Keeping the Tiers Fair (Patreon)
Content
Alright. So, at this point, I think it's safe to say that I'll be sticking to a weekly schedule. The majority of people want it and there are just a ton of benefits for me both from a professional standpoint and a personal one, so I think it's going to be the best way to move forward from here.
But, there is a problem. Right now, the $10 tier is 20 chapters ahead. The $5 tier is 10 chapters ahead. If I want to keep the tiers as they are right now, that means the $5 tier would only get one short chapter a week for 9 weeks until they reach the new, longer chapters. The free readers on other sites would have to wait 19 more weeks.
So, there are a few ways to go about this.
Option A: This is the fairest option to everybody involved, but results in the Patreon looking way less impressive. This would let me release 5 chapters per 1 big chapter for the $5 tier until they're caught up to the big chapters, and same with the free readers. Basically, instead of being 20/10 chapters ahead, you would be 4/2 weeks ahead like you already are anyways. Honestly, the amount of content you get is the same. The $10 tier would still be 4 weeks and 20k words ahead. The $5 tier would still be 2 weeks and 10k words ahead. But, you would technically only be 4 and 2 chapters ahead instead of 20 and 10. So, the same amount of content ahead, but that sounds way less impressive than being 20/10 chapters ahead. Looking at it from a business perspective, being 20 chapters ahead per story for a total of 80 ahead at $10 is way more impressive sounding than only being 4 weeks ahead. So, this option might be the most fair, but I'm worried about what effect it would have on my Patreon seeing as how new potential patrons might think "oh, I only get 4 chapters for $10? That's lame."
Option B: This still favors the $10 more than the others until the $5 tier gets caught up, and it kind of isn't very nice to free readers. Anyways, the $10 tier would still be 20 chapters ahead (and therefore 20 weeks ahead), but the $5 tier would get buffed to be 15 chapters (15 weeks) ahead. Unfortunately, this would still mean that the $5 tier would only get 2 chapters a week for 5 weeks until caught up to the big chapters. Free readers would get one short chapter a week for 19 more weeks until caught up.
Option C: Basically the same as Option B but the $5 tier would get boosted up to 18 chapters ahead. This way, the $5 tier would still get 5 chapters per each big chapter so that they're not getting less content than normal and would be caught up this week. The problem with this is how potential patrons might perceive the value of the tiers. $5 for 18 chapters/weeks, and another $5 for the $10 tier just to get another 2 chapters/weeks ahead? Option B has this problem as well, but it's even more blatant in this option.
Option D: Keep things as they are. Keep the $10 tier at 20 chapters ahead and keep the $5 tier at 10 chapters ahead.
I can't really think of any other options that would be any good. It basically comes down to either making free readers have to wait a while until they get to the new, bigger chapters, or lower the amount of ahead chapters that the tiers get which might really end up hurting how many potential patrons I can bring in. Oh, and you can vote on multiple options in case you didn't realize that.
Anyways, let me know what you think. I have a Queen's Hound chapter to go finish, and hopefully this will have some votes on it by the time I'm done with that.