: Re: Is it good to publish a novel online for free? I am not after earning money but to spread knowledge about something for free. But if money is neglected, what else can be the disadvantage

@Merenda569

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Money talks.

When I see that a novel has the imprint of a professional publishing house, I know that some editor actually convinced his or her boss that this book was worth paying the author money up front, in the expectation that other people would buy the book once it was published. That’s certainly no guarantee of quality, but it does narrow down the field. Book reviewers feel the same way, so if I rely on reviews to decide what I should read next, those reviews are going to point me at a professionally published work.

There are more books for sale plus books in my public library plus public-domain work from Gutenberg than I could possibly keep up with. And then there are eleventy-gazillion works of contemporary fiction that other people are offering to the public for free. I’m sure some of those free books are actually worth reading, and if someone whose taste I respect gives me a nudge and says “you should read this”, I’ll check it out. But otherwise, why should I make the effort to sift through them?

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