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Hey all, first time posting. I want to start writing but I also want people to read what I write and get feedback. What are the best websites out there to do this sort of thing?

Wattpad is pretty good.

/r/writing has a weekly thing where you can submit stories to be critiqued.

fictionpress.com is a great place to do it.

Goodreads also has a creative writing section.

Are you looking to write and just share stories, or are you looking to write for feedback so you can develop craft and grow as a writer?

There are different sites for both, with some crossover.

KEW wrote:Are you looking to write and just share stories, or are you looking to write for feedback so you can develop craft and grow as a writer?

There are different sites for both, with some crossover.

This is my question as well. Also, what is your preferred genre of writing? Some websites are genre specific.

Scribophile is a good cite to develop writing skills. They have short story contests on
a weekly and monthly basis. The mods in the various groups(Crime fiction, YA, Erotic Fiction) announce a topic
and give the Group a month to submit as many short stories as they want. Usually
the top 3 short stories win. Most of the mods are published writers and they know
websites that accept writing for publication. You're not going to get published by a
big House, but it's a start. Check it out.

tangowithParis wrote:Scribophile is a good cite to develop writing skills. They have short story contests on
a weekly and monthly basis. The mods in the various groups(Crime fiction, YA, Erotic Fiction) announce a topic
and give the Group a month to submit as many short stories as they want. Usually
the top 3 short stories win. Most of the mods are published writers and they know
websites that accept writing for publication. You're not going to get published by a
big House, but it's a start. Check it out.

One of the other benefits of Scribophile is it is a password-protected members-only site. This means your work is not open to the public, and therefore does not violate any previously-published criteria publications have. You should be careful about this, because even putting your own writing on your blog can mean a publication will not purchase it because it has been previously published.

It also has a strong and active member-base willing to answer questions on the forums, gives you the opportunity to receive critiques, and give critiques (which is a solid way of improving your own writing). Many people say they learn more from critiquing than they do from writing books.

KEW is right. Proceed cautiously. There are lots of policies, rules, procedures etc created
by the publishing industry to maximize their bottom line. At your expense. Scribophile
is glad to give you names and HTML's(I don't know what this is), but due diligence is up to you. A lot of these "publishers" aren't publishers at all. They accept your work, then
shop it to a publisher, on consignment. On consignment means they sell it for what they can get for it. Three members of my Veteran's Group submitted work last October, with the understanding it would be published in 2013. To date, it hasn't.
Their lack of caution was understandable. It would have been a first for all three of them. Cuidado, eh?

Thanks, tangowithParis. That's why I NEVER submit articles to companies which claim to pay you IF your submission is selected. Too "iffy" for me.

serena08max wrote:Thanks, tangowithParis. That's why I NEVER submit articles to companies which claim to pay you IF your submission is selected. Too "iffy" for me.

Do I detect a little tongue-in-cheek in your post?

Certainly, we do have to do our research into any venue as a writer. It is part of our business. In fact, it may well be the second most important part of our business, after writing, of course.

We need to understand the market, what rights they are acquiring, whether they pay on acceptance or publication (which can make a big difference to cash flow), who their target audience is, how they distribute our work, what their share of the market is, how they are perceived by others in the industry (for credibility as a publication credit), and whether they work with the author with editing or reserve the right to make changes without notification.

A writer is always his/her own best advocate.

serena08max wrote:No. I was simply agreeing with you. I just came across some sites that ask for submissions and in the same sentence, specify that "If your submission is selected, you will get paid. I mean, How do I know what happens to my work if I never hear from them again? Just a word of precaution. There is also a writer's union which I had joined that is affilliated with the AFL-CIO. I can't give the exact website because I have not been a member long enough. The yearly fee is based on your past payments as a published author. The lowest for me at that time was about $100.00 per year. This gave me access to the site which gave guidelines for the exact same thing that you were writing about rights, copyrights, fees etc., as well as free legal advice from lawyers in the field.

Oh, now I see the markets you are talking about. The ones that don't respond in any way unless you are accepted. Yes, I have a problem with the professionalism in that type of market as well. Often, you see these coupled with reading fees or entry costs. Not always a problem, but sometimes they are.

A writer's union is a great resource, and some even allow associated members who have not published yet. They don't have voting privileges, but they are eligible to use the resources available.

The "business" that cheated the aforementioned scribes was festooned with more
red flags than Indianapolis on race day. And they didn't even bother to follow up on
them. The most egregious, in my mind, was their sponsorship of "The Kurt Vonnegut
Poetry Contest." Like all great American authors since WW2, Vonnegut was anti-American. I would like to sponsor "The Kurt Vonnegut Death by Hanging Day." And
celebrate it on his birthday every year. Shortly after 9/11, Vonnegut sobered up
long enough to sit for an interview with The Boston Globe. The most memorable quote
to be spawned by the interview was his characterization of the 19 hijackers as "patriotic" and "freedom fighters." It's too bad none of them lived. We could have hanged them with the same noose we hanged Vonnegut. What a day that would have been.

-- 11 Jun 2014, 20:58 --

The "business" that cheated the aforementioned scribes was festooned with more
red flags than Indianapolis on race day. And they didn't even bother to follow up on
them. The most egregious, in my mind, was their sponsorship of "The Kurt Vonnegut
Poetry Contest." Like all great American authors since WW2, Vonnegut was anti-American. I would like to sponsor "The Kurt Vonnegut Death by Hanging Day." And
celebrate it on his birthday every year. Shortly after 9/11, Vonnegut sobered up
long enough to sit for an interview with The Boston Globe. The most memorable quote
to be spawned by the interview was his characterization of the 19 hijackers as "patriotic" and "freedom fighters." It's too bad none of them lived. We could have hanged them with the same noose we hanged Vonnegut. What a day that would have been.