Yorth
Swordman
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2019
- Messages
- 244
- Points
- 133
Disclaimer: This list isn’t some scientific thesis on how to guarantee maximum profit from posting web novels. It’s just a list that I and many other authors go by when posting a new story and trying to make a profit off it. One other major thing, I will not talk on this list about Kindle Unlimited due to my lack of knowledge on its inner working. However, I do encourage you after reading and following this list to do your own research on KU. Most pro self-publishing authors make 60%+ of their incoming through it, so you definitely cannot ignore it.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s start with the list.
If you don’t make money off writing, then why the hell would you sink hundreds of dollars on it when you’re not sure you’re even going to make your money back? Do not fall into the trap of thinking that you need a custom cover for people to check out your story. Just look at your competition, most people just steal some art and slap it on their story like a sticker. Now, you don’t need to stoop that low. You can easily get decent covers for free and legally.
Now that your tags are on point, let’s talk about your synopsis. Here, the more personal it is, the better. It should, in a few words, both catch the reader’s attention and spark their interest, but also give them an idea about what the story will be about, plotwise.
Warning: Do not tag exploit. That means use only the tags that respresent what the story is about. If you bait your readers, Armageddon will fall on your head. The sky will be falling down and the cavalry of hell will come for your soul.
When you just start writing your novel, your ideas are fresh, you put great care into your first chapters so as they be as good as they can. However, that is not something that can continue. Once the chapters start rolling, the time you have to prepare for each of them becomes more and more limited. As such, they are fated to be of less quality.
Having a backlog gives you the breathing room you need to think about the bigger picture. You’re not forced to post the chapter you’re writing in one day so you do not have to rush it. You can take your time, discuss with your friends or fellow authors, get some inspiration and then continue writing when you have an idea that you’re satisfied with.
This advantage alone makes having a backlog a necessity, but what it actually offers is more than that. Patreon. The whole concept and idea of patreon from a web novel perspective is to give readers advanced chapters. This plays on one of the most known and ancient business concept: exclusivity. People love being special. They love the idea that they’re unique, that they matter and that’s what you’re providing: Exclusive access to chapters that no one should have.
I’ll talk more about how to optimize your patreon in the next sections so stay with me.
One of the biggest mistakes that I see writers make ALL the time when making their patrons is the privileges they give to each tier. “I’ll name one of my characters off you”, “exclusive art!”, “You’ll get Hero of the world tier on discord”, while all of this is cute, that’s not what 95% of your patrons are interested in. They want chapters! Whatever tier gives them the access to most chapters is what they’ll flock to. That’s why you, as the writer, need to understand that. Give them what they want.
The second biggest mistake is pricing. People don’t want to be scammed. If you put access to 2 chapters at 1 dollar, and 3 chapters at 5, they’ll feel duped. They will not want to buy the 5 dollar tier because they think that they’re being duped, that it’s a bad deal. That’s why don’t make it a bad deal. Make it a good deal! Don’t make a 1 dollar tier, just go straight for a 3 dollar one. Have the 3 dollar tier give access to 1 chapter, and the 5 dollars one gives access to 3! In their minds, the 5 dollar tier instantly becomes a great deal! You get 3 chapters for the price of 2!
Okay, now that you have a patreon that looks good, what next? Well, it’s time to publish your story and advertise it.
Other than the immense advantage scheduling betow upon you by giving you a horde of readers eager for the next chapter spamming the refresh button whenever it's close to your scheduled time, it’s important to understand that webnovel sites like royalroad and scribblehub work in a snowballing fashion. Readers attract more readers. Now, what do I mean by that? In royalroad, there is this trending page. You can get into by having a massive influx of ratings throughout a whole month. Once you’re in there, you stay on the page for another full month. This means that for a full 30 days you’re getting free promotions that would give you potentially thousands of readers. Naturally, there is no need for me to tell you how that affects your patreon.
For scribblehub, it’s kinda the same. Rising gives a lot of power to new authors. It gives you a score based on the number of views/comments/favs and ratings you received through the day, and then it compares it with your score yesterday. If the difference is big enough, you make it to the front page and get a full 24 hours of free promotion.
Bonus chapters. For someone who is broke but really loves your novel, there is a no bigger motive for him to rate/review you than bonus chapters. You need to understand that your loyal fanbase extends further than just your patrons. Some people live in Thailand, are 15 years old, and don’t have a debit/credit card. That doesn’t mean that they don’t like your novel. They do, in fact, they might love it even more than the people that pay you money for it. Harness that energy. Use it, and in exchange, give them something that they think is worthwhile.
Having a custom cover makes your novel stand out, visually, from the rest. It makes it look more professional, and as such, more people are willing to pay. It will also help a lot when you finally decide to publish on Amazon.
Plus, you don’t want to suffer from burnout. Having your whole life revolve around the characters in your head isn’t the most healthy thing to do.
Having an email list will prove to be crucial later on when you want to post for amazon. The list will give you prime candidates who will be interested in buying the ebook version of your story. This will give you a much-needed boost in sales early on so that Amazon start to organically promote your book for you.
There is this urban legend that says that 50 reviews is the magic number for a book to get more visibility. Now, I’m not sure if this is true or not, however, knowing that amazon’s machine learning algorithm for suggestions works like that of youtube, it makes sense to me.
That’s it, folks. You’ve done it, you made your dream a reality. You got a bazillion dollar off your writing career and the only thing that’s left is for you to enjoy the sunset in a beach at the Bahamas while snorting c*caine off t*ts and booties. Please, remember us when you make your one hundredth million.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s start with the list.
