Writing for yourself is absolutely fine. You still get the joy of doing the writing. But there is something really important for your creative growth about sharing your work with others by publishing it.
I won't deny that it's a very scary thing, especially the first few times you do it. Letting your stories free in the world is a lot like letting your children play outside: it's good for them and good for you, but it's worrying and you always wonder if they are really ready for it.
However, like anything else, it gets easier the more often you do it.
In fact, the more you do it, the more seasoned you become at being able to gauge how much tweaking a story needs before you let it out into the world. You become a lot less precious about your work and, at the same time, you actually yearn to publish your next story.
Finding the right platform to publish your work can be a tricky but ultimately rewarding exercise.
I originally used Scribe when I was ready to publish a short fiction story for the first time. However, it wasn't long before I realised it wasn't the platform for me. That was when I switched to Medium, and haven't looked back since.
Online publishing is great, and seeing your work on Kindle is an exciting thing, as well. Audiobooks are also another great way to get your words out there. But nothing quite beats seeing your stories in a paperback.
Fortunately, you don't have to choose between these publishing methods - you can use them all.
The main point is to just keep publishing. Keep getting your work out there for others to read.
You will get feedback from people, which is both exciting and daunting. But, mostly, it’s a positive experience, and allows you to discover and expand on what readers like about your writing.
It has made a huge difference to my writing. Try it for yourself and see what it can do for you!