Going Online

I have been writing short-stories and posting them on the Internet for almost six years. This has not led to a lucrative publishing contract.

Posting online enables a writer to get their work in front of an international audience, especially if their family lives overseas.

Your friends and family will go online and read your work. They will read your work and they will say nice things about it. They will tell you that you should be published. You will believe them and you will wait for a publisher to call you.

If you have time you will find other writers online and you will read their work. You will read their work and you will say nice things about it. They will then visit your website. They will read your work and they will say nice things about it.

These people are not publishers. They are like you. They write stories. They want to be published.

So here’s the thing: if you want to be published you have to submit your work to a publisher. You have to be prepared for them to tell you that your writing is not what they are looking for right now, and you have to resist the urge to tell them that your mother liked it.

You have to see posting online for what it is: a good way to have a small group of biased people read your stories. This is not all bad.