Free Online Fiction
The internet is a vast repository of fiction, in many different varieties. Everything from fan fiction, to original novels and serialised stories, to comics to indie animation projects can be found in abundance. Notably, a lot of that plethora of fiction is also available entirely free. In this article, I want to take a moment to discuss all of that free content, and why this vast amount of online fiction is beneficial to both creators and consumers.
You might be wondering, as a prospective author, why putting your work out there for free would be even remotely beneficial to you. But, there actually are a lot of upsides both for people starting out and for people further into their writing journey. The first, and arguably most crucial of these being that it is a pretty good way to build an audience.
The reality of life in 2026 is that everything is expensive and art is no exception. Physical books are getting more expensive to produce, so they’re also getting more expensive to buy. Food and rent are more expensive than ever and artists need to eat and have somewhere to live, so they have to charge more for their content to survive. In a cost of living crisis, artistic expression and entertainment are among the first things we have to sacrifice when times get tough. That means people are looking for free media to enjoy. On top of that, people just tend to gravitate more towards cheap or free content where possible. I can speak from experience to say that a lot more people are reading my free content than buying my books. However, sometimes someone enjoys my Free Stories enough to want to spend money on my other work down the line. It’s not that different to someone offering food samples at a supermarket. You might try a sample of something and really like it, making it more likely you’ll buy that product when you come across it in the snack aisle. Free content both acts as a gateway to your other work and provides for an increasing demand for cheap media, both good ways to expand your audience.
There are other benefits to both producing and paying attention to free fiction as well. A lot of free content is released in ways that have an element of interactivity to them - forums and other online communities, blog sites, YouTube and so on and so forth. This means you can potentially build a community around your work that can interact with your content more directly, providing feedback that allows you to improve on your work and stay connected to what your audience wants to see. Similarly, free fiction tends to be released at a much quicker rate than paid, published media. That means observing that media can help you be aware of current market trends and the types of content your audience enjoys engaging with.
Free Online Fiction isn’t just beneficial for authors either, consumers also benefit a lot from the wealth of content available to them on account of its accessibility and variety. Like I said before, being alive is expensive and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change any time soon. That means an abundance of free content isn’t just a good way to build an audience, it’s a godsend for consumers on a tight budget. People might not need entertainment as deeply as food, water or shelter - but mental stimulation and relaxation are important. Free content makes it possible for anyone with access to it to get that. Accessibility isn’t just about cost though, it’s also about volume and ease of acquisition. There is a lot of free fiction available on the internet and most of it is very easy to find by visiting fiction communities, following reviewers or creators on social media or YouTube or just googling what you’re looking for.
Of course, I don’t mean to suggest that every work of fiction online is a masterpiece. The wider the range of products, the more likely it is that there’s going to be something in that batch that isn’t good or that isn’t for you. There’s plenty of bad fiction out there, and even good writers aren’t going to be at their best all the time when constantly pushing out new content. I’m not going to pretend all of the free writing I put out is my best work, although I do make a point of not sharing anything I don’t deem fit for public consumption - as most of us do. The point here isn’t to highlight the bad though, it is to remind you that free does not inherently mean bad even if the bad stuff is out there. There is a lot of really good fiction available online free of charge.
A lot of writers, like my collaborators Sarah R. New and Keith James, release free content through Substack pages, Reedsy or their own websites. You can also find a list of other web fiction on Top Web Fiction and find plenty of free options on Campfire or even on Amazon. If comics and graphic novel are more your speed, you can find some fantastic webcomics on the likes of Tapas or Webtoon or with creators own sites, such as with Aurora. There’s also a lot of narrative podcasts and free audio books to be found through places like Rusty Quill or simply by browsing through Spotify or YouTube. YouTube is also a great resource if you’re looking for independent animation or short films.
There’s a lot of great, free fiction to be found online if you’re willing to spend a couple of minutes looking for it. While I will always encourage financially supporting artists if you are able; in this era of a constantly growing cost of living, it’s nice to be able to access quality content for free and this is something I recommend both creators and consumers take advantage of.
If you’re interested in my own free fiction; you can find Short Stories, Poetry and the first season of my anthology series, Epilogue here or in audio (and sometimes video) form here.
