By: Jess Zafarris & Writer’s Digest
Image by Jess Zafarris
To the uninitiated, Reddit can seem like the Wild West of the web—and that’s not entirely inaccurate. But “the front page of the internet” is also a wealth of information, knowledge, resources, inspiration and so much more. Part anonymous message board platform, part social news and media aggregator, Reddit has more than 520 million regular monthly visitors and more than 1.2 million active subreddits, or categorized message boards that you can subscribe to in order to make popular submissions appear on your “front page” when you visit Reddit.com or the mobile app. The most common subreddits include /r/aww for cute critters, /r/pics for neat photos, and /r/askreddit for posing social questions to the community—but really, there’s one for everything. And I mean everything, including one dedicated entirely to photos of bread stapled to trees, but also including several excellent writing subreddits that provide critiques, craft and publishing advice, ideas and prompts, and more.
I’ve been participating on the site for more than six years, including maintaining a fairly active presence on several of these writing subreddits while lurking on others, so I thought I’d supplement my 101 Best Websites for Writers feature in the May/June 2019 issue with a guide to the many Reddit destinations where writers can find useful information and resources.
First thing to know: Reddit is anonymous and very, very public. Don’t post personal details unless you want the whole world knowing them. Plus it’s usually against the rules.
Speaking of, be sure to read and follow the rules of the subreddits you visit, or you’ll risk your post being deleted—or even having your account banned.
Also, especially in the writing subs, Redditors don’t pull any punches with criticism, and the communities include basically every demographic in the world (with a tilt in favor of millennial men), so steel your heart and mind before engaging or posting questions, images or written work. Upvote content you enjoy and engage with other users’ posts to encourage activity and community in each sub.
One more note: As you peruse the subreddits below, you’ll find my Editor’s Choice subreddits spotlighted with a ★.
General
Below are the two general writing subreddits—the differences lie in the size, personality and attitudes you’ll encounter in each one. The first is the largest subreddit and community dedicated to writing, but the latter is more typically open to critiques and has more flexible rules around what you’re allowed to post.
- ★ Writing (/r/writing)
- Writers (/r/writers)
Critique & Community
- ★ DestructiveReaders (/r/destructivereaders): “DestructiveReaders isn’t about writers being nice to writers; it’s about readers being honest with writers. We deconstruct writing to construct better writers.” Remember when I said that Reddit isn’t for the faint of heart? That’s especially accurate in this writing critique subreddit.
- WritersGroup (/r/writersgroup): Visit this community for constructive and thoughtful peer-review of your written work. While this group is helpful and has a decent amount of subscribers, it’s not terribly active.
- NaNoWriMo (/r/nanowrimo): A community dedicated to support and advice during National Novel Writing Month.
Publication Advice
- ★ PubTips (/r/pubtips): Started by user MNBrian, who works for a literary agency and also runs the Habits & Traits newsletter, this polished subreddit features wisdom from a variety of publishing experts and allows you to post your query letter for easy community critique.
- SelfPublish (/r/selfpublish): This extremely helpful subreddit is a place “for writers to discuss the process of self-publishing, share experiences in the ‘industry,’ and read up on self-publishing news.”
- Publishing (/r/publishing): This reasonably active community is great for “talking about publishing—the industry, the future, trends, and ideas.”
Did Jess wet your appetite for more ? I hope so because there’s much more in the article including genres, freelancing, prompts, inspiration, etc.. Here is a link to the article:
