Pros, cons, & audiences of every writing/webnovel site[a continual discussion]

[NickRowler]

I noticed Fanfiction.net wasn't filled out.

Similar to other fan fiction sites, it's not really a place where you can make and promote original works. It also is sort of pass its prime. Maybe 15 years ago it would have been worth seeking out. But now a days, there are just better and more popular fan fiction sites.

FictionPress is its sister site, which is more for original works. Don't know much about it to give much feedback.

[Paul_Tromba]

Thank you. Any if the sites that have not been filled out are due to a lack of current knowledge about the sites so any extra info is appreciated.

[vapidink]

For Wattpad, I'd add the story stats and demographics as a pro. It's kinda nice to be able to see where your audience comes from, along with the gender and age demographics. Popular genres, I wouldn't say vampire, but definitely mafia romance stories and sports romance has been seeing a boost in popularity. They have this whole thing they call "Verticals" that's basically the sort of stories they're looking for at any given time as far as pitches go. Here's the page about it:

Introducing Wattpad Verticals: A new way to publish and read stories

[bulgariansumo]

For Tapas's popular genres, I would say BL eclipses the general LGBTQ+ tag in terms of popularity. Not that the LGBTQ+ tag isn't popular, but BL on its own accounts for such a large amount of traffic, it feels incomplete with it not mentioned it on its own.

Tapas Pros: Despite the con I'm going to bring up, Tapas does offer more chances for newer, smaller stories to be featured, even if it's mostly only seen by the small community of other creators.

Tapas Cons: The readers and creators (whose stories aren't owned/licensed by Tapas's parent company) are in two different worlds. I would not be surprised if the average Tapas reader does not know that this site hosts indie comics/novels. Also the character limit can be a little annoying at times.

Royal Road Pros: Readers can review stories, which can give writers an idea of what they're doing right and wrong. It also gives other readers an idea of what to expect and can function as advertisement. You can put polls on chapters. The genres and tags are very extensive (for Royal Road's niche), and they all come with handy definitions.

Royal Road Cons: Even as someone who never plans to upload sexual content, their guidelines around it are weird, opaque, and, from what I've heard, inconsistently enforced. It's not mentioned in the site's FAQ or anything, but for a story to be allowed there, it can only contain up to 10-15% sexual content, with things like innuendo, jokes, vulgar language, etc. also counting heavily toward that. This is very strange considering some of the genres and tags they allow on their site typically have these things in spades. Feels like it would be easier just to not allow any sexual content if they're going to do this, but that's just me. There's more I could say on how weird Royal Road's moderation can be on certain issues, but for now I'm going to leave it here.

Wattpad Pros: They finally let you schedule updates. It's good for storage. In all seriousness, Wattpad's inline comments are fun.

Wattpad Cons: Maybe I am doing something wrong, but with Wattpad, you are basically posting into a void. Maybe it's better for fanfic?

Tumblr Pros: Probably one of the better sites for short fiction/micro fiction, if you're doing original stuff. Usually when I search up original writing, short, self-contained stories tend to be the most popular ones.

Tumblr Cons: Dunno how good a blogging platform is for a serialized story. Also Tumblr skews heavily in favor of fan works over original works, to the point where most writing discussions over there is assumed to be about fanfiction unless stated otherwise.

[carreonaiwille]

With WebkomPH, I guess I haven't interacted enough with the community, but I am curious bout the occasional favoritism part

[Paul_Tromba]

According to some authors that have used it, it is political favoritism. Though I have no clue where on the spectrum.

[carreonaiwille]

I engage in the Facebook groups. As far as I know, political discussions are moderated or outright prohibited. Maybe I'm not looking enough

[Paul_Tromba]

I have edited it to add your input.

[Paul_Tromba]

It has been updated.

[Paul_Tromba]

Thank you. I'll be using this later.

[Paul_Tromba]

Thank you for all the input. I have updated it to match as best as I could.

[Paul_Tromba]

just updated with new information and a new site on the list. Still hoping for even more information as some of the sites I've asked on have been silent.

[NGChloe]

thank you for the recs, Yoru and honey feed sound like good options to add. I'll also look into Booksie, WebcomPH, and CampfireWriting

[Algae]

Thank you so much this is very helpful

[The_Chosen_Z]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[Paul_Tromba]

What kind of help? Like where to post it?

[Paul_Tromba]

I am so glad that it was helpful! I hope your publication endeavors go well!

[TKOden]

I'm a High Fantasy author, and after doing some research, I've decided Royal Road will be my best fit. The story does have some loose inspiration from video games (grew up playing them) but it's not at all litrpg or isekai. Was wondering if anyone here might be able to give their experience posting there. This fantasy story is epic in scale, the first book alone will breach 300,000 words, so I'm hoping it'll find its audience on RR and maybe gain enough traction for the sequel to be traditionally published.

[Paul_Tromba]

RR and Questionable Questing would be good for your story as both have a lot of high fantasy fans. RR is more of a Litrpg site but it does have a large high fantasy audience. With 300,000 words, you should be fine so long as it is released consistently.

However, I would recommend not releasing the story on a webnovel site if you intend for it be a traditionally published series as many publishers will not even consider reading a manuscript if it has a webnovel release.

I hope this helps.

[CarltonIsaac]

Interesting subject matter.
I’ve been on a few of these sites. Some from way back in the early 2000s.

Fanfiction has a sister site for original works named Fictionpress. These two sites were really good for serious readers back in the 2000s but their lack of flash and thunder make the sites less attractive to today’s readers’ market.

Royal Road didn’t work for me the first time, and I deleted my account there in 2014. But I might consider trying the site once more.

The Submissions Grinder is a decent site to make some money off; if your submitted work isn’t among the high ratio of rejections they dish out every day.

Webnovel is a big no, no. Don’t care for their TOS.

Amazon is where I’d had the most success in terms of making money, mostly from print sales since I signed up back in 2016. And while KDP is good for making quick money from a vast readership base, the major con is that they allow people to leave low reviews scores after just reading a page or two.

The best source of making it big as a writer (if fame isn’t your thing) is Freelance work, for clients who publish in bulk on Amazon and other online sites.