Pre-posting elsewhere/paid early access?

[John_Owl]

So, I know that this site doesn't generally allow previews only, requiring a purchase elsewhere (such as only posting 5 chapters here and the remaining 25 elsewhere behind a paywall). but how about like, a 1 week delay from patreon/sub.star?

I'm planning on starting my next story soon, and I was wondering if I could post it like, a week early elsewhere before it goes live here? So people aren't paying to get the rest, they're paying to read it before it's free for everyone?

 

[Deleted member 1244]

Sure.

 

[Syringe]

Yes, model it however you like. Patreon is pretty much the defacto site to do that on.

 

[John_Owl]

Yes, model it however you like. Patreon is pretty much the defacto site to do that on.

I use SubscribeStar. I write fantasy erotica, and Patreon has a history of arbitrary enforcement of it's policies in regards to adult content. I've seen people get banned for rules they didn't break. additionally, their terms specifically control content linked to and from their site, not just what's directly hosted on the site. Where as SubscribeStar, while far from perfect, doesn't seem to do either of these.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

You can do that sure... but make sure you also have NSFW pictures or many people will be disappointed.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

You can do that sure... but make sure you also have NSFW pictures or many people will be disappointed.

in character

 

[John_Owl]

You can do that sure... but make sure you also have NSFW pictures or many people will be disappointed.

lol I do. I plan on posting as a Epub (better copyright protections than PDF) and scattered pictures. I might also consider posting raw (copy/paste) if people don't want a download-able file.

 

[Tyranomaster]

I use SubscribeStar. I write fantasy erotica, and Patreon has a history of arbitrary enforcement of it's policies in regards to adult content. I've seen people get banned for rules they didn't break. additionally, their terms specifically control content linked to and from their site, not just what's directly hosted on the site. Where as SubscribeStar, while far from perfect, doesn't seem to do either of these.

This is just my 2 cents input on this, so take it for what it's worth. I myself would prefer to operate in a world where patreon alternatives actually make money, but so far, I find that they do very little.

If you intend to make money, then utilizing patreon is a must. It is a sad reality of the current situation of the market. Worse is that the alternatives offer inferior services. If ko-fi or subscribestar offered higher quality services I would consider removing my patreon, but until that day, I'll continue to post to both ko-fi and patreon.

Almost every publishing site encourages using a third party monetezation system (except Amazon and B&N, obviously). I'd advise more than a week ahead for monetization, but starting out, that's fine, just work up to a larger library. I'm almost a year into writing my first story, publishing 2x a week (although I have occasional times with more), and have 24 chapters ahead now on patreon. That started out as 6 chapters ahead back in March.

Make sure you don't work yourself into a corner by providing too much for free starting out. If you plan on publishing 4 times a week, instead publish 3 times a week, and the 4th day goes to patreon until you have a significant backlog. At this point, readers on my patreon get about half a novel for $10.

Edit: I have a handful of patrons who tune back in every few months once the highest tier catches back up with where they left off, which is a win-win for both parties.

 

[John_Owl]

This is just my 2 cents input on this, so take it for what it's worth. I myself would prefer to operate in a world where patreon alternatives actually make money, but so far, I find that they do very little.

If you intend to make money, then utilizing patreon is a must. It is a sad reality of the current situation of the market. Worse is that the alternatives offer inferior services. If ko-fi or subscribestar offered higher quality services I would consider removing my patreon, but until that day, I'll continue to post to both ko-fi and patreon.

Almost every publishing site encourages using a third party monetezation system (except Amazon and B&N, obviously). I'd advise more than a week ahead for monetization, but starting out, that's fine, just work up to a larger library. I'm almost a year into writing my first story, publishing 2x a week (although I have occasional times with more), and have 24 chapters ahead now on patreon. That started out as 6 chapters ahead back in March.

Make sure you don't work yourself into a corner by providing too much for free starting out. If you plan on publishing 4 times a week, instead publish 3 times a week, and the 4th day goes to patreon until you have a significant backlog. At this point, readers on my patreon get about half a novel for $10.

Edit: I have a handful of patrons who tune back in every few months once the highest tier catches back up with where they left off, which is a win-win for both parties.

I primarily make most of my cash on ghostwriting commissions and smut commissions. I also offer editing services on fiverr. My monetization on subscribestar is simply to have cash to put back into my writing. basically, whatever I make from my webnovels goes back into my webnovels to improve them. hiring a serparate editor, paying for art commissions and a cover designer, etc.

And I've seen a good portion of adult content creators leaving Patreon for subscribestar. only the top like 10% actually make a living wage, but as I said, for me it's more a way for my readers to have a say in what they see. more stories, more art, better covers, etc.
But I do appreciate the input. I'll play with it and see what works best for me. For now, I'll likely keep it one week ahead (I upload twice a week), and scatter some art around in there.

 

[prognastat]

I think the early access is probably the most prevalent at least when using Patreon.

There are some that completely lock the chapters after a certain point behind the paywall, but it seems less common which my guess would be is because it is probably less successful. After all the longer someone keeps reading your novel the more chances they decide to subscribe to your patreon. If however they stop reading because there will be no further free chapters coming out ever they will never be reminded of your book again so if they don't subscribe at right that moment they probably never will.

Of course the downside of that early chapter model is that you are incentivised to writing long novels with large amounts of chapters that go on forever, at least until they stop providing income which is going to affect your writing.

As for any advice would be generally to make sure you are providing quite a bit of content. Providing one or two chapters ahead is probably not going to give you a bunch of subscribers so try to build up a decent amount of advance chapters so people feel it is worth what they are paying for.