I received an email from someone with CAPS and exclamation points about a FundsforWriters sponsor charging for her services. The promotion promised the customer would attend and walk away with a pitchable submission. The reader was upset the promoter neglected to say in that sentence you had to pay $20 per month for the experience. (For clarity, the promotion did state the monthly fee several sentences down.) Bottom line, she was against the fee.

Few services and products are free.
Few services and products should even be free.
Most things are worth what you pay for them.

So many writers want to learn from those who have gone before them, but are not too eager to pay for the services. If you don’t want to work for free, why should anyone else?

“How do I find a quality editor that won’t charge much?”

Do you really want an editor that doesn’t charge much? A good editor earns a decent living because they are good and in demand. Wouldn’t that be who you’d like to guide your work?

“How do I find free books on how to be a writer?”

Just take a moment and reread that line. Basically, they are saying, “How can I take advantage of a writer and get their hard-earned work for free, so I can learn how to publish my books and make money.” One of the many pearls of wisdom in most how-to books is don’t give away your books. Might be time to look up the word hypocritical.

“Contests that charge entry fees are scams.”

These folks are asking how can they submit for free, in an attempt to get a cash prize. Who is coughing up the cash prize? How is the contest advertised so they see it in the first place to even know how to enter? A contest cannot exist without an infusion of money. Where do you think those funds come from?

Editors, writers, contests and so on are living off the same money you are. They are paying for a roof over their head just like you are. You not being able to pay for their work, does not behoove them to give it to you for free.

Be willing to pay for a book, a class, a product, a contest entry fee, or a service. Writers have to earn a living, and they cannot do it with charity. You aren’t learning this craft only to give it away, are you? Then don’t expect other writers to do so either.