Get your name out there.

[Lancelot]

I think a key way to use the internet in promotion is its ability to connect people on a large scale. I am trying to get my name out there by submitting writing and entering writing contests where ever they are. It gets your name to appear on different web pages and makes it easier to search. That way, when someone sees your stuff and wants to Google you, they can actually get a few hits.

On top of that, many places will pay if they like your stuff. Contests pay prizes and e-zines and the like will pay for submissions (sometimes by word count, sometimes by story). I am looking at a few places right now.

The thing to keep in mind is that many of these sites have certain requirements for their stories so you probably won't be able to use something you have already written. You will likely have to write something after you figure out where you want to send it, but that just gives you more experience writing.

Post here if you know of any sites with contests or that accept submissions and I'll do the same as I come across them. I'll also put what personal experience I have with them when that arises.

 

[Darkblade]

First of all there is Goodreads if you have anything that was published in print or e-book get yourself an author page there. It won't build you a following overnight but it's a good place to start and it allows anyone potentially interested in your work can find more of it as it comes into existence. While there why not join the Mythic Scribes group.

Second if you can spare fifty dollars a year (and quite a few authors cannot) get a duotrope account. It's got constantly updated listings of almost every publishing market out there, no contests (at least when I used the site) but a great many zines, magazines and anthologies are listed from all parts of the pay/exposure spectrum.

Third take a look at Ralan.com it's listings of markets are not as up to date or as informative as duotrope's but it specializes in genre fiction, occasionally finds markets that duotrope misses and has a contest listing page.

Hope that's a good start for you.

 

[tlbodine]

If you write horror or dark fantasy, Darkmarkets.com/ has publisher, anthology and contest listings. I follow their RSS and peek in frequently to see what's new.

 

[ALB2012]

I might look at that one.

There are a couple of facebook pages advertising anthologies. Goodreads is a good start as someone suggested. I have a short story and 2 poems in a group book and I have a fantasy story and poem coming up later in the year for a charity anthology.
There are also various sci fi and fantasy ones about. Blogs are helpful, and interacting on sites is handy.
AuthorsDb, AskDavid.com are free and AskDavid will promote on Twitter, every so often.

 

[Lancelot]

First of all there is Goodreads if you have anything that was published in print or e-book get yourself an author page there.

First off, thanks for all the good information. I will check those sites out. I have a quick question regarding the above. With the way amazon works for putting out e-books for their Kindle area, do you think that counts. I only ask because it is basically self-publishing, but at the same time, you are essentially having Amazon handle your advertising (not much of it) and your distribution so they are acting as a traditional publisher in those ways. What do you think?



Either way, this is some great help so far. Thanks for the interest as I'm sure it is not just me that this will help. I found one ezine called Pedestal magazine The Pedestal Magazine, but it looks as if it is closed to submissions right now. I don't know if that is just temporary as the thing I read said that they are usually open to unsolicited submissions for their issues.

I also found out that io9 http://www.io9.com, a sci-fi blog that I have used for a while, now has a set up where you can have your own blog. It doesn't pay, but it might be a nice way to exercise your writing and get a few followers that could spread the word later. It has a large active community of commenters so that might be good for exposure.

Amazon is also allowing fanfiction in their Kindle area for certain properties now, but I don't know if any are fantasy or sci-fi. It seems that "Gossip Girls" is the main one they are focusing on. There are probably lots of (appropriate) restrictions since Amazon is so big and the properties they are dealing with are huge.

I am checking out Kandanoria. They have a facebook page that has some art and a tweet-based story on it (don't know their twitter name). They also have a website Kandanoria that has some free content and a writer's contest that pays out. The interesting thing about this place is that, like the Amazon thing, they will allow some writers's stories to become canon. I think it is only the 1 top winner who gets that notice, but a few get cah prizes, which is nice.

Everyone keep up the good work in helping us network our info to benefit each other. I know I have gained a good amount of new knowledge just from the first response alone. I think this thread could be a good thing for us and those that have been thinking about this, but didn't think to ask or don't have the time to do research into this. If you are one of these people (no time), feel free to check all that we are putting together and hopefully it will help.

I'll report back as I learn more about these and other places. Please, vet what I have put out there so we can get a more wholistic view of what these places offer. Maybe you be able to save me and others from the trouble if some of the sites aren't as great as I thought. If they are good, all the better!