Exclusive, non-exclusive or relying on readers for support via Patreon etc.?

Necariin

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The problem I am having with Patreon is figuring out how to switch things so that once a new post is out, the permissions change for the lower level subscriber. Like if you have X gets 3 chapters and Y gets 6, is there anyway to set it so that on a certain day, one of those chapters blocked to Y gets switched over so that X can see it. Or do you have to do that manually?
Yeah, I do this all manually three times a week for three tiers. Pretty annoying, to be honest.

And the best option I've found to earn from stories is to use Patreon. Have a backlog of at least 10-15 chapters (20 is my particular sweet spot) that you can offer to patrons. This lets you earn something from your writings without worrying about exclusivity contracts or losing the rights to your own work with some of those other sites. They're all pretty predatory.
 

Reisinling

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Qidian International is, using an acceptable word, bad.
My advice is never lose the copyright propriety. Using the bad platform as an example, I know of a novel which had its original author replaced with a ghost.
Imho, living as an author is incredibly difficult, but if you want to eran something then go with Patreon and likes, while using RR, WN and SH to gain as much exposure as you can. Exposure is best way to get it going.

EDIT: @Saileri might have something helpful to say in regards as he's working on it these weeks.
Eh, I'm new to this stuff, and even considering doing something monetary with it is for now in the future...

No one is going to give you money for nothing. Exclusive contracts count on you being one of the few authors that will earn them more than you cost in marketing/general help, and if you do happen to be one of them, you are going to think you got screwed.

It seems that no matter what, to succeed, you need marketing. And that costs money. You can do some of that yourself, (but your time is worth money), but still, it's more efficient to pay. Selling some of the rights to your work is a bit like selling shares in a startup- you need to sell some of it to get capital to grow, and if you do it right, all sides earn money
 

Reisinling

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And why they should? They basically have no competitors. What brings improvement is either passion or competition. :s_frown:
They do actually have competition, just not as much on the US market.
Though even here, it seems that youtube (and remember shit ton of patreon money is made through youtubers) is starting to introduce some patreon-like features, in Poland we have patronite.pl I think, and they have their own version of patreon in Japan.

It just seems that patreon is the type of service that tends toward monopoly. Let's face it, if there were more websites like patreon, people that want to create content would just use all of them, unless they were too expensive too use. And the end result would be, still, barely any improvements.

Actually I now remember the times when patreon was starting! If I recall, before it, but just before, there was another platform started by Hank Green from vlogbrothers, but they were invite only, and so they grew slower, and eventually patreon bought them out
 
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ForestDweller

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Hi, hi. What do you think is the best path for web novelists? Which websites would you recommend for non-exclusive or just to upload without any pledge?

In my case, I published my first novel on Webnovel and contracted. My contract offer was a part of a contest reward, but I think it was just luck. I don't have many collections and the features didn't help either. There were very few readers and because of the exclusive thing I couldn't try my chance on other websites. I thought I can improve my writing with another novel and maybe return to this one in the future.

So I'm writing another story and I have a Patreon page (with just two patrons there's nothing on the page I offered for patrons, for now, I don't know why they are supporting me, thanks a lot, love you) and I am looking for non-exclusive contracts from different websites.

Novelcat offered one, but conditions... weren't what I look for. Still, there are Goodnovel and others. Royal Road rejected the second story I'm writing because of the mature content though. If non-exclusive doesn't work, I think I'll focus on Patreon.

I only got two patrons too, with 3k-4k words 3 advance chapters.

I don't have any backlogs unfortunately. I only add more advance chapters whenever I feel I don't get enough comments here, which is quite often recently. :cry:

Why should I be generous when my readers aren't that generous with their comments? Might as well add more advance chapters so I can get more money for artwork commissions. :mad_s:

I fear if I took the contract Webnovel offered me, I wouldn't get enough money for it to be worth it. And I would just stifle my readership in the end.

Eh, I'm new to this stuff, and even considering doing something monetary with it is for now in the future...

No one is going to give you money for nothing. Exclusive contracts count on you being one of the few authors that will earn them more than you cost in marketing/general help, and if you do happen to be one of them, you are going to think you got screwed.

It seems that no matter what, to succeed, you need marketing. And that costs money. You can do some of that yourself, (but your time is worth money), but still, it's more efficient to pay. Selling some of the rights to your work is a bit like selling shares in a startup- you need to sell some of it to get capital to grow, and if you do it right, all sides earn money

Honestly, the marketing you need is a high quality artwork drawer for your cover page. Which can run you over 200 dollars.

And by that, I mean artwork that genuinely passes as a legit light novel cover. You see it all over Webnovel and Tapas.

Hell, it's even better if you can adapt it to manga/webtoon form. That already guarantees more popularity as long as your drawer is competent. A lot of them get carried by the great artwork, while having a shitty story.
 

Discere

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Firstly, I think you make sure that your Patreon account is a creator account. Then, you organize your tiers and stuff, launch your account and wait for the verification. The verification took 20 mins for me. Lastly, click ''new post'' and choose which tiers can access the content. I'll attach screenshots.
Thanks a million, going to give it a shot soon. This way I think the patreons I am sure to get will be more inclined to support me.
 

Businesssn

Brick-San the god of wholesome hentai
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I've seen so many good stories die because of exclusive contract paywalls like webnovel strangling their reader base. I think patreon or similar with advanced chapters is the better option or post on your own website a day so so before it's posted on scribblehub or the like to attract readers to your site and gain ad revenue. Either path or a combo of both is much better for the readers as they don't have paywalls. Causal readers will continue to read and you may gain some paying readers along the way. No matter your decision it takes a ton of luck and decent execution to be successful. I've seen quite a few messy stories become successful so luck is more important tbh.
Yep, one of the series that was on here Unlimited power became a web novel only series. And ive already gave up on it like most other peopl.
 
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