Before you read the post… My new book The Dragon’s Den is here! I’d so love it if you’d check it out. It’s only $2.99 (less than a gallon of gas or a fancy coffee!) and it’s free for Kindle Unlimited users! I see every purchase and every review. They mean so much to me; thank you for being awesome supporters!

Hello, everyone! I’m back after a lot of hectic work stuff and a really nice vacation. And then more hectic work stuff.

While taking a break from blogging, I’ve been thinking a lot about my website, my books, and how to get my work out there. I so enjoy writing for my blog, but as a struggling indie author, posting tons of stories on here just isn’t feasible anymore when there are plenty of ways to get paid for my hard work.

I also realised that I have a bit of an awkward situation when it comes to the audience of my website: is it for readers, or writers? I’d like it to be for both, but my website isn’t currently set up that way. That’s why you’ll be seeing some changes coming to the site soon – nothing earth-shattering, but simply an easier way for both writers and readers to find exactly what they’re looking for.

One of the changes I’m making currently is finding a new home for my stories. You’ll definitely still see fiction on the blog, but it’ll mostly be short flash fiction (so not much of a change at all from recent months!). I’ve been looking into ways I can get paid for my original fiction since my work clients always rave about the stories I write for them. I have the options to submit some of my short stories to publications or publish them myself (and I do plan on submitting a couple of recent short stories to competitions coming up), but in my extensive research, I found another avenue I want to try for the fiction I write on a daily basis, the stories that I may not necessarily want to put all the work into for publishing or submissions.

It seems crazy that good fiction writers can’t just simply get paid for writing something great, but well, that’s the world we live in. Instead, I’ve found a couple of interesting alternatives: Simily and Vocal. Both of these websites allow you to post stories (retaining all rights to your work) and get paid for every person who views them – really!

I’ve dabbled in both of these websites before, but in the interest of finding a good home for my stories, I’ll be regularly posting stories on both of these platforms to see which one works the best for me. Already, I can see some pros and cons.

Simily just feels better to me than Vocal. It seems like the curators of the site really care about their writers and readers and want to give everyone a great experience. However, the big downside is that readers can only access 5 stories a month before paying a subscription to read more. With Simily still in its opening stages, I’m not sure how many people will be willing to pay what they’re asking. Still, the posting process is easy, there are lots of “groups” to join with like-minded writers, and the community is very welcoming.

Vocal has been decried by many for its seemingly inexperienced judges in the competitions, mistreatment of writers, and more, but it does have a more established community than Simily. Some writers claim to be making big money on the site, and it is great in that it allows you to really publish whatever you want, whether it be articles of any kind, personal writings, or fiction. However, I’m unimpressed by the submission process for fiction. First of all, your story has to be at least 600 words, and secondly, it has to be reviewed before it can be posted. I submitted a story two days ago (a very short story, I might add) and it still hasn’t been approved yet (update: it took three days for it to be approved!). On the other hand, though, this site would give me a chance to write about some things that don’t fit into the niche of my blog.

The bottom line is that I’m going to dig deep into both of these sites and find out which one I enjoy the most. For now, I hope you’ll support me in continuing to read my stories! The key to these sites is getting people to actually view your writing, and that’s where all of you come in.

I know it’s hard to click a link. Trust me, I’m a reader too, and sometimes I’m just too lazy to want to go to a new website to read something. But if you’ve enjoyed my writing so far, I really hope you’ll continue reading my stories, even if they’re on a different website. You don’t have to pay a dime (I’m not asking you to get a Simily subscription – I’ll likely be posting less than 5 stories a month on there anyway!) and I get direct compensation just for you reading my stories. It’s pretty awesome!

So check out my recent story “The Flow of Time” on Simily (which hasn’t been seen on the blog) or my story “Moths and Butterflies” on Vocal (which some of you may have read when I posted it with my Rocketbook last year, but it’s been edited and typed out since then!). Please like and comment if you enjoy them; you have no idea how much I appreciate your feedback!

And this experiment isn’t just for me, either. I know firsthand how hard it is to be a freelance fiction writer/indie author and I want to help other writers make the most of their time. So, as I look into both of these sites, I hope to decide if they’re really worthwhile for a writer to devote time to and if one is better than the other. Stay tuned to see the results!

As always, thank you for your continued support – and happy writing!

-E.J.

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Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash