What If You're Not A Social Media Wizard?
Part 7: Tell Me A Story
This week we're back to focusing on text-based content, except this time it's about written fiction - stories and poetry. So, where can you post if you're a creative writer?
As before, I’m scoring each platform by whether they:
⭐️ encourage individual commissions⭐️ are reputable enough to encourage corporate commissions
⭐️ are free to post on
⭐️ are attractively presented
⭐️ make a good place to get feedback
💩 present hurdles to overcome prior to posting
💩 present high potential for a toxic community (somewhat subjective; humour me)
Let's see how they get on!
Adult Fanfiction.org
3/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️Much of the writing here is erotica – erotic fanfiction, to be precise – but the occasional bit of horror can be found here too. If the genre fits, why not post here?
Amazon
3/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️Since you write stories, why not have them published via a site like Lulu? Navigating the process can be confusing, but if you’re content to stick with it you’ll end up with a number of hard copies of your book to sell and/or distribute to friends and family.
Black Dahlia Roleplay
4/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️Some people like to write stories ahead of time. Others like to make them up as they go along. If you’re the latter, this is a great hangout for creating stories on the fly with someone else.
Buzzly
3/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 2/2 💩 💩
Technically you can upload stories here, but the standard icon is very plain so there’s little to entice visitors to the site. In addition to this, literature is not currently shown on the front page of the site. I’ve included Buzzly on this list in case they improve the icons, and in case they improve visibility of literature.
//Several issues with Buzzly's leadership led to a mass-exodus in March 2022. The site may continue but at the time of writing its future is uncertain. They have also implimented an invite-only system which, given the possible views of the remaining members, may reflect poorly on newer members.//
Inkblot
?/51/2 💩
Inkblot may or may not post stories; I have yet to finish registering there. The site only opens up to new members occasionally so I will sign up when it's next open, which is supposed to be on the 8th of April.
DeviantArt
3/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️1/2 💩
As a site that showcases everything, yes, you can upload stories here. They can look a bit bland as it’s no longer possible to make a header image (it used to be but the DeviantArt team removed this functionality) but their story presentation is still better than Buzzly’s as the first lines of text in your story is visible.
Elliquiy
3/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️Another roleplay site, and one where you can showcase finished stories.
As ever I have little to say about Facebook, but yes, you can post here.
Fanfiction.net
4/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️A seriously old-fashioned web site, but worth adding to this list anyway. Fanfiction writers will be able to use this site to find fellow fans of their favourite fandoms, and for that reason it can be a great place to raise your confidence in your writing if you haven't yet graduated on to writing original works.
Fictionpress.com
4/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️Fanfictiion.net’s twin. While FF.net is made for fanfiction, FP.com is made for original works. You may get less of a response to your writing here than you did on FF.net as people are less likely to have been primed to know what to expect from your writing, but it’s fair to describe this site as the ‘next step up’ from its twin.
Furaffinity
4/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️As previously stated, special-interest sites can be a great way to foster an interest in your writing, and this furry site is no exception. Furaffinity’s better designed for showing off art than writing, so uploading stories that will actually load is a tad confusing (email me if you want to know how!).
You may also find that your stories’ presentation is rather ugly, as the standard icon for literature is very plain and making a pretty icon requires a level of graphic design skill. Even then, having the one pretty entry among several other scruffy uploads never brings out the best in a well-made story icon.
Overall I’d say it’s still worth doing.
Friends, Family, and Past Clients
2/5 ⭐️ ⭐️By this point I’ve championed friends, family, and customers enough times that I’m just repeating myself by now.
Ko-fi
5/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️I’m repeating myself with Ko-fi too, but it's just as good a place to post story chapters as it is artwork. Indeed, if you're keen for a suggestion, you can easily make an ‘image’ post of it and post some chapter-specific artwork at the top of the entry with your chapter in the description.
Lulu
3/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️1/2 💩
Much like Amazon, you can self-publish here for a fee.
NaNoWriMo
4/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️1/2 💩
Every November, National Novel Writer’s Month (affectionately called NaNoWriMo) sets its user base a challenge to write a 50k-word first draft by the end of the month. It's well-established and known throughout the online writer community so a great place to be noticed, or at least supported by fellow writers.
Paperdemon
5/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️A lovely little place to post stories. Be warned however: the site logs you out after very short periods of inactivity so prepare all your extras – story synopsis, etc. - in advance and copy-paste it all in quick!
Patreon
5/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️As for Ko-fi.
1/2 💩
While Pinterest is made for images, some writers find a way around it by writing up flash fictions (often in response to tumblr prompts) and screenshotting them here. If the story can be read as a relatively short soundbite it'll do nicely here!
1/2 💩
Much like I said to those wanting to post art, most subreddit mod teams are too savvy to let people post their stories without putting some kind of restriction in, to make sure they’re not flooded. If you’re going to post your material you’ll almost certainly need to contribute something in return - usually reading and responding to other peoples' works.
Sofurry
3/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️If you write furry fiction you can post here.
Tumblr
2/5 ⭐️ ⭐️1/2 💩
Given the young age of the average tumblr user I’d recommend posting shorter stories here. The community can also be alternative - it's not necessarily just teenagers, so that can make it a worthwhile place to post.
Wattpad
3/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️The quality of stories on Wattpad can be variable so the stories have a reputation to match, but the site is made for stories.
Weasyl
4/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️I could say much the same for this site as I could for Furaffinity and Sofurry. If you're looking for furry sites, this one will do nicely.
Wordpress
2/5 ⭐️ ⭐️Why not use this blog site to show off your story? People will be able to comment with relative ease, as all pages have a comments section by default, and Wordpress’ web authority will give your chapters a good position on an internet search.
WorldAnvil
5/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️It is possible to post stories here.
Your own web site
3/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️Hosting your own stories may be a very good idea! You get to control everything – the layout, the presentation, everything.
Youtube
5/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️Rather than posting a written copy of your story, why not record yourself narrating it and post it up?
Tip 1: people seem to like longer stories, so try and give them a good 15 minutes of material to listen to at least.
Tip 2: editing takes longer than you might realise, so 15 minutes of finished video may well take far longer to physically read and then edit. Narrating can also be surprisingly tiring, so I recommend you give it a try and see how you get on.
That's the end of this series so far! If you'd like another two parts then I can write one for good networking sites and for sites where you can pay for advertising. Let me know via the contact details in the footer of this page!
Credits
Title image by PicJumbo from Pexels and used with their kind permission.
