As You Read is a new digital distribution service for readers and writers of fiction. Our aim is to introduce a ‘pay as you go’ mechanic, where readers pay for what they read as they read it. Please read on for full details.

Got Questions? We have answers to frequently asked questions at the bottom of the page. Please feel free to ask more in the comments section.

Please help us get the Word Out!

If you can't pledge, Like our page or Tweet about it. A link on your blog or social network can go a long way.

The What and The Why

We want to create a platform for original literary content by independent authors who want to build a readership for their work and get paid doing so. This site will enable writers to promote their work and gain an audience and even get some money from it too. It is essentially going to be a platform for talented independent authors and a source of new writing for anyone that is interested in literature.

There are many sites out there that have content for free, however, this can lead to sites being overwhelmingly full of, frankly, mediocre work and the reader has to sift through it all to get to the good stuff.

We want to ensure that readers have the freedom and flexibility to only pay for what they read and also to have access to quality literature by talented independent writers, that is available to read on desktops, tablets and mobile devices. We will do this by having a quality control system in place that caters for a wide audience, so that it does not matter what the subject or genre is, as long as it is good storytelling. 

We need to raise $50,000

We’d like to develop our prototype site into a complete functional service so that we can seek out partnership for further funding to be able to dedicate our time fully to the project.

If we were to exceed our target goal, it may help us become self-sufficient and we may not need to go down the partnership route. That would be pretty amazing, but realistically, getting the site up and running would be a massive achievement to get our project in motion.

What do you mean by ‘quality’ literature?

Let’s be frank. When you have access to free literature, anything goes. You are happy to read a story that you might be more particular about if you had to pay for it. So our aim is to create a site where readers can be sure that everything on there is of a certain quality, and is essentially, good story-telling on any topic, from Vampires to Gatsby.

Pledge Incentives

Gimme Some Credit!

Our site will operate on a credits system. With that in mind, we aim to give everyone extra credits on top of the amount they pledge to use on the site once launched. (Cha-Ching!)

Sneak Peek

Contributors who pledge $25+ will also be invited into our Closed Beta once it’s ready, to help us test and improve the site’s features.

But That’s Not All, Folks!

Contributers of $25+ will receive either one, two or all three of our nifty little custom notebooks as a token of thanks from us for their support.

Please see the Perks boxes on the right for details of what each pledge has to offer.

Who We Are

I come from a Web Development background and was a Systems Administrator at a Newspaper and Magazine publisher. I currently work as an Operations Director at a Creative Digital Agency. I’ve also been a published comic book author at one point.

My sister is a Sales and Marketing Manager at an independent publishing company and prior to that, she spent two years working for an IT company as a Business Consultant. She has a Bachelors Degree in English and American Literature with Creative Writing and a Masters in International Conflict Analysis.

We both love reading, writing and Halloween!

Some FAQ's

The answers below are what we are planning to do or have in place once we get our project launched and out of Beta phase in the future.

Do I get a free preview before I pay for stories?

Of course! All stories will always have a reasonable free preview for you to browse through. We would never expect readers to start paying to read a story unseen.

What do you think about a subscription based model?

We've considered this. For the moment, however, we can't see a feasible way to make such a model work for literature effectively. We feel the 'As You Read' model is the most ideal solution that helps both the Reader and the Writer. It's all about finding a system that benefits both parties equally.

Will I be able to download a story to read on my eReader?

Yes, but only when you purchase the story in full.

Once I've read the entire story, will I own it?

Yes, readers can pay as they read and once they finish the entire story, it becomes available to download in full from the website. Alternatively, there will be an option to pay for the entire story in one go and gain the option to download it right away.

Is there a price difference between Pay-as-you-Read and paying for the whole story in full?

The plan is for Stories to always cost the same both ways.

Is there a pricing structure in place yet?

Stories will be priced according to word count and we are aiming to make them more reasonably priced than current eBooks.

Will I have to pay again to read things I've paid for before?

No, you never pay twice for pages you’ve read. That would be silly.

Are you planning to create an App for Mobile/Tablet?

Yes, we have plans to develop an app which will cache stories and users credits to offer offline usability if they have no internet connection. The app will allow you to complete reading the book and use the credits you have and once you regain net connection, your account updates. In theory anyway :)