Should I post fiction on my writing advice blog?

One thing to consider is that if you post a story on your blog, that's considered "published," so it's likely to prevent magazines etc. from accepting it for publication. They usually want first rights, which as the name implies, can only be used once so would be gone after you posted the story on your blog.

Also, if you aren't satisfied with the quality of your writing then I'd think it wouldn't help your cause to put it up on your writing blog. Why not send your stories out for consideration in magazines and anthologies? That's likely to get many more readers than a writing blog by an unknown writer.

If I were going to take how-to advice from someone, I'd want to know they knew what they were talking about.

I'll try a Martha Stewart recipe that's written, with no pics, because Martha can cook. I wouldn't generally try a random recipe from a random person without pics of their prepared food on their page.

L. OBrien said:

For the last two months I've been working on a blog that centers on the craft of writing. It's mostly how-to articles. I was considering posting some of my own writing, but I'm on the fence about whether or not this is a good idea.

On one hand, I'm trying to build a writer platform, and that's a bit hard to do without actually sharing work. It also means more content, which never hurts.

On the other, the blog is focused on providing how-to advice, so it's not supposed to be about me. I'm also afraid that posting my own work would undercut my credibility since I suspect that I'm better at reading than writing, and while I'm satisfied with the quality of my work, it's pretty far from perfect. This fear counts for double since I'm trying to establish myself as a competent beta reader.

How do the rest of you handle this? One blog for everything? Separate writing and informative blogs? Just an advice blog? Also, what's your reasoning?

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Would you take "how to" advice from someone if you weren't sure THEY knew "how to?"

Post the stories and quit worrying about whether it focuses the blog too much on you.

My blog is 100 percent about me, which means it's sometimes political vomit, sometimes critiques of the nerdy shows I love, sometimes vitriol about the people who have recently pissed me off, sometimes parenting quirks, and on and on. So you can't really get ideas from my blog, but my advice as a longtime media person is show the readers that you know what you're talking about.

I always post my plays on my writing blog, once they've been performed and vetted by an audience. I also post my short stories that have been published...with permission. I will occasionally post snippets from my published novels, as well...mostly what can also be found on the Look Inside level at Amazon...so it's not like it's not already easily available. I don't see anything wrong with mixing what you post on your blog. My blog has scads of writing advice...but it also goes into indulgent tangents with my other loves; music (like last week I saw The Cult perform in George Stroumboulopoulos's living room! Like I'm not going to blog about that!!!), travel, family, life, etc. I see nothing wrong with sharing writing samples...they can back up your advice.

ETA: I guess I should have said that I do everything on one blog. I hope that my words speak for who I am and serve as a platform. I just try to be me...and at the same time offer advice on writing throughout. Although, I do have a second blog focused on ONLY book reviews.

I wouldn't post anything that you're not already considering self publishing. Whether you should have a separate blog would depend on how often your posting schedule is, if you only post a story once a month, your followers who don't like it can ignore it. More than that you might want to think about a separate blog.

Go ahead and post stories, especially if you consider them worthy representatives of your skill. But only if they are really good. Else you'll just convince readers that your writing advice is incompetent. And if they ARE really good, it will make your readers more likely to listen to your advice.

Don't worry about them being a first publication if you have ambitions to publish your stories. If they're terrific someone will want to make money from them. Personal blogs with their usual small audiences are not competition for professional print or online magazines. You WILL have to remove them from your web site however if a publication wants to publish them.

Online stories can serve a larger function. They can act as ads for our other writing. They can also offer added perspectives about the people, places, and events in your books, especially if those books become very popular.