Helpful Websites for Beginning Writers

The website www.WritersCafe.org is an excellent site for writers who are interested in receiving feedback from other writers, for their articles, poetry, and stories. There is no money involved in this site and the registration does not require any kind of credit card or Pay Pal information.

According to the website, WritersCafe.org is royalty free with a non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify and publicly display such content. Meaning, they do not receive any money for allowing writers to post their literature and they do not have exclusive rights to your work. I see this website as a form of free publicity for the writing samples you decide to post. In most cases you will receive helpful feedback from fellow writers that will allow you to improve your writing. If you would like to self-publish your work, you are able to do so by going to websites such as, www.BookSurge.com or www.morrispublishing.com. On almost every page you visit throughout WritersCafe.org, you will be able to find at least one link to a self-publishing website. If you do decide to publish your book, you are able to add a link to your profile that will send the viewer to your published book's page. This gives viewers the chance to purchase your book, which means money for you!

For those who are more interested in reading and critiquing literature, any piece can be reviewed and then rated. After reading the author's work, you are able to post a comment, stating your opinion. The reviews are public to all who click on the piece of literature they wish to read. After posting a review, the reader is also able to rate what they read, based on the following scale:

1 star - Needs a lot of work

2 stars - Should be better

3 stars - It was alright

4 stars - Pretty good, but...

5 stars - Perfect & professional

6 stars - My favorite

Along with being able to write reviews for fellow members, you are also able to request their friendships. You can request to be a fellow author's friend or they can request to be your friend. Friendships give your literature a better shot at being reviewed by more people. There are even groups you can become a part of, such as the Poetry Group or Writers on Writing. Within the groups, members are allowed to post their literature and again people are allowed to review and rate it. You are able to start threads within the group as well. If you would like to start your own group, you can do that at anytime. A group is a great way to receive more friendships and more reviews.

WritersCafe.org also has contests that are held throughout the month. Contests are mostly created by fellow members of the website. Prizes can be anything from cash, publication or the recognition of having your entry be voted as number one. Contests are a great way to get an idea of how your writing compares with other writer's submissions.

By offering a variety of activities, this website is an excellent way for writers to perfect their writing that they wish to publish some day. If you have some literature you've been working on, don't just let it sit there, post it on www.writerscafe.org and you might just be surprised by the reaction it receives!