Nowadays, people become authors just because...

[Bartun]

I'm not a famous writer.

I'll probably never be one.

My story is almost completely invisible. I can count the people who have read my story with my fingers.

I know my story isn't going to sell, and I won't live off writing alone.

I work my hands to the bone in a third-world country. Make around 300 USD a month. Barely enough to survive.

My only thought after coming home is to sit down and write.

I've been told I won't succeed. I've been told I should just give up.

But I won't.

I can't.

I just love my story so much.

Knowing that people know, or at least are aware of the stuff I've imagined, makes me happy.

I love my characters, and I love the universe I've created so much, and I know it's not going to write itself.

So I write.

It's all I can do.

So when I heard people are making 5000 USD a month from writing, I feel happy for them. Because if I feel happy when writing, then I can only imagine how much happier they would be, living off from what makes them happy.

And I'm happy when people are happy.

That's my opinion.

 

[StoneInky]

This is just a small observation of mine. The majority of "newbies" have no story to tell. They write just because they feel like it. This is a wrong approach and also the reason why LLMs are so popular. There is no passion behind it, but a false pretense masking greed.

In 2025, webnovels have become an easy source of high income. Look at the Blue App. Those AI-slop writers earn 3,000-5,000 USD per month. That's crazy. It's not about telling your fantasies or writing down your thoughts anymore; rather, it's about making it as profitable as possible. Currently, this means having as many chapters as possible.

Any options?

No, I think it is the opposite.

Catering to the masses isn't automatically bad. Often, it's not even catering.

When trends become popular, more people are exposed to them. More are inspired. More want to write with those trends. It happened to me once; it's just something that happens naturally.

The real problem is novice writers who really want to tell a story...but are not willing to put in the work to do so.

They are not skilled or experienced, but don't understand why their writing doesn't perfectly come out the way they envisioned it. They don't understand books require hundreds of edits, and grueling, tiresome work. They don't understand writing will not automatically look like an edited masterpiece. And they use shortcuts. They use AI. They think, oh, my mistakes are less noticeable now! The story looks pretty coherent! And I have tens of chapters, without wasting hours of my time!

They don't understand their novel is boring slop.

 

[JayMark]

You all need to stop complaining and just be glad the age of Publishing Industry nepotism and gatekeeping, while not entirely over, now has a path around the gate.

Anyone can go more directly to their audiences and gain readership now.

Everyone has the chance to try to persuade an audience.

And while that has flooded the market with hopeful writers and creatives, it just feels satisfying to be able to have even one person read something I wrote and actually enjoy it.

It feels good to lift a big fat middle finger at the publishing industry. It feels good to have a f--king chance to be read before I die.

 

[WhiteFeather]

I mean, it's way too easy to spot AI slop anyways, so we can probably just avoid it. And those who do enjoy reading AI slop... I've got a bridge in wonderland to sell to you.