firsthand.write
How it worksConnect your AIApply to write

How Firsthand works.

From your first application to your first royalty check, in six steps. You never build an audience. You never touch marketing.

1
You apply. Practitioners review.

A short application: your role, your specialty, a writing sample. It is read by practitioners in your own field, and you hear back within two weeks.

2
We commission. You write.

Briefs arrive in your area of practice, shaped by what AI assistants are actually being asked. You write in your own name, on your own schedule. Human-written only: AI drafting is prohibited and every submission is checked.

3
Your advance lands on acceptance.

Every accepted piece pays a fixed advance up front, before a single query runs. Your piece is edited, reviewed, and published into the corpus with your byline and credential attached.

4
AI assistants search the corpus.

Claude, ChatGPT, and enterprise chatbots connect over MCP and search the corpus live at answer time. No scraping, no stale copies. Licensed access only.

5
Every answer cites you by name.

When your piece grounds an answer, the answer carries your byline. Each use is logged to your account, across every customer we sign.

6
You get paid monthly.

Licensing revenue goes into a pool and is split by usage share. The more your work is used, the larger your slice. It keeps earning for as long as it keeps answering.

The payout, in one line
advance + ( your uses ÷ all uses ) × revenue pool

Advances are fixed per piece. The pool grows with every licensing customer, so the same piece earns more as the corpus is used more.

Common questions
Do I need an audience?

No. We aggregate the demand across every customer. You never own or manage a single subscriber.

Who owns the writing?

You keep your authorship and byline. Firsthand holds the license that lets AI products use the work, which is what gets you paid.

Can I use AI to draft?

No. AI-written or AI-assisted drafting is prohibited. Every submission is screened for machine generation and read by practitioners.

What do I write about?

Your area of practice. Briefs are commissioned from real query demand, so your expertise goes where it is actually needed.

Your first commission is one application away.

Apply to write →
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