Excellent Thread ---and great advice---I started out writing on a free forum much like this one that turned into a pay forum---it was nice to start getting paid for the stories I had submitted ---I got paid by the download.

I now have 5 novels published one from a first chapter of a story I submitted here in a story contest.

This is one reason I volunteer here --is to help new authors get a start---refine their writing skills---and hopefully become better at what they like to do.