I’m building a temple, not running a newsstand
My thoughts on being called elitist for selling my services.
I’ve been quietly watching something for months now, and I need to address it directly.
There’s blatant entitlement happening in creative spaces, particularly on platforms like Substack. I see it in the comments. I hear it in conversations. I watch creators being shamed for valuing their work.
The cognitive dissonance is befuddling: “Information should be free, but creators should be paid.” “Knowledge shouldn’t be gatekept, but also, please create more valuable content for us.”
Creators are being told they’re elitist and sellouts for charging $8-10 a month for expertise they spent years developing. Writers are apologizing for putting their most valuable and personal insights behind paywalls. People are demanding individual article purchases for $1-3 because they don’t like the subscription model.
I’m tired of watching this extraction disguised as social justice.
Let me make this clear as I build The Story Temple from the ground up: I’m not running a newsstand where you can pick up individual pieces for pocket change. I’m building a temple — a sacred space where transformation happens for those willing to invest in the journey.
And there’s a big difference between the two.
The Audacity of Entitlement
Let’s explain what’s actually happening here.
Someone spends years developing expertise. They study their craft, work with clients, refine frameworks, make mistakes, learn from them. They pour their knowledge and lived experiences into carefully crafted pieces that could change how you approach your creative work or your life in general.
And the response? “This should be free. You’re gatekeeping if you charge for it.”
The audacity.
You wouldn’t walk into a reiki practitioner’s office and demand free sessions because “healing should be accessible.” You wouldn’t expect a master plumber to teach you their trade for nothing because “skills shouldn’t be hoarded.” My uncle is a master plumber, and if you came at him with this nonsense, he would laugh in your face — loudly.
But somehow, when it comes to creative and intellectual work, we’ve been conditioned to believe that expertise should flow freely with no exchange of value.
Underneath all the pleasantries and euphemisms, this is what’s really being said: “Your years of education, your trial and error as you move through life, your research and development — all of that is worth nothing. But please, give me more of it.”
It’s not progressive. It’s not justice-oriented. It’s extraction, plain and simple. Because if it’s really worth nothing, why do you want more of it?
Why Free Information Keeps You Stuck
Here’s something I’ve learned over the years working as an editor and writing guide who enjoys helping other writers improve their writing craft: free information creates consumers, not students.
I used to believe knowledge should be accessible to everyone. As a Black woman, I understood firsthand how information gets gatekept from marginalized communities. But there’s a difference between systemic gatekeeping and valuing specialized expertise.
When everything is free, nothing gets implemented.
Think about it. How many free resources have you collected over the years that you actually use? How many PDFs sit unread in your downloads folder? How many bookmarked articles remain unvisited? How many free courses did you start but never finish?
Free creates a hoarding mentality. You collect information like trophies, but you never actually use it because there’s no investment. No skin in the game. No commitment to change.
When someone invests in guidance — even at $10 a month or perhaps a $37 digital product — something shifts. They show up differently. They engage more deeply. They actually apply what they learn because they’ve made a commitment, not just to the creator, but to their own transformation.
The people complaining about paywalls are often the same ones with digital graveyards of unused free content. They want more information, not transformation. They want to feel like they’re learning without actually doing the work of change.
The $1-3 Article Trap
Then there’s this complaint I keep seeing: “Substack should let people pay $1-3 for individual articles instead of subscriptions.”
Let’s do the math.
After Substack takes their 10% cut and Stripe takes their payment processing fees (2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction), the creator gets approx. 85% of that $3. That’s $2.55. And if the article is priced at $1, that’s $0.85.
So what you’re really saying is: “The hours of research, the years of experience, the carefully crafted insights, the vulnerable shares, everything you put into this — all of that is worth less than a cup of coffee.”
Now put your calculators away, and let’s go deeper. This approach is very transactional. It turns sacred creative work into a vending machine experience. You drop in your coins, take your product and walk away. No relationship. No community. No ongoing transformation.
That’s a newsstand model. And I’m not running a newsstand.
When someone decides to dwell in the Temple (become a paid subscriber), they’re not buying individual pieces of content. They’re investing in their writing journey. They’re joining a community of people committed to sacred creative practice. They’re saying, “I believe in this work enough to support its ongoing creation.”
