This is my week for trying new things. First I looked into "going wide" i.e. publishing my books in many different markets (and, for right now, feeling so confused and overwhelmed I am putting that project to one side), then releasing three kindle singles (which did pretty well but guess which book started selling more copies? None of them--it was Marilyn, who continues to outsell all of my other books combined. Go figure, everyone loves that lady. So do I, so I get it.)
Anyway, the third new thing is kind of a half-new thing. I'm now a paid writer for the website Medium.com. I'm not completely new to that site but up until now I've just put my stories up there and people could read them for free.
As a paid writer, it means my stories will be behind a dreaded paywall. You've probably seen these before, I know I have. There you are, getting into an article, and suddenly, WHAMMO, they interrupt you to say "hey buddy pony up the dough if you want to read the rest." This always bugs me big time and what I do is I do NOT pony up the dough, I just click off and go find something free to read.
So I know how it is to see that paywall and feel irritated. The good thing is, on Medium.com you can read three free stories every month. If you choose to read three of mine, that would be great, I won't stop you, but I should add there are many great writers on there, writing about everything you can imagine. If you go peek onto the site (and I hope you do) you may find yourself wanting to read a bunch of them. If you want unlimited reading per month, you can join Medium for $5 a month. Cancel anytime. Or, just read the three freebies per month, that works also.
The paywall thing is an OK thing for the writers, but it isn't a guarantee they'll make any money. Readers have the chance to give "claps" for stories they like (one clap for liking it, up to 50 claps I think if you really like it) and "claps" given to your story by paid members result in money paid to you. Super industrious people are publishing 8-10 stories a week but I think I'll stick to three or four and see how that goes. The nice thing is, the writer still owns the story, so writing a lot of stories will mean that every year I'll have enough for one or two new collections. This is assuming I can come up with anything to write about, which is kind of iffy at the moment.
When I post a new story on Medium, I'll post the link here, and you can read it for free at https://medium.com/@aisforamie