- Cut your losses
If you don’t make money off writing, then why the hell would you sink hundreds of dollars on it when you’re not sure you’re even going to make your money back? Do not fall into the trap of thinking that you need a custom cover for people to check out your story. Just look at your competition, most people just steal some art and slap it on their story like a sticker. Now, you don’t need to stoop that low. You can easily get decent covers for free and legally.
- Choose your cover from stock images
- Make a catchy title
- A good synopsis/tags
Now that your tags are on point, let’s talk about your synopsis. Here, the more personal it is, the better. It should, in a few words, both catch the reader’s attention and spark their interest, but also give them an idea about what the story will be about, plotwise.
Warning: Do not tag exploit. That means use only the tags that respresent what the story is about. If you bait your readers, Armageddon will fall on your head. The sky will be falling down and the cavalry of hell will come for your soul.
- Have a backlog of chapters before publishing
When you just start writing your novel, your ideas are fresh, you put great care into your first chapters so as they be as good as they can. However, that is not something that can continue. Once the chapters start rolling, the time you have to prepare for each of them becomes more and more limited. As such, they are fated to be of less quality.
Having a backlog gives you the breathing room you need to think about the bigger picture. You’re not forced to post the chapter you’re writing in one day so you do not have to rush it. You can take your time, discuss with your friends or fellow authors, get some inspiration and then continue writing when you have an idea that you’re satisfied with.
This advantage alone makes having a backlog a necessity, but what it actually offers is more than that. Patreon. The whole concept and idea of patreon from a web novel perspective is to give readers advanced chapters. This plays on one of the most known and ancient business concept: exclusivity. People love being special. They love the idea that they’re unique, that they matter and that’s what you’re providing: Exclusive access to chapters that no one should have.
I’ll talk more about how to optimize your patreon in the next sections so stay with me.
- Make a patreon with advanced chapters and advertise it
One of the biggest mistakes that I see writers make ALL the time when making their patrons is the privileges they give to each tier. “I’ll name one of my characters off you”, “exclusive art!”, “You’ll get Hero of the world tier on discord”, while all of this is cute, that’s not what 95% of your patrons are interested in. They want chapters! Whatever tier gives them the access to most chapters is what they’ll flock to. That’s why you, as the writer, need to understand that. Give them what they want.
The second biggest mistake is pricing. People don’t want to be scammed. If you put access to 2 chapters at 1 dollar, and 3 chapters at 5, they’ll feel duped. They will not want to buy the 5 dollar tier because they think that they’re being duped, that it’s a bad deal. That’s why don’t make it a bad deal. Make it a good deal! Don’t make a 1 dollar tier, just go straight for a 3 dollar one. Have the 3 dollar tier give access to 1 chapter, and the 5 dollars one gives access to 3! In their minds, the 5 dollar tier instantly becomes a great deal! You get 3 chapters for the price of 2!
Okay, now that you have a patreon that looks good, what next? Well, it’s time to publish your story and advertise it.
- Publish every day for the first month to get the ball rolling
Other than the immense advantage scheduling betow upon you by giving you a horde of readers eager for the next chapter spamming the refresh button whenever it's close to your scheduled time, it’s important to understand that webnovel sites like royalroad and scribblehub work in a snowballing fashion. Readers attract more readers. Now, what do I mean by that? In royalroad, there is this trending page. You can get into by having a massive influx of ratings throughout a whole month. Once you’re in there, you stay on the page for another full month. This means that for a full 30 days you’re getting free promotions that would give you potentially thousands of readers. Naturally, there is no need for me to tell you how that affects your patreon.
For scribblehub, it’s kinda the same. Rising gives a lot of power to new authors. It gives you a score based on the number of views/comments/favs and ratings you received through the day, and then it compares it with your score yesterday. If the difference is big enough, you make it to the front page and get a full 24 hours of free promotion.
- Encourage Ratings/Comments/Reviews
Bonus chapters. For someone who is broke but really loves your novel, there is a no bigger motive for him to rate/review you than bonus chapters. You need to understand that your loyal fanbase extends further than just your patrons. Some people live in Thailand, are 15 years old, and don’t have a debit/credit card. That doesn’t mean that they don’t like your novel. They do, in fact, they might love it even more than the people that pay you money for it. Harness that energy. Use it, and in exchange, give them something that they think is worthwhile.
- Use the money you got from patreon to get a custom cover
Having a custom cover makes your novel stand out, visually, from the rest. It makes it look more professional, and as such, more people are willing to pay. It will also help a lot when you finally decide to publish on Amazon.
- Slow down your release to a schedule you’re comfortable with
Plus, you don’t want to suffer from burnout. Having your whole life revolve around the characters in your head isn’t the most healthy thing to do.
- Make a website and create an email list
Having an email list will prove to be crucial later on when you want to post for amazon. The list will give you prime candidates who will be interested in buying the ebook version of your story. This will give you a much-needed boost in sales early on so that Amazon start to organically promote your book for you.
- Grow your ARC team
There is this urban legend that says that 50 reviews is the magic number for a book to get more visibility. Now, I’m not sure if this is true or not, however, knowing that amazon’s machine learning algorithm for suggestions works like that of youtube, it makes sense to me.
- Post your book in Amazon
That’s it, folks. You’ve done it, you made your dream a reality. You got a bazillion dollar off your writing career and the only thing that’s left is for you to enjoy the sunset in a beach at the Bahamas while snorting c*caine off t*ts and booties. Please, remember us when you make your one hundredth million.
Last edited: