There’s a rush right now for authors to create a subscription site, especially if they write erotic romance, erotica, or other works that are not welcome on Patreon or many other platforms. I am here for it! I am loving it! And I am cheering you on! The dust has settled at Ream, but nothing they’ve done has made me trust them as a platform or even want to recommend them to authors. Besides that I’ve always been a proponent of driving readers to my site, my platform, and these days that’s becoming more important than ever.
But the one thing I’m seeing in the groups I’m in is authors making their subscription site more complicated than necessary. There are several different WordPress plugins to create membership sites and deliver this content to your readers. And if you start building before taking a few preliminary steps, you’re going to end up with a tangled mess of plugins and content, which will frustrate the hell out of you (Trust me, I’ve been there.) and probably put you off WordPress in its entirety.
I propose that authors do one vital thing before creating their own subscription site.
Make a wish list.
One of the frustrating things about the various wordpress plugins is that each one has a slightly different set of features, and the truth is, you’ll never know what you want to do with your site in the future. But, there are five main things that authors usually want to accomplish.
- Provide serial chapters, short stories, books, or other exclusive written content on their site to membership levels
- Have a variety of membership tiers including a free follower tier and maybe even a “sliding scale” or Name Your Price tier
- Provide physical goods
- Share audio files
- Perhaps have an online store to sell direct outside of the membership group as well as provide discounts to members or exclusive merch
- (BONUS) Sell one-off access or content
Make that wish list. Don’t worry right now about what plugins cost or your budget. Don’t even worry about whether you can set up the site on your own or not. (And if you really don’t want to do this work – reach out! You’ll find my rates are far less expensive than you think.) Just make that wishlist.
A few tips:
- You can use WordPress’s built in posts feature to post your chapters/serial content/etc. for members. A GOOD membership plugin will secure these for members so you don’t have to rely on custom post types and that means they’ll integrate better with your other plugins and your site will be less tangled.
- The fewer layers (plugins) between your core site and your membership platform, the better. If you do need multiple plugins, for example add ons, to accomplish what you want to do, make sure they’re all part of the same “family”. For example, both WooCommerce AND PaidMembershipsPro have a base plugin and then several add ons built upon that framework. That’s exactly what I’m talking about.
Still have questions? Please, reach out. I’m an author technologist and I LOVE to talk about this stuff. I’ve built subscription sites for both my fantasy/equestrian lit pen name and my erotic romance pen name (and extensive backlist under other pen names).
