What to do with your stories?

You have found inspiration here and written a story; now what? That’s a big question because the story is owned and copyrighted by you. You owe us nothing. That said, here are some ways you can let the community know which story prompt got you writing.

First of all, congratulations on writing a story. Take some time to be proud of yourself.

What you do next is all down to if and when you hope to get paid for your writing.

Writers looking to get paid

If you are considering selling a story to a magazine or anthology, you will get a better price (and better odds of a sale) if the story is not already on the Internet. In fact, once your story is published on the Internet that is likely to be the last time it gets published.

I would be stoked to see a comment on the thing that inspired you saying where and when your story will be published. I might even go out and buy a copy just so I can see what you wrote.

Sell your “First [INSERT COUNTRY HERE] Serial Rights” in as many countries as there are English language publications. Leave the USA for last, as they tend to ask for “World English Rights”.

When you write for fun

actress laughing

On the other hand, if you just write for fun, there are a few places you can share your work.

One way is a blog. You can get a free WordPress blog from WordPress.com or from AuthorBuzz.co.uk. This is an Author Buzz UK blog. When you publish your story include a blurb (at the start or the end is usually best) which says something like this story was inspired by [Insert Prompt Here]. If you make any part of that a link to the prompt’s permalink (where there is just the one prompts on the screen, Your WordPress will send our WordPress a message (a ping or trackback) which will allow us to have a link to your story.

Another way is Tumblr. There is a big writing community there. Tumblr does not do pings but you could always leave a comment with a link. It might get caught in the spam trap but I will fish it out eventually.

Or just share it with friends, family, or a local writing group.