Bored? Somehow finished that TBR pile (or avoiding it?) Are you looking for something quick to get you out of a reading slump? The internet houses a treasure trove of books and stories online, and although some of them tend to be locked behind paywalls, others are accessible for free – often, you’ll have to trade in your email, though.
This article will contain many different sites you may be able to find short stories on, and if you’ve already seen what they have to offer, it may still be worth reading – as I’ll cover many more ways to find interesting short stories to read online for free. Some of them may require signing up with an email address, but others won’t.
Reedsy short stories
Thousands of writers submit their work to the Reedsy Short Stories contest weekly, meaning there are plenty of free short stories to choose from. They’re from a wide array of genres, from Adventure to Western, and you can read as many as you want without giving away any of your contact information. Plus, as they’re from the contest winners, they’re high-quality and regular updates mean there is always something new, so check back often!
The Gutenberg Project
Perhaps containing the most books on this list, The Gutenberg Project is a collection of works that have been digitised due to their U.S. copyright expiring. You don’t need to pay a fee or register, and you can read just using your web browser. You can search specifically for a book, by name, author, popularity, recent additions and using many more filters.
Compilation sites
For a bit of inception, you could also find many stories and books to read by searching for something similar to the title of this blog, and scouring listicles for good sites or stories. From a quick browse, I was able to find numerous examples such as BookBub’s list of 36 free short stories, Globe Soup’s Big List, or Book Riot’s 18 great short stories to sink my teeth into.
Short-Story.Me was a site I found while browsing that offers many books in many different genres submitted by writers, Storyberries contains a lot of books specifically for younger children and you can also search for sites specifically by genre, such as Free Speculative Fiction Online.
Literary magazines or publishers
The people that do this for a living know what we’re all after – and that’s why they provide the goods. Publishing houses and literary magazines are constantly getting new and interesting writing sent in, and a lot of the time, this work ends up on their websites – especially in the case of online-only publishers or magazines.
Anyways, just a quick search for either a specific journal or publishing house will bring up their website, usually with a dedicated page for short stories or other written work. TSS Publishing, The New Yorker (you can read a certain amount of stories for free before needing to create a subscription) and many others are available for perusal.
Author websites and excerpts!
You can also get stories from the horse’s mouth! Many authors with their own websites release excerpts, or even full stories, for people to get a feel of their writing style. These will often be harder to come by in the wild, so start looking for these by typing in the names of authors you know and love.
Excerpts – like downloaded .pdf files of books or even pasted text – can sometimes be found if you go digging in the right places. There’s not much guidance on this sort of thing, as these are usually uploaded to the internet sporadically and by different people. Sometimes Google Books has them, or you can find lists like this one, offered by Early Bird Books.
Wattpad!
Wattpad is where many early writers start out, and is the place to go – especially if you’re after fanfiction. It’s free to sign up, and you only need your email to start browsing the site. Updated as regularly as they’re written, some really great texts have been written on Wattpad – but beware that some writers’ enthusiasm or spare time may peter out, leaving stories unfinished.
Wattpad is a place where similar-minded communities form over a love of writing – all the stories are uploaded by users of the site, and there’s plenty there to choose from: whether you’re after mystery, romance or anything in-between. Plus smut. A whole lot of smut.
Kindle
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ll also know that certain books are available for free on Kindle – and there’s also Kindle for Web, meaning there are many ways to enjoy books from the platform. You can start reading with an Amazon account, and they have classics like Wuthering Heights, Alice In Wonderland and Aesop’s Fables.
Whoa! I’m read all over!
Well, hopefully that’s pointed you in the right direction for something to pique your fancy. As always, this is by no means an exhaustive list – you may already know some great sites. Keep your ear to the ground for recommendations from friends or family, as there are many options out there for places to read stories for free online.
Impish Fen 
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