Story authors

Monetization

I'm considering trying to make some money from this hobby/passion, I'm very naive on how I'd go about it. I have low self-esteem so I've been scared to try because I'm worried that I'm in over my head or that I'm not good enough. I'm not necessarily trying to go premium but if it's a good start then I'll try it out, otherwise selling my stories in general might go well for me.

I have a hard time selling myself so any help or tips would be appreciated, I've never done anything like this before and I want to try to take the next big step.

Always Grateful, A.M.
1 year

Monetization

Abyssal Mind:
I'm considering trying to make some money from this hobby/passion, I'm very naive on how I'd go about it. I have low self-esteem so I've been scared to try because I'm worried that I'm in over my head or that I'm not good enough. I'm not necessarily trying to go premium but if it's a good start then I'll try it out, otherwise selling my stories in general might go well for me.

I have a hard time selling myself so any help or tips would be appreciated, I've never done anything like this before and I want to try to take the next big step.

Always Grateful, A.M.


Pros about premium stories:

1) It’s very easy to do, just takes pay pal and a form of ID

Cons:

1) don’t expect to make a lot of money, at least not quickly. A few bucks might trickle in from renewals down the road, but not a lot. Some premium stories don’t earn any money. Some do!

2) you’re restricting who can read your stuff, it’s a much smaller audience, fewer likes and comments, etc.
1 year

Monetization

Build your audience first with free stories. You can always work on outlines and drafts for future premium stories and release them once you have a large enough following.

Build a social media presence outside of FF and post previews of your work. I like Tumblr because you can gain popularity pretty quickly just replugging things you like and posting your random feedist thoughts as well!

Once you feel like you have a loyal audience, it's time to offer some premium content!

I believe in you!
1 year

Monetization

Stevita:
Build your audience first with free stories. You can always work on outlines and drafts for future premium stories and release them once you have a large enough following.

Build a social media presence outside of FF and post previews of your work. I like Tumblr because you can gain popularity pretty quickly just replugging things you like and posting your random feedist thoughts as well!

Once you feel like you have a loyal audience, it's time to offer some premium content!

I believe in you!


Hey smiley I'm also kinda thinking about monetization in the future. I just started writing, so it might not be realistic right now, but what would you say is a big enough audience? Is there any number that comes up in your head?
10 months

Monetization

Stevita:
Build your audience first with free stories. You can always work on outlines and drafts for future premium stories and release them once you have a large enough following.

Build a social media presence outside of FF and post previews of your work. I like Tumblr because you can gain popularity pretty quickly just replugging things you like and posting your random feedist thoughts as well!

Once you feel like you have a loyal audience, it's time to offer some premium content!

I believe in you!

HueOrdner:
Hey smiley I'm also kinda thinking about monetization in the future. I just started writing, so it might not be realistic right now, but what would you say is a big enough audience? Is there any number that comes up in your head?


Not to speak for Stevita, but some of it is “you know it when you know it”. You can feel when your writing starts to get a lot of positive feedback and people are subscribing to your profile and commenting when you post new chapters. I think one of the keys is to consistently have have new content. I had a reasonably popular story on here that got good traction, but I’ve been writing for different audiences since that wrapped up and haven’t had WG fic to keep people coming back. It is what it is, I haven’t really had the inspiration for the kinkier material, but it hurts engagement. Stevita’s cross promotion advice is spot on, too. This is a small community compared to WG tumblr or reddit or deviantart. But always read the fine print. My favorite part about this site is that the creator has a lot of control over their content. I could delete all my stories with a push of a button. It doesn’t mean they get struck from the face of the earth, but a lot of sites don’t even give you that option. If you post something somewhere and decide you want to monetize it down the road, make sure you have the ownership of your own content that allows for you to remove free versions. Your stories are good, keep writing!
9 months

Monetization

For me I have a very weird perspective on monetization. I'm very private about my interests and I like to write about things that may represent real life experiences I've had and for me monetizing my content allows me a layer of anonymity. It allows me to write what I want to write while knowing people would have to pay to read it so if someone I know irl was to find me they'd have to actively cough up money if they're desperate to know my secrets. But I also I see it as a way to earn some extra income and hopefully provide more stories. I had subscribed to premium before but I felt like I blew through most of the premium stories quickly and there wasn't a lot of variety. Obviously free stories should be the majority but I'd like to provide a wider variety as well.
Side note: is there an option to filter stories by premium? If not that would be a really good addition!
9 months

Monetization

Stevita:
Build your audience first with free stories. You can always work on outlines and drafts for future premium stories and release them once you have a large enough following.

Build a social media presence outside of FF and post previews of your work. I like Tumblr because you can gain popularity pretty quickly just replugging things you like and posting your random feedist thoughts as well!

Once you feel like you have a loyal audience, it's time to offer some premium content!

I believe in you!

HueOrdner:
Hey smiley I'm also kinda thinking about monetization in the future. I just started writing, so it might not be realistic right now, but what would you say is a big enough audience? Is there any number that comes up in your head?

Letters And Numbers:
Not to speak for Stevita, but some of it is “you know it when you know it”. You can feel when your writing starts to get a lot of positive feedback and people are subscribing to your profile and commenting when you post new chapters. I think one of the keys is to consistently have have new content. I had a reasonably popular story on here that got good traction, but I’ve been writing for different audiences since that wrapped up and haven’t had WG fic to keep people coming back. It is what it is, I haven’t really had the inspiration for the kinkier material, but it hurts engagement. Stevita’s cross promotion advice is spot on, too. This is a small community compared to WG tumblr or reddit or deviantart. But always read the fine print. My favorite part about this site is that the creator has a lot of control over their content. I could delete all my stories with a push of a button. It doesn’t mean they get struck from the face of the earth, but a lot of sites don’t even give you that option. If you post something somewhere and decide you want to monetize it down the road, make sure you have the ownership of your own content that allows for you to remove free versions. Your stories are good, keep writing!


Thanks for taking time to write such a long answer! Yeah, I'm trying to update weekly. We'll see how it goes. I definitely have enough ideas, but sometimes life can get hectic.
And I'll consider the idea of posting on different platforms, thanks again 😊
9 months

Monetization

Ottb2020:
For me I have a very weird perspective on monetization. I'm very private about my interests and I like to write about things that may represent real life experiences I've had and for me monetizing my content allows me a layer of anonymity. It allows me to write what I want to write while knowing people would have to pay to read it so if someone I know irl was to find me they'd have to actively cough up money if they're desperate to know my secrets. But I also I see it as a way to earn some extra income and hopefully provide more stories. I had subscribed to premium before but I felt like I blew through most of the premium stories quickly and there wasn't a lot of variety. Obviously free stories should be the majority but I'd like to provide a wider variety as well.
Side note: is there an option to filter stories by premium? If not that would be a really good addition!


Good question! I don't think there is an option ^^' But it would be helpful for sure.
9 months