Since the past two decades, writers have been publishing their books online for free on writing sites and apps. This has picked up a lot of momentum in the recent years and both readers and writers are being increasingly attracted to these sites.
A large number of these writers have also been identified for publication by renowned publishing houses. Needless to say, their published books have then gone on to do really well in terms of success.
You must be thinking that if you publish your books for free, then what benefit will it serve you? Well, a lot more than you think actually. Let's look at a few of these benefits.
1) Readership - The most important and priceless advantage is that you will gain a number of loyal readers. They will stick with you if you decide to publish your book for a price later on. These are also the same people who will buy your successive books.
2) Motivation - When you publish a chapter online, you will receive comments and votes on it. These will serve as motivation and inspiration for you to continue writing.
3) Constructive criticism - When people are constantly reading your work, you will begin to receive constructive criticism. This will be in the form of someone correcting your grammar usage or maybe pointing out plot holes, etc. This can be in any form and if taken with a pinch of salt with the intention of improving, then it can prove extremely valuable.
4) Accountability - As and when you're updating the chapters, readers will begin to get more involved with the story. They will wait for new updates and massage you about new chapters. This will make you responsible and force you to sit down and write the next chapter. Before you know it, your entire book will be completed.
5) Writer friends - You will make connections with other writers. These friendships tend to last a long time and are really helpful in terms of support and uplifting each other.
6) Validation - Your book will either be liked or it won't. You can see it everyday if people are enjoying the story or not. This way, you will know if the plot is good or not and you can think about officially publishing it.
7) Habit - You will get into a habit of writing everyday. This is a priceless habit for a writer.
8) Writer's block - This is easy to overcome because your readers will pump you up and help you write the next chapter. Even the progress of your writer friends will help you work on your own book.
9) Open mind - You will see millions of other books and by this you will be able to assess the wide variety of genres, storylines, writing styles, story styles, etc. You will learn a number of things.
There are certain disadvantages of publishing your work online for free, though. The most important one among these is no payment. However, the advantages certainly outweigh the disadvantages and online writing sites are definitely a boon for new authors.
This article is written by Kulsum. Kulsum is the bestselling author of The Bleeding Wounds Series on Amazon Kindle. Her debut novel Love of a Stranger is published globally.
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