Three Ways to Share Your Writing with the World

When we think of sharing our writing with the wider world, we think in terms of traditional publishing or self-publishing. But we need to think beyond these two options. Whether you choose mainstream or independent publishing, the process is punishing, and this can put off many people who are otherwise very talented, enthusiastic writers. Even if you do succeed, with those options, you then have to fight for your audience.

But any writer worth their salt wants to write for others, not just themselves. And I’ve become increasingly convinced that you don’t need to publish to find an audience for your writing. You can find an audience beyond the cosy circles of your friends, family, writer buddies, writing groups or creative writing workshop. You’ll know you’ve arrived when a total stranger reacts to your writing. And if you’re inventive, you’ll find ways to reach them.

Here are three ways of finding an audience and gaining street cred as a writer, on your own terms.

Perform Your Writing

If you’re a writer with a bit of an extrovert streak, you could try performing your writing at an open mic night or a spoken word event. At open mic nights, writing is performed along with music and comedy sketches, whereas at a spoken word event, it’s just writing. These kinds of performance events lend themselves well to poetry, but you could write prose that’s designed to be performed too.

I performed my writing at a recent spoken word festival called Modwordsfest. Photo Credit: Derek Flynn

 

Submit to Journals

There are lots of altruistic literary types who found journals that showcase original new writing. This is particularly useful for poets and short-story writers, as it’s hard to attract the attention of a publisher for a collection of short stories or poe from a debut author. Many of these journals are prestigious, with high submission standards, so being featured in them gives you great kudos.

Broadcast Your Writing 

Many people don’t realise that broadcasting is seen as a form of publication, and radio programmes are eager to accept great writing that will sound good over the airwaves. Some radio programmes accept stories and poems from writers, particularly community radio stations and stations with a public service remit. You can also enter competitions to have your story or play published, and you may even win a prize!

Have you shared your writing in this way? Are there any ways in which you share your writing?

Why It’s Important to Get Feedback for your Content

Last week, I got feedback from a client. Nothing new about that, you might think. I certainly get regular feedback from workshop participants and people I help with writing their books. But I don’t tend to get it from business clients. Often, they’re so busy that they don’t have time to properly read through what’s been written. They may even have practically forgotten that they asked you to write content. They just send you payment.

Of course, payment is welcome, but getting feedback reassures me that the content I’ve delivered meets their needs. Business clients think in terms of results, so it’s important for me to explain to them that the content-creation process involves several drafts and a bit of back and forth between client and content creator.

Take time to give feedback to your copywriter.

 

The client who gave me the feedback instinctively understood that. He’s a graphic and web designer, so he has a similar creative process. He took the time to give me detailed feedback on the first draft of some content I’d written for a tourism website he was developing. The process was a little squirm-inducing; it’s hard to fight the urge to defend your work. But I also found it hugely beneficial. Here’s why.

I discovered what I was doing right.

When delivering feedback, it’s best to begin with the good stuff. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. If you know which content works for your client, you can keep delivering it. It was good to know that most of what I had written was in line with the client wanted, so I was on the right track.

I was able to deliver the client’s message more accurately.

The client wanted me to emphasise the facilities and amenities that were available to people visiting this tourist attraction. There is a lot of history and heritage in the area, but I held back on writing about it for fear of sounding too Googlish. The client supplied me with resources I could use to get more of a feel for the area and write about it in a more vivid way. The feedback enabled me to get the client’s core message across more effectively.

I got the tone right.

Getting the tone of a company right takes a little time, because you need to become familiar with their philosophy and how they operate. I believe I had achieved a warm, welcoming tone, but the client felt I was still erring on the side of sales talk, so I used their feedback to create more of an impression of warmth and cosiness, and of a special experience.

Have you ever received feedback that you found beneficial? How was it delivered to you? And how did it improve the standard of your work overall?