Five Reasons Writers Need Scribd

• Posted on September 4, 2010
• by IngridRicks
• in Uncategorized
• 2 Comments.

I should have been on Scribd a year ago.

As a writer who recently discovered Scribd, defined as the largest social publishing and reading site in the world, I’m blown away by the vast global community of writers and readers and by the opportunities to connect with other writers and share work. And I’m annoyed with myself for not discovering it earlier. Because the truth is that I had heard of it before, but didn’t understand what it was and didn’t bother checking it out.

So here it is: If you are a writer and you aren’t yet on Scribd, below are five reasons you need to join today.

It’s what I wish I would have known a long time ago.

1) Feedback/Mentorship. If you want feedback on your writing, there’s no better place to get it than Scribd. With millions of writers and readers perusing Scribd daily, your work is bound to be read by numerous people. It’s easy to get a sense by their comments or ratings (or lack thereof) how your writing is being received. And if you want more feedback and comments, just ask. I’ve found that fellow Scribd members are glad to share their thoughts.

2) Community/Support: I Facebook and I try to Twitter, but I’ve always had a hard time coming up with something relevant or clever to say. With Scribd, it’s easy to engage because everybody has the same thing in common: they are passionate about writing and reading. Like other social networking platforms, Scribd is a two-way experience that works best when you are interacting with other writers and readers, and actively discovering new work. In my short time on Scribd, I’ve already connected with an amazing community. I’ve enjoyed long phone calls with writers I’ve met through Scribd, and will soon meet a new screenwriter friend in person when he reads from his work in Seattle. An added benefit of Scribd is that it enables you automatically share your comments over Facebook and Twitter .

3) Access to great writing/different genres: Until I joined Scribd last month, I had never read a screenplay and had limited my poetry exposure to Maya Angelou and Shel Silverstein. Now I read both genres regularly and love them. Whatever I’m in the mood for, Scribd has: novels, magazine articles, news briefs, short stories, memoirs, poetry, government documents and more. It was on Scribd where I recently read the manifesto of the guy who held the Discovery Channel employees hostage before being shot and killed.

4) Awareness: This was what first drew me to Scribd. I had heard that other writers were using it to build a platform and awareness for their manuscripts. Since the first thing my new agent told me to do was build a platform for my memoir, Hippie Boy, before she shops it to agents this fall, I thought I would give it a try. If you are a new author interested in publishing your book (whether the self pub or traditional pub route), having an established audience is key — and Scribd can help you accomplish that.

5) Readers: After working in solitude for years on my memoir, the rush and joy of having others actually read and enjoy my writing is a huge boost. It’s also a motivator to keep on writing.

Blog author Ingrid Ricks is making final tweaks to Hippie Boy, the coming of age memoir she recently finished writing. Her book excerpts can be found on Scribd.

Tags: Audience, Hppie Boy, Ingrid Ricks, memoir, Publishing, Readers, Scribd