Why Is Everything Free To Read?
Oct. 26th, 2016 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
k_a_webb posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
kawebbwritingOver the years I’ve read about devaluing myself, and my writing. I’ve thought long and hard about what I want from this site, because there are so many different paths I could have taken, and I did take a couple of them before I made certain decisions based on what was most important to me. That’s why I created a place like this in the first place. It was somewhere I could focus on doing what was important to me. About a year ago I made the choice that I wanted everything here to be free to read. I’m not going to change my mind about this any time soon, and there’s multiple reasons for that. One of those reasons are certain laws that have been put into place that made selling digitally much harder than it once was.
Finding out about that was the impetus I needed for doing what I’d always wanted to do. I’d stopped myself from posting everything for free before out of fear. I was scared of doing what I wanted to do, because of what I’ve read. I was worried that people would see what I do as something less then what other people are doing, purely because I was posting everything for free, but I’ve come to terms with those worries. As time has passed I’ve become more comfortable with who I am as a writer, and the choices that I’ve made based on what I most enjoy doing. The one thing I never wanted was to make my worlds inaccessible to someone who didn’t have the money to pay for it. I never wanted to shut people out. I want to be read, I want people to get involved, and I want, more than anything, to be able to write the things I enjoy.
Starting to earn a living from writing things that other people enjoy is another reason. This is somewhere I post what I’ve written for fun, more than anything. I’m not going to say it wouldn’t be nice to get some income from the site, but, for now, that’s not my focus. What I want is to get back to enjoying writing. I most enjoy writing when I’m being read. I like to get comments, and I’ve done what I can to make the whole process a little simpler with the reaction buttons, where I have a little kudos button. If you’ve read a story you like then clicking that button will help. If you feel up to writing out a comment then I’d really appreciate it. That, honestly, makes me happy, and it makes me happy in a different way to tips. It’s hard to put into words, but I always get this little boost when I read a comment on my work that shows me someone has enjoyed it. Comments make me want to write more.
That’s the main reason everything will stay free to read. It’s also the main reason I’ve never given up on the website, even though there have been times when I haven’t really been writing. As that is the case I don’t see my plans changing any time soon.
Finding out about that was the impetus I needed for doing what I’d always wanted to do. I’d stopped myself from posting everything for free before out of fear. I was scared of doing what I wanted to do, because of what I’ve read. I was worried that people would see what I do as something less then what other people are doing, purely because I was posting everything for free, but I’ve come to terms with those worries. As time has passed I’ve become more comfortable with who I am as a writer, and the choices that I’ve made based on what I most enjoy doing. The one thing I never wanted was to make my worlds inaccessible to someone who didn’t have the money to pay for it. I never wanted to shut people out. I want to be read, I want people to get involved, and I want, more than anything, to be able to write the things I enjoy.
Starting to earn a living from writing things that other people enjoy is another reason. This is somewhere I post what I’ve written for fun, more than anything. I’m not going to say it wouldn’t be nice to get some income from the site, but, for now, that’s not my focus. What I want is to get back to enjoying writing. I most enjoy writing when I’m being read. I like to get comments, and I’ve done what I can to make the whole process a little simpler with the reaction buttons, where I have a little kudos button. If you’ve read a story you like then clicking that button will help. If you feel up to writing out a comment then I’d really appreciate it. That, honestly, makes me happy, and it makes me happy in a different way to tips. It’s hard to put into words, but I always get this little boost when I read a comment on my work that shows me someone has enjoyed it. Comments make me want to write more.
That’s the main reason everything will stay free to read. It’s also the main reason I’ve never given up on the website, even though there have been times when I haven’t really been writing. As that is the case I don’t see my plans changing any time soon.
