Why do you post your writing online? [discussion updated 2023]

The Chatters
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Let’s chat…in August. Yes, hi. I found this thread again.

I watched Swell Entertainment Amanda’s review of Wattcon.

I knew what her review was going to be like XD I’ve been watching her videos. Amanda was a reader on Wattpad but not a constant reader. She was an outsider, basically.

Anyway, she had some questions about why post online and not just keep it to yourself, so that got me thinking: Why post writing online?

My reasons, if you'd like to read it

My reason initially on Figment was to share my writing with people and to make writer friends. Maybe learn from more experienced writers, too. On Wattpad, it’s that and to get praise and feel good. That’s the honest truth.

Another reason is to get feedback from writers and sometimes readers. Especially if you want to grow and you have no one else to show your writing to, posting online where you can get comments is a great thing to do.

So, why post writing on Wattpad? You might not be surprised how many people on Instagram dislike Wattpad. Wattpad to this day is seen as the awful fanfiction sight and graveyard of books that never get updated and remain incomplete. So many people would go as far as saying you shouldn’t post on Wattpad.

I honestly don’t know what they’ve been looking at :sweat_smile: I sometimes see fanfic, but I see plenty, plenty, plen-ty books that are completed and awesome.

For me, I like the layout, the inline comments, how it’s relatively easy to use, and I like the votes and the read count. I like that orange. I also like how very little spam there is because oh my gosh, the last two years of Figment was such a darn struggle. That’s why. Is it a good reason? Idk. But it’s my reason :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyway, questions for you.

  1. Do you post your writing online? If so, where? Why did you choose that platform?
  2. If you do share snippets on Instagram or Twitter, why do you do that? What is your goal? What do you hope to get out of it?
  3. Why post online anyway? What are the pros and cons for you, personally?
  4. Anything you would like to add?
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Many of the reasons that you have stated…

But for me mostly, the fact that someone may take a look, have a little read, and actually enjoy what my story is for the sum of it’s parts.

If they leave a comment or two, that’s great. If they like it and continue to read all that I have posted, and continue to do so with each chapter added… Even better…

But the reason I write, is because I have a story to tell. Even if no one reads it, I have told it… For me, that is the main part.

SD

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I post to make a little money. I’ve only posted at two places: Amazon and Wattpad. Wattpad is still the largest, most popular reading site, so big that Amazon created Kindle Vella to compete with their paid stories. I think every writer should have a presence on Wattpad. A lot of famous ones do, as you know – Margaret Atwood, R.L. Stine, etc. If nothing else, it provides a place where potential readers can read your work and decide whether they want to check out your paid books without having to get Prime or Kindle Unlimited. ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯

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Feedback, community, and growing an audience.

You can post anywhere online and if you hit right you’ll probably get some of that. But Wattpad in particular is huge, there’s more potential. If i do the same amount of work and attract the same amount of interest on a smaller site and on wattpad, it means more on wattpad because that interest will stimulate more interest and so on, whereas on the smaller site eventually there just stops being readers you haven’t reached already.

also i’m elderly and stuck in my wattpad posting ways. i at least know where to go to get some cursary reviews/critiques on there.

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Mainly because thats where my audience lies. I’m a contemporary romance writer, but I’m also a little niche in that, so while my main audience (romance) is Wattpad, my writing style isn’t wattpad, but it’s the best I can do so here we are.

I post on Radish and Wattpad, and Radish is good for me as well, but the feedback/community aspect of Wattpad is mainly what keeps me there, so I book club on Wattpad and find my community there, then post some books on Radish (mainly my, uh, more mature work)

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I haven’t posted any writing related stuff online in years it feels like. I guess it is a crazy mixture of fear/nervous/impatience, finding a good online writing site better than Wattpad, and wanting it to be perfect and polished.

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For me, it started out as a high school dare. Then my stories actually got attention so I kept going. Then the wattpad forums closed down, I lost all my readers except maybe 5 people, and stopped getting any really good and useful feedback on what people thought about the stories. It was a good way to get into the minds of the readers and see their takes on things. Now I just keep going because everything else is here.

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Recognition.

I love stories. Though I should read more books (which I am working on), I consume them in movies and TV and games. I dream to one day publish my works and adapt them. Even if I don’t get to that part, I like the recognition I can get from Wattpad.

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For the attention :wink:

And the possibility of improvement, if you are so inclined.