The subscription model allows me (and many other creators) to go deeper. To develop frameworks over time. To create work that builds on itself. To serve the people who are serious about writing their best work, and not just curious about today’s topic.
What You’re Really Paying For
When you invest in a creator’s work, you’re not buying information. You’re paying for:
Years of education and experience. The mistakes they made so you don’t have to. The frameworks they developed through trial and error. The research they did to distill complex concepts into actionable guidance.
You’re also paying for the ongoing work of creation. This is especially true if they’re not an educator. The time spent writing, editing, refining. The energy poured into each piece. The commitment to showing up consistently and sharing themselves.
And you’re investing in your own transformation as well. Because when you have skin in the game, you actually do the work.
The same people demanding free content are the ones who:
Pay $15 for Netflix without blinking
Drop $6 on a latte every morning
Buy books they may never read
Subscribe to services they barely use
Expect fair compensation for their own expertise and work
That last bullet befuddles me. How can you demand that all information be free but also demand payment for your expertise? Why is your expertise worth compensation while the expertise of others isn’t? And don’t let the “expertise of others” be that of a Black or Brown person…
It reminds me of when George Carlin said, “ why is everybody else’s stuff shit, but YOUR shit is stuff?!”
Sacred Exchange vs. Extraction
The people who invest in the work of this Temple show up differently.
They don’t just read the guidance and information — they apply it. They don’t just consume the frameworks and practices — they integrate them into their writing projects and creative lives. I know this because they tell me.
That’s the difference between sacred exchange and extraction.
Sacred exchange honors the value of expertise. It recognizes that transformation requires investment, not just from the creator, but also from the person seeking change. It creates relationship and community around shared commitment to growth.
Extraction demands value without offering anything in return. It expects expertise to flow freely while providing no energy back to sustain the work. It treats creators like vending machines rather than human beings with bills to pay and lives to live.
I choose sacred exchange. Every time.
The Standard I’m Upholding
I’m not apologizing for valuing my work. I’m not justifying my prices to people who wouldn’t pay them anyway. I’m not catering to those who want transformation without investment.
I’m building something sacred. A space where writers discover the intersection of craft and spirit. A space where creative work is honored as the transformative force it can be. A space where people invest in their growth and actually do the deep work of change.
This isn’t for everyone. And I have no intention of shaping it to be for everyone.
If you’re looking for free writing tips to add to your digital graveyard, there are plenty of places to find it. If you want quick, transactional exchanges where you can grab what you need and leave, those options exist too. I’m not your writing guide.
But if you’re ready for sacred work… if you understand true transformation requires investment, commitment and community… then you understand why I’m building a temple, not running a newsstand.
The doors are open for those ready to step inside.
But only if you’re willing to honor the sacred exchange that makes this work possible.
The Story Temple is a sacred space for writers who understand that creative work is spiritual work. If you’re ready to discover the intersection of elemental wisdom and writing craft, upgrade your subscription and come deeper into the Temple. Your investment makes this work possible.
Wordfully yours,
High Priestess of The Story Temple
So very well said!
This idea that we, creators and spiritual guides, should be giving our gifts away for free is so pervasive. I'd like to add it's also a poverty mentality on the part of the person who wants our sacred gifts without giving a fair exchange. I see it so often they want a healing or tarot reading, without paying for it or giving something else in exchange, because somehow spiritual people don't have bills to pay.
As a fiction writer, I've stopped doing freebies of my stories. Too often, people stuff their e-readers with books they'll never read, meanwhile, I'm trying to pay the cover designer or editor, hoping these freebie seekers will eventually buy my books.
This is so well said, and the exact right amount of fire. I actually paid my own coach to work on this with me -- to build my confidence in asking for PROPER payment for what I do because I'd internalized the story of not deserving payment for the care and spiritual work I do. We've been trained to devalue ourselves when we're "just starting out," even though just starting out for many of us comes after years of learning, practicing, and perfecting. Social media deepened our awful societal practice of putting in lots of unpaid effort just for "exposure." I see you and your words are a powerful call for all of us. Thank you.