If you like me are a member of a writers group, you will probably end up with a lot of very short stories that after a few readings will sit and gather dust in a file. You know the kind of thing, one or two page short stories that are just the right length to be read and discussed in a fifteen minute slot. Even if you are not a member of a group and write on your own, if you love to write, you will produce lots of work that will never be used in the book or anthology that you intend one day to publish.
What a waste, after all, you did put time and effort into them. I know you liked the writing and enjoyed the response to them from a few others, but it seems a shame for them to sit in a file and not be read. So why not put some of them onto your own website and let people read them for free. People will read them and while they might not make you any money, you will begin to build up a following. This can benefit you in several ways. One, you will get feedback and feedback, good or bad, will help you improve you writing, Two, you will build up a regular readership that enjoys your work and hopefully a ready market for when you finally publish your book. Three, the website is a place to showcase your book. Four, now four is only a maybe. Maybe, if you are good and build enough of a following, you just might come to the attention of a publisher.
You do not need to be computer literate or a wiz kid to have and run your own website. I am the one they wrote the idiots guide for and I am unable to even read it. What I did was to look on the Internet for website hosting and I found loads There are free websites, cheap websites, reasonably priced websites and you makes your choice and takes your pick. The free sites all had banner advertising at the top and strip ads down one side of the page, but they are giving you a free website and they have to make money somewhere. The paid for sites charge you for their services because they do not sell the ad space. So once again it is your choice.
I looked for the one that in my opinion would be the easiest to use and picked, do your own site. The site is jargon free, easy to use and I can update quickly and easily at anytime. They gave me a thirty day no quibble free trial, which gave me ample time to test everything out, I had my first page up and out there in no time, and I decided to go ahead without waiting for the trial period to end. I pay £58.80 a year, which I think is a very reasonable cost for a very rewarding hobby. After all, most hobbies cost you hundred if not thousands a year.
If you are worried about your copyright to any material you place on your web pages, you have a right to be worried, for while copyright laws still applies to your material, the very nature of the internet makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible to enforce. Once you publish your page, your work it is out there in the public domain and can be downloaded or copied. Look at all the music and software that is copied.
However, what we are talking about here, is not your novel or anthology, we are talking those hundreds of short pieces that you will never publish, but others may enjoy. You can still put copyright with your name and date to claim the right to your own work. So why not take a chance, get a website put your work on and sit back while your short stories are enjoyed on the World Wide Web. You will be surprised at the number of people that will read them.
Copyright Fred Watson September 2007
- Fred Watson
