Something for Patreon.

[GrotesqueHeaven]

Hello. My story is close to chapter 15 and I decided that after publishing the 15th chapter, I will create Patreon page (+ other similar sites)

I know that the usual thing is to have some amount of additional chapters (I plan on 5) on the site. But for me it feels too small. So my question is - are there any things to give subscribers additionally?

Some time ago I thought about drawing characters from the story and put them there, but soon enough I understood that my drawing skills are too bad for that and it would take years probably to get anything good enough.

Thanks.

 

[georgelee5786]

are there any things to give subscribers additionally?

Not really, no. The best you can do is offer varying amounts of additional chapters per tier, e.g. one tier offers one chapter in advance, and the next tier offers five or something. if you brush up on your art you could offer discounts on commissioning you (if you were to sell your skill) to sweeten the deal but otherwise there isnt much else I can think of that you could do.

 

[Tyranomaster]

Hello. My story is close to chapter 15 and I decided that after publishing the 15th chapter, I will create Patreon page (+ other similar sites)

I know that the usual thing is to have some amount of additional chapters (I plan on 5) on the site. But for me it feels too small. So my question is - are there any things to give subscribers additionally?

Some time ago I thought about drawing characters from the story and put them there, but soon enough I understood that my drawing skills are too bad for that and it would take years probably to get anything good enough.

Thanks.

Not really, no. The best you can do is offer varying amounts of additional chapters per tier, e.g. one tier offers one chapter in advance, and the next tier offers five or something. if you brush up on your art you could offer discounts on commissioning you (if you were to sell your skill) to sweeten the deal but otherwise there isnt much else I can think of that you could do.

I advise not having more than one tier as an author. The meta on that has changed quite a lot, but having only one tier is common now.

The reason being that you basically have to do an equal amount of work for each tier (scheduling etc), but like 95% of your actual income comes from a single tier. Its just not worth the amount of upkeep to have multiple. I have multiple, and I plan to move to 1 tier for any future stories.

What I do, and I advise doing, is starting with 5, like you have. I started with 6. I then set goals for both the public and patreon which added more chapters to the patreon, and occasionally extra chapters for the public (extra chapter this week because goal met). This helps with engagement, and prevents you from overworking yourself for nothing. If you set realistic goals and meet them, writing extra is a bit easier.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Not being able to decide on this is why my Patreon never got off the ground (and now what would have been bonus chapters are all on PocketFM so it's moot-ish)

 

[Zinless]

I've offered extra art and stuff for my patreon as well, but trust me, your readers will care about advanced chapters more.

 

[lambenttyto]

If you set realistic goals and meet them, writing extra is a bit easier.

Do you get many Patreon supporters from scribble hub?

 

[Tyranomaster]

Do you get many Patreon supporters from scribble hub?

I can't tell where they come from. I also post on RR. I would expect some of them are from here though. I could try to match up emails or usernames or something to guestimate which platform they came from I guess, but to what end?

I set engagement goals both here and on RR for a while until my story reached a certain size. Now the goals are exclusively patreon goals. Free readers got like 10ish chapters on non normal days from goal meeting when I was doing those sort of campaigns.

Though my patreon goals also can benefit free readers. For example, one goal reward was that I went from 2 to 3 chapters a week (as long as we remain above a threshold). That benefits both free and patreon users.

 

[GrotesqueHeaven]

Okay guys, thanks for help.

 

[lambenttyto]

I can't tell where they come from. I also post on RR. I would expect some of them are from here though. I could try to match up emails or usernames or something to guestimate which platform they came from I guess, but to what end?

Good question. Well I've got some stories on RR, big stories. I released them slowly back in the day with sub par covers. I want to do some minor touch up edits, add some art and rerelease with nice covers, but I'm told that's gaming the system. But I haven't released them here on SH. I'm just wondering if it's worth my time on this platform. I notice I do get better readership here.

 

[Tyranomaster]

Good question. Well I've got some stories on RR, big stories. I released them slowly back in the day with sub par covers. I want to do some minor touch up edits, add some art and rerelease with nice covers, but I'm told that's gaming the system. But I haven't released them here on SH. I'm just wondering if it's worth my time on this platform. I notice I do get better readership here.

If you do touchups etc, I'd go straight to Amazon at that point. Far more money to be made there.

 

[HisDivineShadow]

If you do touchups etc, I'd go straight to Amazon at that point. Far more money to be made there.

Are they ok with the story having been published for free somewhere else?

 

[lambenttyto]

If you do touchups etc, I'd go straight to Amazon at that point. Far more money to be made there.

Really? And do you do exclusivity over there?

 

[HisDivineShadow]

Got it. If it’s an edited version, not a draft, with noticeable revisions, especially if the drafts have been deleted and even character names have been changed, then it’s generally not considered published.

 

[aurifex]

It's better to build an audience and then move to Amazon. You need people willing to buy your book right when it comes out to boost you up the BSR and category lists. Launching dry on Amazon is generally a poor idea unless you have some means of significant external marketing. There's a reason that the author meta is royalroad to Amazon.

Also, relaunching is happening a lot on RR and its working quite well. Rend comes to mind. There's no downside to having a Rising Stars run to gather more readers then stubbing later.

 

[Valmond]

I advise not having more than one tier as an author. The meta on that has changed quite a lot, but having only one tier is common now.

The reason being that you basically have to do an equal amount of work for each tier (scheduling etc), but like 95% of your actual income comes from a single tier. Its just not worth the amount of upkeep to have multiple. I have multiple, and I plan to move to 1 tier for any future stories.

What I do, and I advise doing, is starting with 5, like you have. I started with 6. I then set goals for both the public and patreon which added more chapters to the patreon, and occasionally extra chapters for the public (extra chapter this week because goal met). This helps with engagement, and prevents you from overworking yourself for nothing. If you set realistic goals and meet them, writing extra is a bit easier.

Yeah, that’s what I quickly figured out. Plus, you can increase the price of the tier as more content is added on.

The tier itself gains more value over time.

What I am doing currently, is offering half a book free over time, but the second half has to be paid for.

While I have the content part of it figured out, I am still wondering about some extras I can do. I’ll figure it out eventually.

Fortunately, I figured out the most important stuff before I got a Patron. Spent around 8 days just trying to word the tier right.

Either way, it is a lot less work.