I've been looking for a place to. I would be curious to hear the pros/cons of Patreon and Ream at some point, because I'm curious why they didn't work out.
Patreon acts more like a bulletin board; you post something for users to download, either directly off of patreon or a link (such as to bookfunnel). There is no way to create a "library" of stories for readers to engage with. There are workarounds, but it's not very intuitive or reader friendly. Also Patreon is known for "purity busting" authors they believe are selling smut/porn, sometimes even when they are not. :/ It was never designed for authors OR readers.
Ream has a lot of the features most of us want, but it is a very new platform and very geared to the erotica/romance genre. Honestly for erotica/spicy authors, it's great. But it lags on some basic functionality and, for me, doesn't have the "wiki" feature I'd really love to have. If you have readers who follow you on Wattpad, Ream is a good place to bounce to.
Other platforms like Inkitt and RoyalRoad are basically following the Wattpad UX and cludging on the ability for authors to have reader subscriptions.
I know several authors who are using a mix of Fouthwall + self-hosted websites, and that seems to be working out really well for them. It might be the way I go when I get ready to do something in 1Q 2025. But the scene is changing fast, so who knows what features platforms like Wix and SquareSpace etc. will have available in 6 months?
I've been looking for a place to. I would be curious to hear the pros/cons of Patreon and Ream at some point, because I'm curious why they didn't work out.
Patreon acts more like a bulletin board; you post something for users to download, either directly off of patreon or a link (such as to bookfunnel). There is no way to create a "library" of stories for readers to engage with. There are workarounds, but it's not very intuitive or reader friendly. Also Patreon is known for "purity busting" authors they believe are selling smut/porn, sometimes even when they are not. :/ It was never designed for authors OR readers.
Ream has a lot of the features most of us want, but it is a very new platform and very geared to the erotica/romance genre. Honestly for erotica/spicy authors, it's great. But it lags on some basic functionality and, for me, doesn't have the "wiki" feature I'd really love to have. If you have readers who follow you on Wattpad, Ream is a good place to bounce to.
Other platforms like Inkitt and RoyalRoad are basically following the Wattpad UX and cludging on the ability for authors to have reader subscriptions.
I know several authors who are using a mix of Fouthwall + self-hosted websites, and that seems to be working out really well for them. It might be the way I go when I get ready to do something in 1Q 2025. But the scene is changing fast, so who knows what features platforms like Wix and SquareSpace etc. will have available in 6 months?