An attempt at analysis: 87 days of trending

[RepresentingWrath]

That’s why smut is a genre I picked to compare with fanfic, because both are kind of banned on Royal Road. Well, RR doesn’t ban fanfic, but it stopped monetization earlier than SH. And by that measure, fanfic still far outperforms pure, filthy smut in terms of Patreon dollars, so SH might be more accurately dubbed a fanfic hub than a smut hub, at least before Tony’s intervention.

I agree, and I want to clarify one thing. Fanfiction monetization ban on SH isn't applied the same way it is on RR, at least I assume it doesn't. Correct me if I'm wrong.

On SH only obscured links to patreon, ko-fi, and other monetization sites is considered breaking the rules. Example. If they write "go visit p@treon dot com" they will face consequences, deletion. However, if a fanfic writer mentions in their chapter "Go to my profile and click on the link there to read ahead" they won't suffer any consequences. Even if that link leads to patreon, ko-fi, or other monetization sites.

 

[Makimaam]

I agree, and I want to clarify one thing. Fanfiction monetization ban on SH isn't applied the same way it is on RR, at least I assume it doesn't. Correct me if I'm wrong.

On SH only obscured links to patreon, ko-fi, and other monetization sites is considered breaking the rules. Example. If they write "go visit p@treon dot com" they will face consequences, deletion. However, ff a fanfic writer mentions in their chapter "Go to my profile and click on the link there to read ahead" they won't suffer any consequences. Even if that link leads to patreon, ko-fi, or other monetization sites.

Yes exactly. That’s why they still earn money, but I assume that money is driven by SH or maybe even WN readers. RR as we all know, has a better reader-to-Patreon conversion rate, but it banned fanfic from ads long ago and more recently banned monetization. Finding a Patreon link on RR is more difficult than on SH. There is still a visible tip button on writer’s profile on SH.

So it’s fair to say that if I want to estimate the income generated from SH without RR’s influence, I’d rather pick a controlled genre than go through each fiction one by one. It’s tedious just to satisfy my curiosity.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

, but I assume that money is driven by SH or maybe even WN readers.

Of course. Money from SH prior to fanfic monetaziton prohibition as well. It's not like SH users all stopped their patreon subscriptions as soon as Tony issued his command. I think there are more sites that contribute to it, but SH and WN are probably the biggest contributors since those sites are the biggest. AO3 is bigger, but I think they prohibited monetazition of fanfictions from day 1? Honestly, not familiar with AO3 at all, so I hope people will correct me on that one.

 

[Makimaam]

Of course. Money from SH prior to fanfic monetaziton prohibition as well. It's not like SH users all stopped their patreon subscriptions as soon as Tony issued his command. I think there are more sites that contribute to it, but SH and WN are probably the biggest contributors since those sites are the biggest. AO3 is bigger, but I think they prohibited monetazition of fanfictions from day 1? Honestly, not familiar with AO3 at all, so I hope people will correct me on that one.

Yes, AO3 is out of the question because it doesn’t allow monetization or promo of any kind, even though AO3’s reader base far eclipses both RR and SH.

I think writers who post purely on AO3 do it out of passion rather than for monetization anyway.