So here’s the thing:

 About a month ago, I decided to remove about half of each of my published novels from Wattpad, except for the first one, Silver and Blood, which I left intact. As I explained at the time, I made the decision mainly for one reason. A lot of people read the books, and a lot of people said they liked the books and would like to buy copies. But not one of them did. I had to conclude that, as is human nature, nobody wanted to buy what they could get for free.

 So I did what I thought I had to do. Those of my fans who commented said they understood why I had done it, and supported my decision (even if they – understandably – didn’t necessarily like it). And it worked. Some of my fans came through and bought books. I figured that pretty much proved I’d made the right decision, and I was glad to know that people did actually like the books enough to spend money on them. Life was cool.

 Fast-forward to three days ago, when a dissenter suddenly reared their head, commenting on the final chapter of Silver and Blood:

 This story was AWESOME!!! my moms so mad at me cuz ive been on my laptop reading this from yesterday! and how come you decided to only post half of the other stories???? =( but anywayzz keep on writing!!

 My response:

 Thanks; I'm glad you enjoyed it! I only posted half of the other books because, as much as I hate to put it this way, I started posting here to try and sell more books. Lots of my readers said they would buy the books, but none of them did. So I decided to give them a little more incentive to buy, but I didn't want to take the books off here completely. I'm thinking of maybe posting more chapters here in the future though.

 The same reader, upon reaching the final posted chapter of River's End :

ugghh!!! why are u doing this ?!?!?!?! cant u just post the rest of the story?????? thats sooo annoying!! its really irritating when u see a good story and the writer decides to only post half!!!!!

 And then in response to my comment above:

=( ohh.... but still, isnt this website made so that authors can post there whole stories so that ppl can read them without having to buy them??? cuz i really wanted to finish th 2nd book rivers end and when only half was posted i got pissed.....no offence though.....but i cant buy the book so its kinda irritating that i cant read the rest, but wat ever, there are more books out there rii??? sorry for the bother...

 My response, in which I attempted to be as polite as possible (although I was sorely tempted to be otherwise):

 I don't know about all the other writers here, but most of them (that I've seen anyway) don't have their books published (yet). Many of them are just writing for fun or trying things out to get critical comments from other people. But I know there are other authors on here who have posted just a few chapters of published books to give people a preview before they buy. Once I publish a book I want to sell copies. I wish I didn't need to but I do; this is one of my jobs so I have to try to make some money from it if I can. I don't know what else to say about it; sorry.

 I didn't know what else to say. I edited that paragraph over and over to make it say what I wanted it to say without sounding snobbish or offensive. But here's the thing: I don't care for this (apparent) assumption that writers should be so happy to have people reading our work that we shouldn't care whether we get compensated for the time and effort we put into it.

 (Don't understand why this is a silly assumption? Think of it this way: How many doctors and nurses enjoy having patients to treat so much that they give no thought to getting paid for their time and expertise? How many farmers like feeding people so much that they give away every scrap of food they produce? How many electricians go through years of training and then ply their professional trade for free? How many office workers so enjoy sitting for hours typing, doing data entry and dealing with endless paperwork that they never give a thought to their paychecks? Trust me: I already know the answers to all these questions.)

My reader's response to what I said in my second reply to them?

watever

 Okay then. Glad I took so much time figuring out exactly the right thing to say.

 The next reader missive:

you dont ‘need’ to do anything, its what u want to do, so dont make excuses for what u do…just saying….and u no wat watever, my mistake 4 even reading ur book

 My response to this, which I made a general rather than a direct reply because I didn’t want to invite another attack:

 Yes, actually, I do need to make money. You don’t know my financial situation, so you can’t say that. I’m not making excuses; I’m explaining. I don’t feel that I should have to defend myself and I resent the fact that you think I should. I’ve been as polite as I could be, so I don’t understand your apparent hostility.

 In the latest chapter of the saga, a second reader responded to the first:

she has to make a living somehow…but ur rite she shouldnt hav posted the book if she wasnt gunna write the qwhole thing

 This opens up a whole new territory for me to talk about!

 I shouldn’t have posted my books if I weren’t going to post the whole thing? I imagine this reader’s next step is to go around Wattpad, visiting every writer who has posted a story and not finished it, and repeat this comment. This would include targeting those published writers whose publishers won’t permit them to post more than a couple of chapters for free reading. Then they should definitely go over to Amazon to talk to all the publishers who offer free samples in the Kindle store but don’t give away entire books. Because you know what? It’s the Same. Thing.

