This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
There comes a point when, as an aspiring author, you want to know what people actually think of your manuscript. You can’t guarantee that your novel will be picked off the slush-pile, and often your novel will be rejected without you knowing the reason. It’s quite an investment to get a professional critique. So what other ways can you obtain feedback on your writing? In my early writing days, I podcasted a novel on iTunes, chapter by chapter, as I wrote it. I was inspired by the Science Fiction writer, Scott Sigler, who podcasted a novel and, as a result, built up a huge following, attracted a publishing deal and became a New York Times bestseller.
An American Wedding as it was called then, was a great learning curve for me. Yes, it was cringey – I read the book aloud and did my own American accents- but it was a great way to connect with readers (or in this case, listeners). People tweeted and wrote comments on my blog about the chapters I’d released and I gained confidence in putting my work out into the world for people to scrutinise. It was that new found confidence that led me to self-publish the book.
A more straight forward way to share your work, without the need for cringey voices, is to put your novel (or excerpt of your novel) on a writing platform. The main players are Wattpad, Authonomy and Litopia.
As far as I can tell, the big difference between Wattpad and Authonomy is the motivation of the users. Wattpad is as much about the readers as it is about the writers. It enables readers to discover new fiction and new authors. In order to give back to the writer, readers are encouraged to vote for stories which endorses it as a good read. Authonomy is run by HarperCollins, and is more of a community of writers. Like Wattpad, people can comment on your books and books can be added to a virtual book shelf. At certain points in the year, if your book is at the top of the charts, editors of HarperCollins read and feedback on your work.
On both platforms there's a glimmer of hope that you could get yourself a publishing deal.
Miranda Dickinson’s debut novel was spotted on Authonomy by editors of the HarperCollins imprint Avon. Miranda’s novel was published as Fairy Tale of New York and went on to become a Sunday Times Bestseller. Recently Abigail Gibbs, an eighteen-year-old about to embark on a university degree was spotted by HarperCollins after her story had over seventeen million reads on Wattpad. The Dark Heroine was published in 2012.
Aside from the sprinkle of hope of a publishing deal, you can also get genuine feedback on your novel. I currently have Millie and the American Wedding on Wattpad, and it’s been really lovely to read the feedback.
Does anyone have experience of using a writing platform to share their stories? I’d love to hear whether you think it’s a good or a bad idea to share your work for free…