In recent weeks, I’ve spoken a lot about writing short stories, because I believe in the many benefits they posses. All this is fine, except, where do you share your short stories online? You’re after readers, after all, yes? You desire feedback and an audience and a platform to showcase your skills.
Well, lucky for you, there are many places to share your short stories online. You’ve no doubt heard of some, used others, and exist on certain platforms where you may or may not be taking advantage of them.
In this post, I wish to showcase a selection of these platforms, why they’re good for a writer like you, and how you can use them in super efficient ways. Oh yes indeed, there’s an entire world to share your short stories online. You excited? Good, because I am 🙂
14 FREE PLATFORMS FOR YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE
Before we get into these free platforms where you can share your short stories online, let me speak about your Blog/Website.
That isn’t on the list, because although I suggest you share as much content on your blog as possible, unless you have a large existing audience, it’s difficult to grow your readership without leaving your own house. That’s why these Free Platforms are great for sharing your short stories online, because they each have an existing audience ready and waiting for YOU.
BUT, you should always look to direct people back to your site, offer Free Ebooks that readers can sign up to, and provide a wonderful home for your writing that helps you communicate with your readers on a regular basis. Other platforms are great, but your main aim should ALWAYS be to funnel them back to your site.
With this in mind, let’s look at the 14 Free Platforms Where You Can share Your Short Stories Online:
…
1: WATTPAD
Home to 40 million stories and 25 million Wattpadders, this is one of the largest places to share your short stories online. Popular among younger generations, this is an ideal place for all you Young Adult and New Adult writers. There’s rather a lot of OMG’s and LOL’s, so not ideal for all, but there’s no denying the tight community that’s developed over time.
It takes commitment, though, and before you ask people to Read Read Read, you must first read other people’s work, and join in the community fun. There’s lots of Clubs to check out, and it’s a great place to gather feedback from REAL readers. These folks are avid, and love to interact with authors. Play your cards right, and you can see much success (Colleen Hoover has over the years).
[su_button url=”http://www.wattpad.com/home” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: WATTPAD[/su_button]
2: SCRIBD
Scribd recently changed direction, and has become a Spotify for books. Who knows whether such a model will work, but the opportunity to showcase your short stories online, and in front of a large audience (90 million monthly readers), remains.
Scribd isn’t exclusive to books, so expect to see plenty of presentations, poetry, guides, and a whole host more. You can see this as both good and bad, although books remain the popular majority. Oh, and I will say this: Scribd is Sexy!.
As soon as you upload your short stories online, they transform into sleek looking wonders that captures the attention of eager eyes. Plus, you have the opportunity to earn some money, so Scribd could be your new best friend.
[su_button url=”http://www.scribd.com/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: SCRIBD[/su_button]
3: MEDIUM
Another sleek and sexy platform, Medium is one of the web’s most popular places to write at the moment. Although designed for quick and easy Blog Posts, I’ve used Medium to share a few short stories online, and I love how simple it is.
Because the purpose of Medium is quick and digestible content, I believe it’s ideal for your short stories -so long as you don’t mind sharing them for free. It’s visual yet minimal; full of features, but at the same time, offers only the ones you need; and has an ever-growing audience eager to reader fiction and non-fiction alike.
You can create Collections, too. This means you can serialise your writing, or reserve a special place just for your short stories online. If you haven’t checked Medium out yet, you should – the very least you’ll get out of it are some amazing reads.
[su_button url=”https://medium.com” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: MEDIUM[/su_button]
4: FIGMENT
Figment may be the best place to share your short stories online. It has active communities, contests, groups, forums, author spotlights and more…
Although I sense this community offers many more writers than readers, it does provide an amazing platform to gather feedback, meet like minded individuals, and perfect your craft. When it comes to your short stories, this may be what you’re looking for.
Sites like this often look cluttered and outdated, but Figment remains fresh and easy on the eyes. I should note that – like Wattpad – the vast majority of work surrounds Young Adult and other teen reads. As such, it might not be for you, but I have a feeling this site will continue to grow and expand as time ticks away.
