I'm not entirely sure how to do this.
For the last few weeks, I have been working specifically on chapter 1 for Free Magus - book 6 of my Sex Magus series. And while I have what I believe is a fantastic start to this new story, I want to do something different with it.
I want to post it on Patreon to bring in some much needed extra income. I know I probably won't gain a lot, but I'm a very hopeful person. Those willing to become my patron will have early access to new chapters as I post them. This doesn't mean I won't post them here. I will, just not at the same time. After all, what's the point of asking for d0n@ati0n$ on Patreon if I'm simply going to give away the same thing at the same time here? I just haven't decided yet how far down the road I'll get before posting new chapters on SOL.
Several people have pointed out other authors who do this and are fairly successful. I'm just not sure I have the same skill level when it comes to weaving a story. There's also the issue of keeping the posts coming at regular intervals. I've never had a deadline for my stories, or the individual chapters. If I start this, I will, because I know I'll lose support if I don't. This could even be a good thing for those rabid fans who feel like they cannot wait for the next post. I would like to think, other than delays, I have always come through - especially when completing the story I'm working on.
And some of you wonder why my main character seems so lacking in confidence in the beginning of the series.
The real question is how to proceed with Patreon. Do I ask for a one time donation, allowing the donor to access all the posted chapters once they've become my patron, OR do I set it up so readers have to pay per chapter? Obviously the latter seems to gain the most money, but how many readers are going to be willing to pay what could be from $35 to $45 or more for the whole story early as opposed to waiting for free posts here?
Argh! Maybe I should simply do it that way and allow you to decide how much you want to spend.
I'm open to feedback on this, and especially to suggestions or tutorials on how to handle it.
edit --
As a sort of test (only because I don't fully understand the settings on Patreon), I've posted the first two scenes from the full list of 29 scenarios that Seth had to go through at the end of Rogue Magus to end the Lockdown. In the story, I originally only posted two of those scenes, and I've always wanted to post the full set of 29 scenes, so I thought this would be a good way to see how Patreon works.
To check them out for yourself, and to let me know what you think of both the scenes and the Patreon setup, go here...
https://www.patreon.com/TechnicDragon