This article will tell writers and authors how to broaden their horizons.

I think it is very important in a writer/author to broaden and expand your horizons and to do this you must utilize more on-line writing communities to get the exposure that you need when you write.

You will not get this kind of exposure if you stay within the realms of one on-line writing community. You must use more than one on-line community to get noticed.

Of course, there are certain on-line writing communities I would recommend that you stay away from because they expect you to pay to have your stories published by the means of buying credits.

These two websites are http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/ and http://fanstory.com.

Although you will receive many reviews and critique from the writers over there I can assure you that they don't take kindly to new comers. They are overly critic of what you write. Both of these sites are full of grammar Nazis' s and website trolls.

http://fanstory.com has a monthly membership fee of $8.95 a month and you must set up an account with http://paypal.com.

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com - you have to buy credits to post your next story or chapter or read so many chapters or stories to earn credits.

Who has the better deal? http://writers-network./com or http://storywrite.com - well personally http://writers-network.com does because it only cost you $36.00 a year verses $45.00 a month for a gold membership over at http://storywrite.com

An entire years membership over at http://storywrite.com will cost you a grand total of $180.00 a year.
You will save $144.00 a year by using http://writers-network.com

http://booksie.com is the sister site to http://thenextbigwriter.com and it is totally free.

Of course there are sights specifically made for those people who like Science Fiction, horror, Fantasy, and poetry.

There is even a Christian site for children between the ages of 7 to 14.

The more you expand your horizons the more likely you will be noticed by a reputable publisher like Bantam Books, Avon Books, Simon and Schuster, and so many more of the big time publishers.

As long as you have the money up-front any of the self publication companies will publish your book. You have to pay them rather they pay you.

It is a good idea to check out just how much the self publishing companies want and what packages they have to offer before looking into them.

Some allow you to set the amount of the royalties.

http://www.amazon.com/2012-Writers-Market-Robert-Brewer/dp/1599632268/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327357053&sr=1-5

This is a very useful book I got it one year.

http://www.amazon.com/Novel-Short-Story-Writers

This is another good book for those who like to write Novel-Short Story-Writers.

http://www.amazon.com/2012-Poets-Market-Robert-Brewer/dp/1599632306/ref=pd_vtp_b_4 and for those who like to write poetry. Here is a good book.

There are a lot of self-publishing companies out there, however, there are just to many to name. You can do the research on-line yourself and find out which one best suits your budget.