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Should Writers Work for Free?

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As a Freelance writer and an Indie Author, this is something that I have contemplated and even have to admit have got a bit upset over.  It seems as if there are those who want writers to work for free.  Now for some maybe writing is a hobby but for some such as myself, we are struggling to make a name for ourselves or to even earn a living doing this.  So, imagine going to a classified website looking for writing jobs and find ads that want so many words in a written article but there is no pay involved.  Take it from someone who has seen such ads this has happened.  I remember one incident where another freelance writer actually took out their own ad out on this website and actually told those putting out these types of ads how they felt about this saying that writers have to take the time to write this stuff and do research they deserve restitution of some kind.  I have to admit I agreed with this person for taking that stand.

Then as an Indie author trying to get my books out there to the public in a competitive market I have dealt with something else.  Those who want to complain about book series.  What is the issue that readers have with book series?  Well, having read other authors myself for research purposes as well as reading reviews it has to do mainly with the fact that the first book is free but all the others in the series aren’t.  Again, I have to understand where my fellow Indie Author is coming from.  Writing a book isn’t something a person does over night, it takes time and it can also take research, not an easy process.  There is also editing and rewriting, read again, editing again, rewrite again. Then there is book cover creation and back cover creation, in all honesty, if I didn’t have my sister for a partner I wouldn’t get through it myself. But there are those out there who seem to not get that this isn’t easy and what do they do give bad reviews Indie Authors not for the quality of their work but because only the first book is free. What some of them fail to realize is mostly book series are created for those programs in mind for avid readers who pay a monthly subscription to download books to read per month.  Not for those to stand around getting mad that they have to put out money and sometimes not a whole lot of money some of these are only 99cents to acquire. I guess this is just a pet peeve of mine struggling out here, thank you Virily for giving me the platform to do so.

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Written by PAF

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  1. It is appropriate that every drop of sweat that comes out of a job must be valued, must be rewarded. But the ease of life today, and the instant culture in which we live in it today with a flood of information (true or hoax, original or duplicate, sincere or manipulative effort) required, as well as intense competition make people less concerned about the hard work of other people.

  4. I completely agree with you! I have unlimited, and it’s pretty much a thing if you like the book, there’s a series you can buy! My daughter does reviews and she doesn’t get paid for what she does. Will Star Serenity if you are curious, she’s honest yet fair and doesn’t bash any books.

  9. I wonder if we will go back to the old idea of payment by subscription? In the 18th century writers would invite people to subscribe in advance – the writer lived on the subscriptions and the subscribers got a copy of the book when it was finished – plus a mention on the list of subscribers. The problem these days is that people are not prepared to wait!

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