Online Writing Workshop & Community
If you have never thought about joining an online writing workshop to showcase your fiction, you really should.
Other than finding a great source of writing instruction (which you've found right here at Novel Writing Help!) it is the best thing you can do for your writing career.
Why? Because joining an online writing community allows you to receive constructive feedback on your novel as you write it (and you will never improve without plenty of that), get all of your novel writing questions answered in the forums, and take that all-important first step towards establishing an online presence. (All important, that is, if you take the Online Book Publishing route.)
I have been researching and testing online writing communities for many months now, and I recently joined one of the best: The Next Big Writer.
Here are the benefits of joining...
1. Quality Feedback On Your Writing
You might already belong to a local writers' group, but an online writing workshop has the obvious advantage of having thousands of members to provide feedback.
You are way more likely to find fellow novelists who specialize in the same category of fiction as you.
Plus, writers who critique your fiction online are more likely to be honest (while still being constructive and respectful) than a small group sitting in a circle in someone's front room.
Praise might be good for the ego, but only honesty improves your writing.
2. Help and Be Helped In Writing Forums
As well as the opportunity to workshop your novel at The Next Big Writer (I'll be talking more about that in a moment), you can also ask and answer questions, and generally chat about writing, in their writing forums.
Here are just some of the forums you will find there...
- Introduce Yourself
- Writing Tips & Advice
- Writer's Circle
- Writing Contests
- Getting Published
When I "introduced myself", a dozen people had welcomed me to The Next Big Writer within 48 hours. (There's nothing worse than a forum where people rarely visit and posts go unanswered.)
3. Start Making a Name For Yourself
The online writing workshop is about more than getting feedback on your writing - it is about establishing yourself and your writing online.
It doesn't matter if you publish your novel conventionally or take the increasingly popular online self-publishing route - having an online presence matters in the twenty-first century.
Here is how it might work...
- Join The Next Big Writer (or similar site) and use their online writing workshop not only to get better but to pick up fans along the way. (Members can click a button to become a fan.)
- Be an active participant in the writing forums to further build your name and reputation.
- Eventually set up your own blog or website to showcase yourself. Link to it from The Next Big Writer and add a Facebook "Like" button to the site.
- Attract the attention of publishers looking for undiscovered online writing talent. (Several NextBigWriter members have been cherry-picked in this way.)
- However you get published, have the perfect online platform from which to promote your career.
But Why The Next Big Writer?
I truly believe it is the best online writing workshop and community out there by a clear mile - which is why I paid up and joined.
What's That? You've Got to Pay!
Yes, but it's not expensive. And the fact that members are serious enough to have spent a few dollars is precisely what makes the community so special.
The free online writing communities out there all suffer from the same problems...
- Amongst the members, you will find many of the "usual suspects": the know-it-alls, the over-opinionated, the disrespectful, the downright nasty. (Disrespect is not tolerated at TheNextBigWriter.)
- You have a lot more people posting writing than reviewing the writing of others, meaning many members get ignored.
At The Next Big Writer, Feedback Is Guaranteed
How come? Because they operate a clever system where reviewing writing earns you credits, which you then use to post writing.
If you believe that is a downside to The Next Big Writer, you are looking at it all wrong...
Giving feedback is just as valuable in your development as receiving feedback.
You don't have to be an expert to give feedback - just say what you feel as a reader. Reviews don't have to be long, either - just 50 words (though many are much longer).
So How Much Does Membership Cost?
There are 2 types of member...
- You can join for free as a reader.
- You can pay to join as a writer.
Don't take the free option - getting feedback on your writing is the whole point of joining an online writing workshop.
The current rates to join as a writer are...
- 1 Month = $7.95
- 3 Months = $14.95
- 12 Months = $49.95
After you sign up, you have the option to remain a free member for a while (to see if you like it).
Take my advice and upgrade to paid membership straight away, or at least within a day or two.
Why? Because the longer you think about something, the less likely you are to do it. And joining the best online writing workshop and community in town is a decision I know you won't regret.
Start as a 3-month writing member. This gives you enough time to be sure without a lot of risk. Then upgrade to the more cost-effective annual membership.
A Personal View of The Next Big Writer
Joining was something of an experiment for me - my gut feeling was good, but I wanted to be sure before recommending it to visitors.
Within a day of signing up, I knew I had found a pearl of an online writing community. And I knew it for three specific reasons...
1. Great Members
I once joined a free online writing workshop that was the most unfriendly place online. It was like walking into a strange bar where the regulars stop talking and stare at you.
The good folks at The Next Big Writer could not have been more welcoming. (And, no, they had no idea at that stage that I ran this website.)
2. User-Friendliness
I'm talking about the actual website here.
Of course, it takes you a day or two to find your way around anywhere new, but once you have it is brilliantly organized. You even get your own Control Center to keep track of all your activity.
3. Quality of Feedback
This is the big one. An online writing workshop is only as good as its members, and members at The Next Big Writer are an intelligent bunch with plenty of insightful things to say.
Some of the reviews I've seen have been line-by-line critiques of a person's work - and paying for that level of feedback from an editor would literally cost you hundreds.
Anyway, enough talk from me. Google them and check them out for yourself. (I deliberately haven't linked the site in case people suspect I get a cut of any purchase you might make.)
