About six years ago I had a Patreon where at the end of each episode readers could vote on the direction the story took…I wrote one story that way (Hood and the Highwaymen) but by the end I realized that while it was fun it wasn’t sustainable for me. So I shut the whole thing down*.
Last year I tried three new things, and they all ended up launching around the same time: Kickstarter, selling direct and re-starting a subscription. I considered going back to Patreon, but people have gotten their accounts shut down for posting NSFW content, so I went with Ream** as it was built for authors and handles the taxes. I also like the way that I can add to a story, and it is all in one place instead of spread across several posts.
Why would an author want a subscription, after all it is another thing to do on top of writing books, marketing, writing newsletters, creating ads, cover art, audiobooks etc?
Subscriptions can provide a monthly income smoothing out new release bumps, as well as a place to interact with readers. However it’s important to think about how you approach it and what you are promising so that it is sustainable because I learned the first time, sustainable and fun are not the same thing.
This time I did a stack of research before starting up my Ream account to see what other people were doing, and charging, while also working out what I wanted to do and was able to do.
Depending on the tier subscribers get ficlets of existing characters, character art, plotting notes, WIP chapters as I write them (because some people like to see how the sausage…book…is made), and completed books before anyone else (either on Ream, or in ebook, or print). I’ve joined in group promos that had a story prompt and ended up writing two novellas that were not on my yearly plan (Werewolves and other Worries and Minotaurs and other Magic), but I had great fun doing them.
For me having the subscription has been an incentive to create additional content that can then be repurposed at some point down the line. At first those two extra novellas could only be read on Ream, one I released in my store last month and the other is releasing next year.
And the other two things I tried last year? I’m planning a third Kickstarter for January next year and my store is going great. Do I recommend doing everything at once, no.
*In hindsight I probably should have changed what I was doing and let it continue to grow, but at the time I didn’t know what I was doing. Subscriptions are a slow growth thing, unless you are an author with a huge following.
**Ream, as in a ream of paper. However since I write MM romance there is a delightful double entendre that I made full use of when naming my tiers…the first one being ‘show me the sausage’.
I'm in awe of all the work you put into this service. And thanks for the great tips!
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