Storyfall

Monetization

Earn money from your interactive stories on Storyfall through one-time story purchases and reader subscriptions. Set up pricing on individual stories or create subscription tiers on your writer page.

Overview

Storyfall’s monetization system is powered by Stripe. You can sell individual stories as one-time purchases and offer subscription tiers for ongoing access to premium content. Readers can purchase stories with or without an account. Guest checkout collects just an email address and lets them buy instantly.

How It Works

Stripe Connect

Monetization is powered by Stripe Connect. To start earning, you need to set up a Stripe Connect account through Storyfall:

  1. Go to your Profile Settings.
  2. Navigate to the Monetization section.
  3. Click “Set Up Payments”.
  4. Complete the Stripe onboarding process.

Stripe handles all payment processing, tax calculation, and payouts. You’ll need a bank account for receiving payments.

Geographic Availability

Monetization is currently available to authors and readers in the United States only. Both the author receiving payments and the reader making purchases must be US-based.

One-Time Story Purchases

Set a price on your story and readers can buy it with a single payment. After purchasing, the reader has permanent access to that story.

Guest Checkout

Readers don’t need an account to buy your content. When a guest clicks “Buy” on a story, chapter, or character, they enter their email and complete payment through Stripe. After purchase, they’re prompted to create an account to secure access across devices, but even without registering, their purchase is linked to their guest session.

My Purchases

Readers can view all their purchases in the My Purchases tab on the Stories page. Purchases are grouped by story, showing individual items (full stories, chapters, and characters) as visual cards within each group. Each card shows the item type, price paid, and purchase date. The purchase confirmation email also links directly to this page.

Subscription Tiers

Set up subscription plans on your writer page that readers can subscribe to:

Monthly Subscriptions

Readers pay a recurring monthly fee for access to your premium content.

Yearly Subscriptions

Offer a discounted annual plan as an alternative to monthly billing. Yearly subscriptions give readers a better price and give you more predictable revenue.

Setting Prices

Choose your own subscription prices. You have full control over what to charge for each tier.

Free vs. Paid Stories

For each story you publish, you decide the access level:

Free Stories

  • Anyone can read, no account or payment required.
  • Great for building your audience.
  • Readers must purchase the story or subscribe to your writer page.
  • You can offer free chapters so readers can sample the story before buying.
  • Existing subscribers get immediate access to new paid stories.

Free Chapters

When a story requires a purchase, you can designate certain chapters as free. Potential buyers can read the beginning of your story before deciding to purchase.

Chapter-Level Pricing

You can also set prices on individual chapters instead of (or in addition to) the whole story. This lets you offer a “freemium” model where the first chapter is free and subsequent chapters are purchased individually.

To set chapter prices, open your story’s Monetization settings in the Workshop and scroll to the Chapter Pricing section. Enter a price for each chapter you want to sell, or leave it blank to keep the chapter free.

When a reader reaches a paid chapter during play, they see a purchase prompt with the chapter title, price, and a buy button. After purchasing, the story continues seamlessly into the new chapter.

In multiplayer vote-based sessions, all participants must purchase a paid chapter before the story can proceed. Players who haven’t purchased yet see a buy button, while those who already have access see a waiting indicator until everyone is ready.

Character Pricing

If your story uses Characters, you can set individual prices on each character. This lets you offer some characters for free while charging for premium ones. For example, a story might have a free “Warrior” character and a paid “Shadow Assassin” character with unique abilities and story paths.

To set character prices, open your story’s Monetization settings in the Workshop and scroll to the Character Pricing section. Enter a price for each character you want to sell, or leave it blank to keep the character free.

Readers see all characters on the selection screen. Free characters can be selected immediately, while paid characters display their price and a purchase button. After buying a character, the reader can select it and start playing.

Discount Codes

Create promotional discount codes to offer readers a reduced price on your stories:

Creating Discount Codes

In your Workshop Monetization dashboard, you can create discount codes with:

  • Code: A unique text string readers enter at checkout (e.g., “LAUNCH50”).
  • Discount Type: Percentage off (e.g., 25%) or fixed amount off (e.g., $2.00).
  • Usage Limits: Optionally set a maximum number of times the code can be used.
  • Validity Period: Set start and end dates for when the code is active.
  • Product Scope: Codes can apply to a specific story or all your paid stories.

Using Discount Codes

Readers enter a discount code during checkout on the payment screen. The price updates in real time to show the discounted amount before they complete the purchase.

Fee Structure

When you earn money through Storyfall:

  • Platform fee: 30% of each transaction goes to Storyfall.
  • Stripe fees: Standard Stripe processing fees (approximately 2.9% + $0.30) are deducted from the sale.
  • Your earnings: The remainder goes to your Stripe account. On a $10 sale you keep over $6.40; on a $5 sale you keep over $3.00.

Price Grandfathering

If you raise your subscription price, existing subscribers keep their original lower price. This rewards early supporters and encourages readers to subscribe sooner rather than later.

Earnings Dashboard

Track your revenue and subscriber metrics:

  • Total earnings over time.
  • Active subscriber count.
  • Revenue breakdown by subscription tier.
  • Payout history from Stripe.

Next Steps