• Questions

  • Privilege Chapters with no Premium Chapters?

I'm looking to start publishing a webnovel but I'm debating where to release it. I've been a long time reader on this website, but I absolutely hate the Premium system that sets up a paywall. However, I would still like to make money. I'm considering releasing on RoyalRoad instead and setting up a Patreon where I can charge for advanced chapters, which is pretty much like the Privilege system here. However, I want the chapters to be free after they pass through the Privilege stage.

I know I have to get a contract before I have access to the Privilege system, but I just want to know if this is possible.

Also, if I'm planning to do this is it not worth releasing on Webnovel in the first place? Webnovel is going to take 50% of my earnings, whereas if I release advanced chapters on Patreon there's only a 5% commission. But maybe the Webnovel platform gets more visitors than RoyalRoad so it would even out?

TLDR: Is it possible to make setup advanced Privileged chapters (which readers pay for) without them later turning into Premium chapters readers have to pay for?

    Royal Road readers are much higher quality fans, but there is a negative with the platform. Web Novel is the perfect platform for those who want to earn money without needing to worry about the quality of their work. Literally to an extent where you could have horrific grammar but as long as you write enough chapters every week, the readers might even look past it and continue paying you.

    With Royal Road, quality is LITERALLY everything to the point where those who want to see you succeed, will point out every little error so you could fix it and improve on it and as an author. So before you decide Web Novel or Royal Road, you have to really ask yourself if a grammar nazi will give you a pass on your writing to a severe degree, otherwise the chances of you even building an audience on Royal Road is incredibly slim.

    I can understand if you want to go to Royal Road because yes the Patreon system can technically make you more money, BUT are you really going to trust yourself so much not to possibly just post on both as a normal author and grow as an author and understand what to expect before deciding?

    These are all questions you need to think about before even thinking about getting paid for your work. :) -The Sleeping Tadpole

      MintyMintyMilkTea No privilege is connected to being a contracted author. WN isn't taking 50% of your earnings. As a contracted author you will get promotion increasing your reader base by multiple folds more than you could do organically in a short time.

          MintyMintyMilkTea Normally I would not say this, but do not listen to the Dan fellow. He is unable to do simple math and does not know how to properly read a contract. You are correct that you can earn percentage wise more with Patreon (95/5 split) versus WN (50/50 split) however, WN does offer free promotion for their contracted novels so you would only have to worry about writing versus searching for paid readers/supporters.

              TheSleepingTadpole Top WN Authors take home more money than Top Patreon Authors. This is a fact. Please stop misleading this person with false information. We don't calculate our money as "Hey I made 1k this month I'm taking home 500 cause WN took 50%". It's more like "I made 500". And the "I made X" for top WN authors is higher than the "I made X" for top Patreon authors.

                  Dan, you do not understand this person's question. Seriously, calm down, and get off this thread because you are causing problems for no reason if you clearly read my response.

                    MintyMintyMilkTea The reason I'm telling you that WN doesn't "take 50%" is because of how WN promo works.

                    More than 80% of my readers have come to my novel from WN's internal promotion. And the amount of organic readers I had were not small. This means my novel is 5 times larger than it would be without WN's promotion.

                    So let's do some math, let's say I started at 10 if I got 90% of that that would be 9.

                    Now let's see how I look being a contracted author.
                    With their promotion I'm at 60 now... 50% of that is 30.
                    30 > 9.

                    If they took 50% cut of my organic readers and I was still at 10 yeah that would look bad cause 9>5 but that's not how it works at all.

                    I think that makes it easier for you to understand.
                    TheSleepingTadpole is flat out wrong. He's not a contracted author so he doesn't understand how the system works.

                          TheSleepingTadpole Thanks for the advice. The point about the grammar is good to know. Even though I'm a native English speaker I don't think I can survive the grammar nazis.

                          I think the discussion got a little derailed. The thing I really wanted to know was if I can use webnovel's "Privilege" system without there being a permanent paywall on my chapters. Like readers can pay to read ahead but eventually the chapters are free. Is this possible?

                          Edit: I'm using the word "Privilege" in this context to talk about the system where readers can pay to read ahead of the main release

                              Dan_Ryder I see sorry I missed that. So it's not even possible to turn off earnings on a certain chapter once it's published? I've seen some authors publish special unlocked chapters even after they go premium. Or is locked/unlocked status a one time decision when you publish a chapter?

                                  Write a Reply...
                                  Web Novel Novel Ask