[su_button url=”http://figment.com/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: FIGMENT[/su_button]
5: WRITERS CAFE
A little more outdated than some of the other platforms, Writers Cafe is for writers, rather than readers (although what writer isn’t a reader, too?). When it comes to sharing your short stories online, this may be ideal, as feedback, reviews, and editing awaits.
Possibly not the best place to find readers, but to perfect your writing? Heck yes!
With lots of contests and groups (not just for writing, but publishing, marketing, etc...), this is a site all writers can take something from. Although I warn you, place a bunch of writers in a forum, and sly remarks are sure to be had. This is what happens in my experience, anyways.
[su_button url=”http://www.writerscafe.org/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: WRITERS CAFE[/su_button]
6: AUTHONOMY
Authonomy has been around for a while, but taken a recent shift and redesign that I love. It’s owned by Harper Collins, and offers the opportunity to get your work in front of their editors. BUT, this does require topping the monthly charts, and in the past, people did this with a whole host of spamming.
I’ve not used this site for a few years now, so hopefully things are better these days. But enter this world with caution.
Again, used by writers more than readers, this is another great place to gather feedback and perfect your work before sending it out to larger audiences. Certainly worth checking out, especially after it’s recent overhaul.
[su_button url=”https://www.authonomy.com/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: AUTHONOMY[/su_button]
7: FICTION PRESS
Another platform that’s a tad outdated, Fiction Press does provide a setting for just about every genre. It also provides some strong communities and forums, and therefore could be an ideal place to share your short stories online.
This is certainly a no-nonsense kind of site, that focusses on the writing, rather than sleek features and the like. This isn’t a bad thing, either, because we want our writing to shine through, right? Not how pretty our book page looks.
I haven’t used Fiction Press myself, but it does look like a solid platform, and an ideal place to gather more feedback from fellow writers and eager readers.
[su_button url=”https://www.fictionpress.com/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: FICTION PRESS[/su_button]
8: FANFICTION.NET
Run by the same folks at Fiction Press, FanFiction.Net has the exact same layout, style, and process.
However, as its name suggests, the aim here is to share your Fan Fiction. It’s a world I’ve never ventured into myself, but I’m aware how popular Fan Fiction is, and how many stories begin life in this form. When it comes to sharing your short stories online, what better place to do it, especially if you like to add your own spin on your favourite books and films.
Harry Potter and Twilight lead the way (isn’t this how Fifty Shades began life?), although there’s fan fiction covering just about every type of story – including F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise. Well, I never… “_
[su_button url=”https://www.fanfiction.net/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: FANFICTION.NET[/su_button]
9: SHORT BREAD STORIES
Short Bread Stories is all about your short stories, so when it comes to sharing your short stories online, this platform makes sense.
Very cute and quaint, with the option to turn your short stories into audiobooks, too. I love this feature, and adds a different dimension that isn’t seen on the other sites we’ve looked at.
There’s plenty of features for both readers and writers, although it is a rather small platform. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it makes it easier to stand out and form real connections. It’s all about quality, not quantity, folks. If you wish to share a few short stories online, I’d say this is a good place to start.
[su_button url=”http://www.shortbreadstories.co.uk/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: SHORT BREAD[/su_button]
10: SMASHWORDS
Now, chances are you want to share your short stories on Amazon, and maybe for FREE, too. This is what I like to do, but considering Amazon doesn’t allow this, you have to take a somewhat wayward approach. Smashwords provides the simple answer (I explain how HERE), and not only that, it places your short story on other sites like Barnes and Noble, Apple, and Scribd.
If you want to share your short stories online, and in as many place as possible, but without the hassle of doing it all yourself, Smashwords is your buddy. It can be a bit of a pain to use at times, and requires a well overdue overhaul, but all-in-all, this place AMAZES ME. It’s great, and it’s what I use to ensure my own short stories remain FREE in the long term.
