# Base for thought leaders: an interactive knowledge resource your audience can question

A body of work spread across posts, talks and reports is hard for an audience to use: they read one piece and ask you the rest. Put it in a Base. Base reads your work into facts that each keep your own words as the quote, your audience questions it in a browser or from their own AI, and you can share it free, list it on Marketbase, or sell access once or monthly.

Updated November 2, 2026. Canonical page: https://createbases.com/for/thought-leaders

## Three ways thought leaders use Base

1. Publish an interactive library. Add your essays, research, transcripts and frameworks; readers ask questions and every answer quotes the piece it came from, so your words, not a paraphrase, carry the answer.
2. Reach people in their own AI. A reader connects the Base to Claude, ChatGPT or any MCP app once and asks it there, and a link-mode Base can be found by search engines and AI crawlers. List it on [Marketbase](https://createbases.com/marketbase) to be discovered.
3. Offer it free or paid. Share it with a link, invite named people, or sell access: one-time or monthly, from $1. See [how to sell access to your research](https://createbases.com/guides/sell-access-to-documents).

## An illustrative example

This example is illustrative, not a customer's Base. An analyst who writes a weekly market newsletter puts two years of issues and her research notes in a Base and sells monthly access.

1. A subscriber asks ChatGPT what she has said about a sector over the last year; the answer quotes three issues and dates them.
2. When her view changes, a later issue's figure marks the earlier one superseded, so subscribers' AI reports her current view.
3. Each new issue goes into the Base, and monthly subscribers see it the next time they ask.

## Why thought leaders choose Base

- Your words stay yours: every fact carries the quote it came from, and a fact whose quote is not in your work is dropped.
- Your audience uses the AI they already have, and pays nothing to read a free Base.
- Selling is built in. One-time or monthly, from $1; Base keeps 10% of the price plus card processing (2.9% + 30¢), and the rest is paid out to you through Stripe. Downloads can be turned off so buyers question the Base without saving the originals.
- It can carry the skills you teach: a Base can include skills every reader's AI can follow once connected.
- You can see that it is being used: every plan counts opens and AI connections, and Pro shows who opened it.

## See an example

Browse [Marketbase](https://createbases.com/marketbase), the Bases their owners chose to list publicly, free or paid.

## Questions

### Can I charge for access?

Yes, on any plan, including Free. One-time or monthly, from $1, and Base keeps 10% of the price plus card processing (2.9% + 30¢). Payouts go through Stripe.

### Will my Base show up in search and AI answers?

A link-mode Base can be found by search engines and AI crawlers, and you can list it on Marketbase. An invite-only Base stays private.

### Can readers download my files?

Only if you allow it. Downloads are a setting for readers, so they can question the Base without saving the originals.

### How do readers see new work?

Add it to the Base. Base reads it as soon as it arrives, usually within a few minutes, and readers' AI uses it on its next call.

### What does it cost me?

Base is free for 2 Bases with 300 credits and no card, and Pro is $20 a month per workspace, not per seat.