Over the past few years, a great transformation has been seen in the writing world. Now, writers have more writing formats and platforms to publish their work. Today, writers can publish their books using self-publishing platforms. They can publish their stories as web-novels. They can sell their words to the audio and film industry. Their blogs can become a source of secondary income. Also, can make a nice career in digital content writing.
To observe this change, every writing platform is evolving consistently to match the scenario. They open the space for authors, where they can publish their web novels and other medium to large content and earn without paying money.
If you’re an indie author and also looking for a platform for your unique voice, this blog is for you.
In this blog, I’ll share some global digital platforms that support multi-format creative writing. So, don’t wait. Read this blog and find the platform that fits your creative voice.
Let’s dive into it.
Top 10 Global Publishing Platforms for Web Novels, Short Stories & Other Creative Content
1. WebNovel
Presently, WebNovel is a major global online literature platform. It primarily focuses on long-form fiction writing, where each chapter ends on a cliffhanger that hooks the readers. Writers can also publish poetry or creative narratives here if they have an episodic structure.
As of October 2023, WebNovel reached around 220 million users worldwide. It supports a large community of 400,000 authors and has published 610,000 web novels across genres. These numbers increase the credibility of this platform among authors and readers. Some popular genres are fantasy, romance, action, adventure, Sci-Fi, supernatural, mystery and thriller.
Key Benefits:
- WebNovel offers a global audience.
- It offers multilingual support with AI translations.
- It provides community tools, such as ratings, comments, and an engagement tracker.
- Offers many monetisation opportunities through contracts, bonuses, story adaptations, competitions, awards and premium reads.
- Has a supportive writing community.
However, some authors note that WebNovel’s contracts and revenue systems are less favourable than other self-publishing models. Still, overall, it is a worthy global platform to publish serialised writing content.
2. WattPad
Wattpad is also the largest global writing platform for web novels, serialised fiction, short stories, poems, and other creative content. It also has a large publishing community. It is also known as a reading app, which supports more than 50 languages.
WattPad has 500 million users, with hundreds of millions of stories. In fact, recently, it has noticed over 665 million story uploads in total. Basically, WattPad primarily encourages a serialised release format that keeps readers coming back for updates. Their supporting genres include drama, mystery, sci-fi, and non-fiction. But romance and teen fiction are particularly popular due to a large young adult audience.
Key Benefits:
- WattPad give access to a massive global audience with mobile-first reach.
- More focused on community interaction. Here, writers receive feedback directly from readers and make changes.
- It provides editorial support, marketing help, and brand partnership access.
- It provides monetisation opportunities, like the Wattpad Creators Program, Traditional publishing deals and Film or TV adaptations.
- It is a multilingual platform with diverse genre representation.
Ultimately, Wattpad is a powerful multi-format publishing platform. However, it requires strong engagement to achieve a steady income. That makes it more favourable for already-popular writers.
3. Tapas
Tapas is another renowned digital storytelling platform. It is best known for webcomics and web novels. According to the website, 80% of its content is webcomics.
Tapas is mainly designed for phone screens and uses an episodic structure. It has a global readership with 10 million registered users worldwide. Over 75,000 creators are publishing original stories and comics, with more than 100,000 series.
Tapas attracts a young audience. In fact, it is a good platform for female creators because its significant readers are women aged 18–24. Their most famous genres are romance, fantasy, supernatural, action, adventure, horror, comedy, and drama.
Key Benefits:
- Publishing in Tapas is free, and creators retain full ownership of their work.
- It provides a creator-first dashboard to track performance, schedule posts, and build readership.
- It is a global community where fans can interact with stories through comments and subscriptions.
- Offers multiple genres and formats.
- Shares monetisation opportunities through ad revenue, affiliate marketing, publishing, adaptations and direct fans support.
Tapas is a hybrid storytelling platform where the comics ecosystem is currently stronger and more established. It is a good choice for creators who want to publish webcomics to reach a global audience.
