Short Story Should I post my short stories on a blog?

Hi everyone. I am totally new to writing but I really want to write. For a few years now, I am thinking about that.

Somebody suggested me to create a blog and to start by writing a few short stories to have feedback from my followers. I think it could motivate and push me to work harder. What do you think of this idea?

Thanks for your help.

 

It's really hard to get blog followers... you might end up spending more time promoting your blog than you spend writing.

Is there a critique group you could join, either in person or online?

 

Thanks guys for your tips. The only problem I see by posting my stories here is that I would like to write in my first language, french and this is an english forum.

 

Finally, I think I will try to post in English here on the forum even if my english is so, so.

 

I use my blog as a tool to practice writing. I waited to start mine until I started to get some feedback from people that what I wrote was enjoyable. Then I went into blogging because of the pressure to turn out a clean product, and how I thought that would help me improve.

 

Thanks John. And what about if you want to eventually publish your work? Would you be able if your stories are already online?

 

I'm not sure. Probably self publish on Amazon. I'll just take mine down from the blog if I ever decide to sell them.

If I write something standalone that I think is especially good, I don't blog it. I just submit it.

 

I don't think I can give a yes/no answer without understanding your business model. BUT:

I do exactly what you're describing - I have weekly posts, they're not necessarily short stories, but the commitment/promise to the audience is that I will produce weekly. This self-imposed deadline forces me to be disciplined, and has value in that alone.

Meanwhile, I reserve what I consider to be sellable works, meaning anything in the 5000 words range. I workshop these in a writing circle, and don't expose them on my site.

But that's my marketing model, it doesn't have to be yours.

Also - technical discussion - my site's robots.txt prohibits indexing, so it doesn't show up in search engines
User-agent: *
Disallow: /

This gives me some cushion. My weekly rants are posted, but meh, not really findable, so no big whup.

 

Don't worry, I don't have any plan to cheat anyone. I don't think Amazon self-publishing cares about first rights. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. The fiction on my blog is me indulging in tropes I love, and wouldn't expect a publisher to take them anyway.

 

Thanks everyone for your insight

 

I know I could search myself but I thought I'd let you make the conversation a full circle.

I am planning to self publish my stories on Amazon. I am planning to take them off my blog first, because I heard that's what you do. I have not looked on Amazon to see what their rules are.

Does Amazon self-publishing require first rights to publish stories? I hadn't heard that they do.

 

Thanks. I was using "sell" to mean selling them to people rather than contracting it to a publisher.