With the internet at our finger tips, poets and other writers, no longer need to wait for a publisher to print their work in order to share their writings with the world. Many poets have their own websites or blogs where they share their poetry online. However, there are other options as well.

There are several web sites that will provide you the opportunity to publish your poetry online, along with a community of other poets and writers. These community sites provide some advantages over publishing on your own site.

The main advantage is the connection with the other writers. You have the opportunity to receive feedback from other writers and to read the work from other writers. You also have your work exposed to a greater audience than it might be on your own web site or blog.

Below we’ve listed ten sites online that will allow you to publish your poetry online. Each site has their own unique advantages, as you will see.

1. HelloPoetry If you’re looking for a clean background uncluttered by advertising, this site is a great choice. They also provide a simple process for creating and selling access to your own poetry e-books on the site.
2. Allpoetry This site has both free and paid memberships. It has a large membership that comes from all over the world and from every age group. They provide free online poetry classes and many different groups and forums. If you’re looking for poetry prompts, this is their biggest feature. Members host ‘contests’ that are more about providing inspiration than about winning.
3. Authspot This site is a part of the Triond publishing network, which pays  you money based on the number of visits to your published writing. The pay is generated by the many ads on the sites, which can be distracting and do not create much of an income for most poets.
4. Yahoo Contributor Network This is another pay-per-view publishing site that will accept poetry. Again your poetry will be sandwiched among advertising and the income potential with poetry is minimal.
5. Scholastic-Writing with Writers This is a great site for kids to learn about writing poetry from a well-known poet and to publish their poetry as well.
6. The Writers Forum Another online writers’ community, this site has a poetry section as well as other forms of creative writing. If you write in more than one genre and are looking for feedback on your poetry, this can be a good choice.
7. Poem.org This site encourages critique among its members and publishes member’s poems in categories of novice, intermediate and advanced.
8. Poemhunter This is another interactive poetry community. In addition to posting member’s poetry, this site has a lot of poetry by some of the most popular poets of today.
9. PoetryCircle If you’re looking for a poetry site that focuses on quality, this may be it. The membership is smaller than some of the other sites. It also has editors who look for the best submissions on the site, in order to highlight them and give them more exposure.
10. WritersCafe A site for all forms of writing, including poetry. Although the pages do include advertising, it is less intrusive than some of the others. The site does also offer writing classes, contests and forums for discussion.

There are plenty of choices available for the poet in our online world. There is no need to keep your words to yourself.