4. Scribble Hubs
Scribble Hub is also a digital publishing platform for web stories and novels. It is designed to help writers share their work and connect with a community of readers.
Recently, Scribble Hub has around 116,000 registered users and hosts over 25,800 published novels. Their most popular genres are action, adventure, fantasy, romance, sci-fi and supernatural. In fact, it has a corresponding forum community that works on writing, site features, and novel feedback.
Note: Scribble Hub does not have its own built-in paid chapter system or revenue-sharing program. It is linked to external monetisation, such as Patreon, Ko-fi, or PayPal, to accept donations directly.
Key Benefits:
- Scribble Hub is good for web novel writers and authors who enjoy community interaction and feedback.
- It is a free and independent platform that gives freedom to explore a niche without strict policies.
- It has accessible publishing tools. Shares detailed story statistics for authors to track engagement.
- Here, 100% of donations go to the author.
- Provides an active member forum where authors and readers discuss stories and site features.
Overall, Scribble Hub is easy to join and publish. It is ideal for writers who want to publish ongoing serial stories rather than standalone short pieces.
5. Royal Road
Royal Road is a free online platform designed for web novels and serialised fiction. In fact, it receives 14 million visits per month, with approximately 470,000 daily visitors. Surprisingly, over 80000 unique fictions are hosted on the platform with around 1 million registered users. Its Reddit community alone has ~23000 members, which shows its extreme online engagement.
Their popular genres are fantasy, reincarnation, sci-fi, and slice-of-life. Royal Road also supports short stories and other creative pieces, but they are less common.
Note: Royal Road does not have a built-in paid chapter system. However, authors can earn via external links, sponsorship, advertising, and conversion to books.
Key Benefits:
- Royal Road is for authors who build momentum for their works before converting them into books.
- Here, community creators can earn through affiliate links, ads, and sponsorship. Some top authors are supported by full-time writing and bonus content.
- It provides direct reader interaction to build a strong community bond.
- Offers featured lists, trending tags, and genre filters that help stories get noticed.
- Here, authors can track engagement and follower growth.
Overall, Royal Road is ideal for authors who love long-form world-building, reader engagement, and organic reach.
6. Booksie
Booksie is famous for sharing multi-format creative writing. Here, writers can publish novels, short stories, poems, articles, and more. Booksie works best for hobbyists and aspiring writers who want to showcase their creativity and receive feedback. It is a non-algorithmic publishing platform means all published works have an equal opportunity to be seen.
Booksie had over 250,000 authors who had posted over 1,000,000 short stories, poems, articles, and novels. These numbers make it one of the most trusted free writing communities on the internet.
Note: Booksie doesn’t use a traditional paid chapter model or premium feed monetisation. Here, authors can sell their work to fans or add donation links for direct support.
Key Benefits:
- Booksie is free and provides easy publishing. It focuses on organic discovery.
- It has tools like Booksie Postmarks, a digital stamps that help writers prove ownership.
- It supports multiple writing formats to help new writers find their niche and audience.
- Provides forums and interactions where readers and writers can discuss stories or writing ideas.
- It has AI-powered writing feedback tools for premium users.
Ultimately, Booksie is a good choice for writers who want to build a portfolio, experiment with multiple formats, and interact directly with readers.
7. Inkit
Inkitt is also a global digital publishing platform where authors can publish their stories for free and build a readership. This platform is best suited for serialised novels, long-form stories, and complete books. Here, authors upload chapters or full manuscripts, and readers can add to reading lists, react, comment, and follow authors.
Some of the most popular genres are fantasy, sci-fi, romance, thriller, mystery, drama, and real-world fiction. Inkit has a global reach with over 2 million active users. It operates as a community that helps writers get into commercial publishing.
Note: Inkitt itself does not charge writers to publish. Writers can publish elsewhere or pursue deals outside the platform.
Key Benefits:
- Inkit is a free publishing platform with a global reach.
- It tracks reader engagement and also recommends content and potential hits.
- It gives freedom to choose suitable genres and formats.
