Finding the Right Online Writing and Publishing Site for You

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For many authors, deciding to publish their work on Internet/Online writing/publishing sites can be confusing. In recent years the number of Internet writing/publishing sites has increased dramatically. It is difficult to decipher the good writing/publishing sites from the scams. The Internet is packed with adverts enticing authors to join the every increasing number of Internet writing/publishing sites. Unfortunately so too is the increase in the number of jilted/disappointed authors, whose realization of what it is they had joined/signed up to became only too painful too late. So what do authors (especially those new to this Internet writing/publishing world) need to know in order to protect themselves as well as their work from exploitation by some Internet writing/publishing sites? Here is a brief guide – the do and don’t if you will. 

Do know yourself as a writer: This basically means that you must know what ‘genre’ your material fits in; are you a creative author i.e., do you enjoy writing poems or fictions for example. Knowing what gets you to write means understanding your potential market, which helps in deciding the right Internet site for you. Some Internet sites do not ‘value’ creative works whilst others do. Therefore in order to get the maximum exposure of your work it will be beneficial for you to join a site that values your specific ‘genre’. 

Knowing yourself as a write also means knowing ‘how’ you write; how often you write. The craft of writing is like any other craft in that writers/authors write differently both in style as speed. Some writers enjoy writing as often as possible whilst others take more time with their work. This has nothing to do with quality of the material. If you enjoy writing as much as possible then you will be better suited in a site that requires/rewards high number of articles. It goes without saying that the opposite is also true; if you take time in completing your work before it’s ready for publication then a site that rewards high volume of work submitted on a regular basis will work against you or even your confidence. 

Style is important too because some writing/publishing sites require a certain ’style’ of work e.g., a more magazine style whereby the use of ‘I’ is discouraged. Knowing your style (or the style in which you are most comfortable writing in) will assist you further in deciding the best place for your material. 

Do know what you want: This means that been clear in what it is that you wish to gain from publishing Online/Internet. Are you looking to make as much money as possible? Are you after the exposure of your work? Are you looking to improve on your writing skills? etc… Answering these sort of questions is vital before deciding on which Internet writing/publishing site to join. Some Internet sites may allow your work to be reached by many people whilst others have connections with publishers which allows you to earn more for your work  and so on. 

Having decided on the above now comes the tricky bit, how do you then use the information you now have to filter through the different sites to get the right one for you? This is a lot easier than it may appear. Here are a few suggestions:

Do not join a site requesting for a payment: This is a no brain-er, any writing/publishing site that requires you to pay to join and submit your work should be avoided at all costs. The payment ‘catch’ has been used by scam artists since the Internet begun and the writing world is no exception. Sites that ask you for upfront fees, no matter how small the fee is, aren’t interested in promote you or your work. In fact they are not interested in you period! They want your money and that’s it. Low payments that are sometimes advertised to lure you in will get higher. Besides if the site is so promising in it’s success and so on why on earth will they require you to pay to get published? 

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Do read the agreement before you sign it: Again once you’ve come across an Internet writing/publishing site that interests you simply click on the agreement/ Terms of service and read it carefully. Look out for things like ‘ownership’ of the work submitted/published; will you or the site have the ownership of your work? This is important because if you choose to leave a site after agreeing to their terms, the site can continue to earn from your article and you cannot do a thing about it! So read them carefully. If you have a lawyer then ask him/her to go over the agreement. If not you can still ask (mostly via email) to have anything you are unsure of explained to you by the site. Most sites will have a contact email address open to everyone visiting the site, so you don’t have to have accepted the terms to be able to ask questions. 

Asking for clarification before joining a site is also useful in deciding the overall attitude of those running the site. If your query is met with rude or unsatisfactory response they you should take this as an indication of who you will be dealing with (as well as the treatment you are likely to receive as a member of such a site). 

Do visit ‘community forums’: There are other ways of getting a clearer picture of any writing/publishing site before you submit any material for publication. The best way is to visit the ‘community forums’, which most writing/publishing sites have. Granted some aren’t open to public i.e., you have to be a registered member to access them. However even if this is the case there is no harm in joining and checking the community out before you publish any work for the site. Community forums are great in finding out what other writer feel about the site as well as bringing into light things that sometimes are only visible once you have been with a site for sometime i.e., the small print. 

Read the common problems discussed on the site, the promotion tools used (if you decide to join a site simply to increase exposure of your material for example), payments structure and so on. This will give you a vast understanding of what you are up against and will also allow you to see if the site is right for you. Some sites for example have a ‘critique forum’ (a place where authors of different experience can critique each other’s work) on their community forum and of course if you want to also improve your writing skills this will aid you in making the right decision. 

Do not expect to make a lot of money: It is true that freelance writing can be profitable. However in most cases the money only starts to be worth the effort after some time. Indeed various factors will determine how much money you will be likely to make e.g., public interest in your topic, how rated your topic is (for some sites rating is important) and so on. Therefore to get a good payment constantly you will need to build a high enough volume of good/great work and have it of interest to the public (hits for sites that pay according to hits) or outside publishers (for sites that sell articles to other publishers like ‘beauty magazines’ etc). Depending on your style and subject of interest you may make some good money in a short period. However like any craft the payments can be unpredictable. 

It is better to be realistic with earnings from Internet writing/publication sites than to be frustrated and stressed. Again community forum are a great tool to learn how others are making the money work or not. 

Do become a business person: The best way to ensure that your experience as an Internet writer is enjoyable is to treat it as a business; put your business hat on! Regardless of whether you want to be published Internet for exposure or money or whatever you must act as a business person. That is you must take responsibility of your work. It therefore helps to learn a few tricks of the trade to help you boost the material you publish. Learn how best to utilize the Internet to benefit your material; networking and marketing your work. All Internet writing/publishing sites rely on ‘hits’ or number of people visiting the sites/articles on the site. Do not leave this to the hands of those running the site (in some sites those running the sites are themselves writers for the site and they may promote their own work first, it’s only human nature). If you have a ‘blog’ or ‘facebook’ where your friends and family visit regularly then link your work to these. Bottom line is that you must value your work enough to promote it yourself otherwise you run the risk of not making any money or having your hard work buried over others. 

Again forums can help you with some ideas but also some sites provides other services/tools to enable members to do just this e.g., some sites have members ‘blogs’ where articles/poems etc can be posted by members and so on. Use pictures relevant to your topic; it’s no secret that people who visit websites favour articles with pictures. Do whatever you can to make sure that you are giving you work the best chance to be successful. 

Do have fun! There is no point is doing something you love such as sharing your hard work with others if you are not enjoying it. So always make sure that you are enjoying yourself and keep writing. Good luck!