Where You Can Publish Short Stories Online Easily And For Free

Are you wondering where to publish short stories online?

You can find sites that accept short stories, but many have strict submission guidelines. Some don’t allow simultaneous submissions and only accept specific genres of short fiction.

If you are a short story writer and want to publish your work online, you want an easier way.

There are quite a few online writing platforms where you can publish short fiction and nonfiction stories for free and without all the hassle.

11 Sites where you can publish short stories online

Here are ten options for you to quickly and easily post and publish your short stories online.

All of them will help you find readers for your work and get feedback on your writing.

When you start writing, you want people to read it.

But waiting around for literary journals or a literary magazine to accept your submission is time-consuming.

You want a quick and easy way to publish your writing.

The sites I have listed below accept all styles and genres of short stories.

You might be writing romance, science fiction, speculative fiction, or creative nonfiction.

Whatever your style or genre, you can post your short stories immediately and for free.

Take a look and see which options are going to be the best for you.

Let’s get started.

1. Commaful

I have to start with Commaful for short stories because the site is just gorgeous.

It is a hugely popular site.

Because of this,  you’re bound to get a lot of interaction from readers.

There is no restriction on previously published work.

So it’s possible to use a short story to promote your other work.

You can even promote a book you published.

The best feature of Commaful is that you can publish picture book stories.

You can be creative with images to attract attention to your writing.

You can let your imagination run wild.

With a little practice, you can create page-turning stories for your readers.

Take a look and see why it’s a popular choice to publish short stories online.

2. The Young Writers Society

Are you looking for a writing site with an active community? If so, The Young Writers Society might be an option.

The site is well-organized for writers and readers. It is ideal for young writers and features a lot of new short stories.

You can participate in forums to discuss aspects of your writing with other writers.

The site has an extensive FAQ page to help you.

Have a browse of the site and see if it’s an option for you to publish your writing online.

3. Wattpad

You probably know about Wattpad, which has been the launching pad for a lot of published writers.

But there is a special section in Wattpad for short stories.

Every day there are newly published stories, and you can see from the stats that there is a lot of user interaction.

You can publish any type of story, from a personal essay to teen fiction to literary fiction. When there are so many active users, it’s a great place to start publishing your stories.

4. Medium

You probably associate Medium with articles and content marketing.

However, there is a huge selection of Medium short stories.

Because it is such a popular platform, it gives you an excellent opportunity to share your writing.

Another great thing about Medium is that it is so quick and easy to publish your work.

5. StoryWrite

I included this site in my list because StoryWrite specializes in short stories.

However, judging by the lack of likes on recently published stories, the site may not be very active.

But it might be worth a look.

6. Story Star

This might be a site more suited to younger writers.

But Story Star for short stories looks like it might work if you can match what readers are looking for.

It’s a little lacking in style, but it’s an easy site to navigate.

7. Tumblr

When you think of Tumblr, you probably associate it with being a blogging platform.

However, there is a vibrant community of short story writers on Tumblr.

The beauty of the platform is how easy it is to set up an account and start posting or reblogging your stories in a flash.

You have no restrictions on word count, genre, or even how often you post.

Take a look and get started.

8. Quotev

Quotev is a very active site for publishing stories in a variety of genres, including fanfiction.

It’s probably a little more teen-focused than other platforms.

But well worth a look if you are trying to find readers.

There are also quizzes and surveys.

9. Archive of Our Own

It certainly is not the most attractive website around.

But Archive of Our Own makes up for it with a huge database of writing and related posts and articles.

The structure of the site is a little challenging to navigate. But the search function works well to find what you are looking for.

It’s not at the top of my list, but it might suit you if you are into fan fiction.

10. Reddit

With 81,000 members, the short story SubReddit is a popular destination for writers and readers.

It’s very well organized, with submission tags to identify the genre of stories.

When you scan the lists of short stories, you can see that this Reddit community is very active with new stories, upvotes, and comments.

Take a look and see if it’s a good option for you.

11. Start a free blog for your short stories

Of course, there is one last option you might want to consider for publishing your short stories online.

Starting your own blog for your writing means you are in control. Once you set up your blog, you can get comments from your readers and build relationships.

Another benefit is that you can share your short story posts on social media to create more buzz about your writing.

You don’t need to spend a cent to start your writing blog. You can choose from many free blogging platforms.

But my recommendation would be WordPress as the best choice. The free version is all you need.

But if you find it a bit technical, Wix has a simple drag-and-drop interface that is easy to use, and the free version offers everything you need in a blog.

Lastly, there is Google’s Blogger. It’s been around for a long, long time, so it looks a bit old-fashioned.

But it has a huge community, so it’s a great way to interact with other users, bloggers, and fellow writers.

Conclusion

If you love writing short stories and want to share them with the world, there’s nothing to stop you.

You don’t need to wait around for publishers to accept your submissions and then be in a long line to have your stories published.

There’s nothing to stop you from publishing your stories online in an instant. That means you are in control and can use your writing in any way you wish.

Don’t forget that you also have the option to self-publish your short stories if you want to earn money from ebook sales.

Perhaps you are writing a book and want to use your short stories to attract readers. Another option is to link your story sites to your social media accounts.

There are so many possibilities for you to try.

But of course, make sure you check your writing before you publish your stories.

Related reading: Free Sites Where You Can Publish Poetry Online