27/03/2103 - What and Where Should I Publish First?

What kind of writing should I publish first?

This is a difficult question to answer, sort of. Firstly, let me explain what I mean by the question: there are many different types of writing. There’s the traditional novel, the short story, poetry, articles, and the list goes on. Then there’s genre to worry about; anything from teen romances to historical thrillers is a genre. Non-fiction is a genre. Spiritual fantasy is a genre. Basically, there’s an abundance of things you can choose to write.

When I started publishing my writing online, I went with Smashwords.com, and the first piece of writing I published was a short story I wrote for my year 11 English coursework called Inferno (A Short story). I just wanted to get my name out there and see how people reacted to my writing style. Straight after that I published Fighting the Demon, Book 1: Ariyus (which is a part of a discontinued series I began but lost all the plans to) and Conflicted (a short story I wrote for my year 12 English exam). I kid you not, on each and every one of those books, people have rated it one star, either because they don’t read the foreword, or because it is TOO SHORT.

I honestly kid you not, I clearly stated that they were short stories, yet people ignored my warnings and rated my books one-star, saying it’s too short. Well to them I have to say: If you didn’t want to read a short story, you shouldn’t have downloaded my book. Simple as that.

But back on topic, I think a novel would be too much to publish all at once, especially if you’re just testing the waters as such, seeing how your work gets received and what not. As long as you’re prepared to get one-star reviews for your story being short, I’d suggest you stick with a short story for your first piece of published writing. Also, short stories tend to make it into magazines, newspapers and online journals more than novels do.

But as for poetry, I’m afraid I’ll have to get back to you on that. I cannot write poetry to save my life, so I’m going to have to consult with someone who can, who has also self-published some poetry. Sorry about that.

Should I publish on Wattpad first? Or should I forgo Wattpad and go straight to eBook publishers?

This is entirely up to you. In theory, the great thing about Wattpad is that you can ‘test the waters’, so to speak, and see if people like your writing. But in actual practice, it’s very hard to get noticed on Wattpad. I’ve been trying for nearly two years, and not one of my books has had a huge amount of reads. In fact, my book with the most reads is about 16,000, and it’s only that because I put a huge amount of effort tweeting, posting on Facebook, posting on tumbler, and posting on Google+. It’s really up to you whether you post on Wattpad or not. I’m still undecided as to whether I’ll keep posting on Wattpad myself. Yes, you can get feedback as you write, but most of the time that feedback is just OMG I love this!! or OMG I hate this!! Very rarely do you get good, constructive feedback. If you decide to forgo Wattpad, make your first story free – people are more likely to download and review your book that way – and try Smashwords.com out first. Don’t go to major publishing houses like Kobo and Kindle until you feel confident enough with your manuscript.