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This is the day you play catch up on all the juicy posts you missed :wink:

Maybe I’ll update this because it’s a good thing to talk about.

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For sure :joy: Lots of interesting stuff going on, just gotta dust some cobwebs~

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I added more questions! :smile:

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I post on Wattpad, because that became the place to be about 10+ years ago when I started this online writing gig and most other platforms (Quizilla, Figment, m…something?) fizzled out. It’s also the only major free-to-use platform that’s not heavily specialised at the moment. Inkitt and Tapas have very strong, very popular niches, I feel like. Wattpad is a bit more varied, though pretty hard to get discovered on.

I don’t do social media for my writing and I stand by my initial assessment that I post online for the attention and the validation :rofl: That’s what I honestly miss the most. Improvement has just happened along the way after all this time and tbf the better you are, the nicer the attention you can get :stuck_out_tongue:

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Hey! This is a thread I forgot about until @lunar.eclipse found it.

If you wanna add to this discussion, feel free to. I want to know more answers! :grin:

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of course!

I used to post my poetry online.

yeah, I like to show off. more importantly though, posting my work online motivated me to work harder and more consistently on my poetry because I knew that there was at least one person who would also read it, comment on it, and relate. and then both of us would feel a little less alone and a bit more understood in this world.

now I’m hesitant to post it because of copyrighting issues, like if it gets stolen or anything and I want to publish that piece traditionally or otherwise. that can probably be sorted out though.

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Oooh, I’m with @lunar.eclipse about the copyright issues. Back when I first starting posting there was no fear of AI copying our stuff, but that’s a serious concern now. The only work I have posted online is something that’s also on Amazon with a date stamp and copyright notice on it, so I have proof that I wrote it before AI steals it, assuming they train AI on self-published works too. I remember Microsoft created an AI bot on Wattpad called Zoe or something like that years ago, remember? And they asked us in the official Wattpad forums to teach it how to write. Omg what were we thinking?! They can take that AI and stick in their…oh, never mind. But I’m feeling like a chump about that right now.

I’m going to keep uploading books to Ammy because I’m a masochist that way, but really any art form is incomplete without an audience. One doesn’t dance ballet or paint a mural or write a book just for oneself. The circle’s not complete unless there’s someone on the other end saying, “Wow, that’s amazing!” So I guess we all do this because we like showing off…? *ponders*

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I don’t post online anymore…

I used to post on Wattpad because (like most of us) it was the only outlet at the time to get my writing out there that matched my vision. It was useful for a while connecting with other writers and finding readers. I just really wanted someone to look at my work.

I’m lucky now that I’m part of an active irl creative community, and also a member of a writers network. I get opportunities and all the support I need.

If I ever were to publish online again, it would probably on ABCtales because it seems suited for the kind of stories I tell now. I haven’t posted any writing on my Instagram, although I am considering it. And I don’t use Twitter.

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I post on Wattpad honestly because cough I want feedback, feel free to give me some cough. I like beta readers’ feedback and comments. I don’t care how many reads I have, as long as I get comments. Comments are very helpful, not reads or even votes. I love criticism. I love feedback. It helps me improve my craft, and I like to give feedback in return.

I also post on here to my friends because they are helpful in that regard as well.

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I’d been writing for decades for fun and no one ever read my stuff - I wrote for my eyes only. But in 2018 I wrote a story I loved more than any I’d written before, and I made a new year’s resolution to share it somewhere in 2019. I didn’t know places like Wattpad existed at the time, but I did some research, read a few books online, met people on the forums, and then uploaded my story. It was terrifying. But it was the best thing I ever did as I had some wonderful readers who spammed my book with comments and love and managed to bring characters that had only ever existed in my head to life - discussing them with me as if they were real people. It felt surreal, and I loved it. I’ve since taken that book down as my writing has improved a lot since then, but it will always be my favourite of everything I’ve written.

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that’s so… true. wow. no wonder writing feels pointless without someone to show it to.

yeah, I guess it’s less about showing off and more about the recognition we deserve for our efforts? because when i’m proud of something, I want others to be that way as well — it makes me feel understood and valid AND their lives better/happier, which is a huge plus. it’s a way to make the world a brighter place I guess.

even if you’re writing dark af things like me :rofl: they’re still gonna brighten someone’s day somehow, somewhere in the world. because if at least one person cries of joy after reading my work, it’s worth the time and energy to make it and more.

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