📣 Why I’m Creating Writers Grove

I Love Reading and Writing

I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember. My mother read to me when I was young, and that small spark turned into a lifelong passion. By elementary school I was already the kid who got in trouble for reading too much in class.

Writing came naturally after that. I’m not usually the type to share my words publicly — I’m more private than social — but the act of writing itself has always been something I return to. It’s where I think, dream, and build.

What’s Happening in the Writing World

The last year has been a turbulent one for writers:

• NaNoWriMo shut down (2025). After 20 years, one of the biggest community-driven writing events in the world closed its doors due to financial struggles and controversies.
• Kindle Vella is winding down (2025). Amazon’s experiment in serialized fiction never gained traction, leaving writers scrambling to republish their work elsewhere.
• Royal Road remains popular, but limited. It has passionate readers, but discoverability is tough, and monetization is practically nonexistent without external tools.
• Patreon and Ko-fi are awkward fits. They’re great for support, but they’re not designed for serial fiction. Stories are posted newest-to-oldest, there’s no clean “next chapter” button, and discoverability is left entirely up to the author.

The result? Writers are forced to juggle multiple platforms just to share their work, get paid, and connect with readers. It’s messy, inefficient, and discouraging.

Why Writers Grove

That’s why I’m creating WritersGrove.net — a premium, author-first platform that brings everything into one place.

Writers Grove is designed to:

• Put authors first. A flat $14.95/month subscription, no revenue share. Authors keep 100% of what they earn.
• Fix the reading experience. Chapters flow oldest to newest, with proper navigation and clean reader views.
• Enable flexible monetization. Authors can bring their own payment processors (Stripe, PayPal, tips, ads) and keep control of their income.
• Build discoverability into the platform. Feeds, trending stories, and search will help readers actually find new favorites.
• Support all genres. Including communities often sidelined elsewhere, such as romance, niche subgenres, and adult fiction (with authors bringing their own payment/ad networks if needed).

How It Will Grow

I’m not aiming for overnight virality. Writers Grove is designed for steady, sustainable growth:

1. Phase 1 – MVP: Core publishing tools (World → Series → Book → Chapter), clean reader view, follow/favorite.
2. Phase 2 – Validation: Analytics and author dashboards.
3. Phase 3 – Monetization: Ads.txt, Stripe, PayPal, tips/donations.
4. Phase 4 – Growth: Discovery feeds and search.
5. Phase 5 – Differentiators: Comments, AI helpers, AI audiobooks, ebook exports.

A New Home for Writers

I believe writers deserve better than the patchwork solutions we’re left with today.

Writers Grove is not another hobby project or corporate experiment — it’s a home. A place where writers can focus on writing, readers can focus on reading, and both can thrive without distraction.

The shutdown of NaNoWriMo and Kindle Vella has left a hole in the writing world. My goal with Writers Grove is to fill that space — not by copying what came before, but by building something stronger, more sustainable, and truly author-first.

With or without the old platforms, the writing must go on. And at Writers Grove, I hope it will flourish.