[su_button url=”https://www.smashwords.com/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: SMASHWORDS[/su_button]
11: TWITTER
What on earth are you talking about, Turndog? You can’t share short stories on Twitter! It only allows 140 characters, for crying out loud!!
Woah, chill your beans, kid. Because although Twitter remains the web’s central hub for images of your lunch, there are folks who write seriously short stories and produce them via Tweets. Take this guy, for instance. Or how David Mitchell released his own short story through these mini snippets.
As creatives, we spend our lives thinking outside of the box. You can use Twitter to share your short stories online, but you may have to split them up into many segments. This is fine, and through the use of hashtags, you can keep things organised and tidy and very cool indeed. Don’t knock it until you try it.
[su_button url=”https://twitter.com/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: TWITTER[/su_button]
12: GOODREADS
Did you know you can upload actual Books and Short Stories to Goodreads? Did you also know you can Blog on there, and stay connected with your readers?
Well, you can. So, whether you upload and share your short stories online in full, or serialise them and share them in weekly Blog Posts, Goodreads is a fantastic place to share and share some more.
Considering this is a place readers flock to, and that there are many groups to join and interact with, sharing your short stories on Goodreads could be what keeps you ahead of the pack. A little like Twitter, it’s all about thinking outside of the box.
[su_button url=”http://www.goodreads.com/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: GOODREADS[/su_button]
13: FACEBOOK
For The Letters of Ausdylan & Beatrice (a series of short stories that preludes I Unlove You), I share each new letter on Facebook. I don’t link to another site or my blog. rather paste the entire thing in a Status Update.
Other writers like James Altucher and Srinivas Rao have done this too, and whether it’s a short story you share, a snippet from a book, or a rough draft of something you’re working on, it gives your followers and friends a reason to interact with you.
I think people overlook Facebook in this way, often directing folk to other sites. But the average person loves to spend time on Facebook, so allow them to stay there. Just make sure they’re reading your words, and falling in love with what you create.
[su_button url=”https://www.facebook.com/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: FACEBOOK[/su_button]
14: TUMBLR
The final place to share your short stories online is Tumblr. This popular blog platform houses millions of eager individuals who love to read, watch videos, and drool over images. Especially popular with cool young people, this could be the place to share your future short stories online.
Writers have made it work for them, too. One that comes to mind is Nick Miller, who built a strong following on Tumblr after sharing his words and stories. It lead to his popular novel, Isn’t It Pretty To Think So, and an army of readers who remain loyal by his side.
If everyone else shares pictures and cool videos, write a few short stories instead. It may help you stand out, and find the readers you deserve.
[su_button url=”https://www.tumblr.com/” target=”blank” background=”#1d2abf” size=”9″ icon=”icon: heart”]SHARE YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE: TUMBLR[/su_button]
START SHARING YOUR SHORT STORIES ONLINE TODAY
There you have it, 14 free platform to share your short stories online… TODAY!
What on earth are you waiting for? Short stories are a great way to keep your creative juices flowing, and whether they’re part of a larger body of work, or mere ideas you wish to share with the world, don’t keep them to yourself. Share your short stories online, and start gathering feedback and readers right now.
The sooner you begin, the easier it gets.
Not all of the above platforms are relevant to you, but I’m certain one or two are. You’re already on a couple of them, right? If so, try something new and see what happens. Tweet a few short stories. Start a Facebook Page dedicated to them. Get creative and have fun doing so, because that’s what writing is all about. Having fun and being a creative son-of-a-gun.
I hope you enjoyed this post, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please shoot me a message on either TWITTER or FACEBOOK, and let me know what you think of the above 14 platforms.
Speak soon, you crazy misfit.
TURNDOG
dive into the book people are calling “The Alchemist meets Silicon Valley” … read/listen to the first few chapters (for free) now
hi, i’m turndog and I wrote this article … i am a writer, ghostwriter, anti-hustler & a guy on a mission to ensure you too escape the hustle — come be part of the [no hustle] movement
