It's a thing. Really.
Personally, I'm torn on this one. Writers certainly have the right to be compensated for the their creative work, and market economics do dictate it's much harder to sell a thing next to someone else who's giving it away for free. On the other hand, as a reader, I love free fiction, and as a writer who hopes to reach a number of people, I like the breadth of audience you can get in exchange for not making money. So I guess I come down on the side of it being the author's individual prerogative to dictate the cost of their work, within a considered strategy for their own best career advancement. I don't think people should feel pressured, ideally, to give away things they worked hard on and feel are worth material compensation. There's no shame in that. But I also don't think they deserve to be called names for trying to reach an audience in a crowded market.
You do your best, you know?
Also, I've started putting up free stories here that are on permanent archive elsewhere. Because, really, why not?
Personally, I'm torn on this one. Writers certainly have the right to be compensated for the their creative work, and market economics do dictate it's much harder to sell a thing next to someone else who's giving it away for free. On the other hand, as a reader, I love free fiction, and as a writer who hopes to reach a number of people, I like the breadth of audience you can get in exchange for not making money. So I guess I come down on the side of it being the author's individual prerogative to dictate the cost of their work, within a considered strategy for their own best career advancement. I don't think people should feel pressured, ideally, to give away things they worked hard on and feel are worth material compensation. There's no shame in that. But I also don't think they deserve to be called names for trying to reach an audience in a crowded market.
You do your best, you know?
Also, I've started putting up free stories here that are on permanent archive elsewhere. Because, really, why not?
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