Abject apologies if I’m in the wrong place; I’m new here and don’t want to commit a faux-pas but I have been lurking for a few days and not found the advice I am looking for. If there is a thread that deals with this, please point me to it.

I’ve got a story on ffn and I’d like to put a couple of chapters up for comment here on the WBA forum. Is there a rule or convention that you are expected to give a certain number of reviews before posting up your own work or can I just do it right away?

 

I don't think so. Authors are often advised, after coming over to discuss their work on the review board to put it in the WBA, so that implies not. But I haven't been around here for long enough to be sure.

 

So long as you follow these rules for WbA, post away.

 

There are no rules about when you can post fics, either to For Review or Work By Author. Be aware, however, that these two forums have distinct purposes.

For Review is a place for fics which are the finished product. That doesn't necessarily mean complete, but it does mean that the author isn't intending on editing the work significantly. The fic is there to be judged on its merits as it stands and given a score. You post a link to the fic hosted on another side, not the text itself.

Work By Author is a place for fic development. People generally post writing to WBA as they write it, and the primary idea is to get feedback which results in the author editing the work, perhaps in major ways. If you just want reviews, you should post to For Review, not WBA. Only post to WBA if you're serious about editing in response to criticism. You post the text of the fic itself, not a link.

Either way, it's generally a good idea not to post until there is something substantial to be commented on. In "For Review" I'd say you shouldn't post a fic unless it has at least 30k words (unless it's a one shot or novella). In WBA I'd say you should post at least 2000 words.

These aren't rules, but I think they're good guidelines to follow.