- Here, authors retain 100% ownership of their intellectual property.
- It has monetisation opportunities, such as the Inkitt Ambassador Author Program, Publication via GALATEA, and writing contests.
Inkitt is a data-driven, reader-centric platform that serves both new and experienced authors. Overall, it is a trustworthy platform for beginners.
8. Sweek
Sweek is a global, mobile-first digital platform that enables individuals globally to read, write, and share creative stories in various genres. It attracted over 100,000 active registered users from 90-100 nations within a few months of its launch.
This platform is especially used for short stories and quick reads, although long stories are also read here. Since Sweek is a reader-writer community, it aims to provide a free and interactive content exchange. Their main categories include romance, drama, mystery, thriller, fantasy, sci-fi, short stories, and poetry.
Key Benefits:
- Sweek is ideal for aspiring authors who enjoy community feedback and experiment with serialised formats.
- It is free to use for both readers and writers.
- The authors can participate in writing competitions and turn their digital stories into books.
- Provides a writing ecosystem that is organised around community, accessibility, and mobile engagement.
- Here, readers can follow, like, share, and comment on stories, which creates a social reading experience.
Overall, Sweek is a mobile-friendly, community-driven platform that helps writers to create, share, and connect with readers worldwide.
9. Penana
Penana is another global social publishing platform where writers and readers share stories, novels, comics, poetry, and other narrative content. It primarily focuses on collaborations, community building, and interactive storytelling.
Penana has grown to about 1.6 million users by 2021. It supports a wide range of genres, including fantasy, sci-fi, romance, drama, adventure, thriller, poetry, essays, and comics.
Note: Writers can earn from their work directly on the Penana platform. Though success depends on audience size and engagement.
Key Benefits:
- Penana is particularly well-suited to collaborative narratives.
- It offers tools for simple uploading of chapters and encourages writers to connect and grow together.
- It is ideal for aspiring writers building their portfolios and collaborative authors who enjoy co-creating with others.
- Here, writers get direct feedback and engagement from a creative community.
- It offers multiple monetisation options, including Penana monetisation system, Chapter-based paid content and author sponsorship and donations.
Basically, Penana is a community-oriented publishing platform that supports creative freedom. It’s ideal for authors who want to grow through interaction, collaborations, and contests.
10. FictionPress
FictionPress is a free online global publishing platform. It is a dedicated community to share fiction, short stories, poetry, essays, scripts, and lyrics. FictionPress possesses over 2 million registered users. It receives ~2.9 million visits monthly and has 94000 daily visitors. The website contains over 6 million stories across genres.
However, the site does not have a mobile app, which has affected its traffic and engagement in past years. Still, the community shows strong engagement in general fiction, romance, fantasy, young adult, horror, supernatural, sci-fi, and mystery.
Key Benefits:
- FictionPress is particularly for creators who want feedback and engagement from readers.
- It is free and gives freedom to build experience, experiment with style, or share their work without cost.
- It consists of a large archive and discoverability. Has millions of works from global authors.
- It supports multiple writing formats and genres.
- Here, comments and reviews can help writers to improve their writing.
Note: No internal monetisation tools in FictionPress. Authors retain rights but must use external channels to earn from their writing.
However, because FictionPress is older and text-focused, some writers find it less active than newer platforms. Still, it remains a valuable platform for simple publishing and connecting with readers.
Final Words
Your words deserve a right platform. Your story deserves readers. Your book deserves to exist.
And your publishing journey deserves a good start. Whether you’re a beginner or a full-time writer, a new era of digital storytelling is waiting for all unique voices.
Now, It’s Your Turn, Writers!
Comment below and tell me your favourite global publishing platform. I’d love to hear the one you’re excited to try next.
If you find this blog helpful, share it with fellow writers and creators who are planning to start their writing journey with the right platform.
Also, don’t forget to share your valuable feedback. Your every word matters to us.
Simran Thakur
Founder AFAWW
Author| Screenwriter| Audio story scriptwriter| Blogger| Poet
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