified via email
Readers and writers can communicate via private message
Readers can add stories to their private library (setup like Nook, Kindle and iBooks)
Stories that have generated buzz have gone on to sign book deals and be opted for series/film.
Mixture of traditional published, self published and novice writers
Great for serialized fiction
Readers can vote and comment on every chapter of a story
Writers can go back and edit chapters
Number of reads and votes a story has is visible for all to see
Stories success can be judged by rank position and number of reads
All writers are not treated equally. There are a select group of writers who get paid to write based on their large number of followers and large number of reads
Young audience (large group of readers between ages of 13 and 20)
Myriad of stories with similar themes/plots to previously published/popular stories (ie. Twilight, 13 Reasons Why, The Notebook)
Stories that rank in the top 1–30 in a genre do well and are very visible to readers
New stories compete with old stories. A story that is posted this year (2018) and has 100 reads will compete with a story that was posted in 2012 and has generated 5,000,000 reads
Stories now have ads

Overall: I started reading on Wat t pad in 2014 and posted my first story in 2016. This is where my largest reader following and audience is. I give the site a 9/10. It takes time to build an audience but the serialized fiction option and instant reader feedback is unbeatable.

Inkitt

Inkitt is a reader-powered book publisher.

Pros and Cons

Through engagement and support, readers/audience determine if a story gets traditionally published (American Idol for writers)
Accessible by app and website
If story is selected for publication, writer is provided in-house resources to publish book
Readers review story (similar to Goodreads)
How many times a story has been read or voted/clapped for is not visible to readers
Large reader and writer audience
Great network if looking for beta readers and feedback
Traditional book covers are not allowed on the site. This forces writers to provide a quality summary and title to gain traction
The app offers a "tease me" section. Set up like Tinder, readers swipe left or right to decide if they want to read a story based only on the stories "teaser" which is a short version of the summary/blurb
Use data to dictate success. Data is not always accurate
Cannot edit own story on app

Overall: I created my Inkitt profile on 2–11–18 and posted a few chapters. Though the idea and concept is refreshing, as of right now the site is not for me. I give the site a 4/10.

Tapas App

Tapas is a publishing platform home to serialized stories.

Pros and Cons

Accessible by app and website
Great for serialized fiction
Can pre-schedule day and time to post chapters
Cannot go back and make changes to serialization (ie. if you accidentally post chapter 13 before chapter 12 you cannot go back and correct serialization)
Great for novels turned into comics (looking for the next The Walking Dead and Riverdale)
Since the website is heavily geared towards comics, novels and fiction writers have a harder time finding an audience
Novels that have comic-like covers do better than novels with regular covers
Only writers with large audience are compensated
Requires constant updating to get noticed. Each genre has a "popular" and "fresh" page. The popular page shows stories that are popular and the fresh page shows stories that have been recently updated in that genre
Cannot edit own story on app

Overall: I started reading and writing on Tapas in 2017. I give the site a 7/10. I love that you can schedule a day and time to post a chapter but it's hard to gain traction while competing with other novels and comic books.

Swoonreads

Swoonreads is a reader-powered imprint under Macmillan Children's Publishing Group.

Pros and Cons

Readers/audience determine if your story gets traditionally published with Macmillan (American Idol for writers)
If story is selected for publication, writer is provided in-house resources to publish book
Accessible by app and website
Only accepts Young and New Adult fiction
Only accepts full-length novels
After reading a story, readers can post a review of the overall story (similar to Goodreads)
A stories success on another website does not guarantee success here
Serialized fiction is not an option

Overall: I started reading on Swoonreads in December 2017 and posted a book in 2018. Though the concept is refreshing, as of right now the site is not what works best for my literary needs. I give the site a 6/10.