 I completely understand people wanting free samples. I get free samples of Kindle books from Amazon, to read a couple of chapters before I decide whether I'll buy. It's the equivalent of sitting down at your Barnes & Noble to read a chapter of a book before you take it to the register. I pick up free tracks at Amazon and NoiseTrade from musical artists I haven't heard of, to decide whether I might want to buy those artists' albums. The key point is that after I've had the free sample, I don't demand to be given the rest of the book or album for free. If I like it enough to pay for it, I pay. Sometimes an artist I like, whom I've gotten free tracks from in the past, gives me the option to download for free or pay. I'll usually pay, sometimes even more than they ask for, because I've gotten those freebies in the past.

 Now heaven knows, I have attempted to keep my temper in check over this whole thing. (I’m a Minnesotan by birth; we’re almost as famous for politeness as Canadians are.) After all, it’s really only two people, and as I said, most of the readers I’ve discussed this with have been very understanding. But these two people are disturbing my inner peace, because I don’t get it. It’s making me angry, frustrated, and sad. I’m angry because I feel like I’ve been personally attacked. I’m frustrated because I apparently can’t get these people to understand what I’m saying.

 And I’m sad because I absolutely hate it when people act as if they are owed something by someone who has done nothing more than attempt to entertain them. I can’t really speak for other types of artists because I don’t paint, or sculpt, or make music. But I know, from reading the words of those who do, that they share this problem with writers. And I do not Get It.

 I’ve been a reader since I was about four years old. I started writing seriously when I was about fourteen. I’m now forty-four, so that means I’ve been a reader and a writer for longer than the majority of my Wattpad audience has been alive. I can never once recall feeling that a writer owed it to me to either A) write something now, because I wanted it now or B) give me something for free if they were selling it to other people. The sense of entitlement some people have toward the writers, musicians, and other artists they follow simply makes no sense to me. (Neil Gaiman wrote a wonderful blog post on this subject, regarding a fan’s complaint about George R. R. Martin taking longer than the fan liked to finish a book. If you haven’t read it, Google the phrase “George R. R. Martin is not your bitch.” Actually, that phrase pretty much sums up Neil’s entire point.)

 So what do I feel a writer owes me, as a reader? Or to bring it to a more personal level, what do I feel I owe my readers?

• I owe it to them to put my time and skill into making a piece of writing the best that I can possibly make it, from concept through the actual work of writing to the final proofreading and editorial polish. (I also feel I owe this to myself; the two go hand in hand.)
• I owe it to them to make my work available for them to read, when I feel it’s ready to be read, and if I want it to be read by other people.
• I owe it to them to thank them when they read, when they comment, and most especially when they spend their money to buy what I’ve written.

 So let’s concentrate on that second point, because that’s where the problem seems to be. As I said above, would any reasonable person expect someone working in another career field to do their job without payment? I can’t speak for other writers on Wattpad, but judging by those whose profiles I’ve seen and whose work I’ve read, many – probably most – of them aren’t professional writers (i.e., those who make money from writing). They have other jobs, if they’re old enough. I am not saying that those of us who are professional writers are any better than those who aren’t. Some of the non-pros will no doubt be pros one day; others are just in it for fun. The fact that they’re writing is awesome, especially when one considers the number of people who say they “should” write or “could” write but don’t. I’m probably biased, but I think writing – communicating – is the most beautiful human artform. So many other artforms depend on it.

 It took me a long time to feel comfortable telling people that I’m a writer when that inevitable “what do you do?” question comes up. Before I had published anything, I didn’t feel I could call myself that, mainly because most other people (people who don’t write) don’t consider you a writer until you have some words printed somewhere. But with seven published books under my belt, I’ve finally gotten comfortable. I even have business cards! Writer = Me.

 And Writer = My Job. The job I have a right to be paid for. Yes, I will occasionally give some of my work away. At a convention I work every year, I once gave away a copy of the fifth book in my Zania series to a girl who had bought all the other books but didn’t have enough money to buy the last one. The look on her face was payment enough for me, not to mention I thought it wasn’t fair to deny her that last book when she had paid for all the others. But if I made a habit of doing that, I’d soon be losing a lot of money.

 Don’t get me wrong: I would love to be able to not care about the money. I really would. But I’m not rich by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not even technically middle-class (and there I just told you more about myself than I intended to). I want my readers to enjoy my writing, and for them to want to read more of it. And free samples can really be the best form of advertising. I enjoy it when people thank me for putting my work out there where they can read it without paying. It makes me happy to make them happy, even when happiness is the only benefit I get from it.

 But I can’t afford to give everything away for free. And I do not owe it to anyone to do so.

 And I find it very hard to control my resentment when people imply that I do.