Would you subscribe to read our content?
Would you you pay a subscription fee for fiction content delivered weekly, specifically for readers in that tier?
Tumblr was a major source of our income. While Google and other search engines send us minimal visitors every day, Tumblr was helping us to grow at a considerable rate and the sale of BuddyBate buttons has been generating a steady income allowing us to pay for the site and keep things going.
Now that this is threatened we have to look to new ways to generate income and continue to grow, and we’re considering adding a subscription tier to our content.
We know it’s a path creators are increasingly taking, being funded directly by those who enjoy their work.
We’ve only just started thinking about this, so nothing is set in stone, but we’re imagining a secondary Newsletter open to only those who pay a modest subscription fee of something like $8 a month. This would be offered in increments, perhaps one month, six months, twelve, eighteen etc. We would probably team up with our friends at BlokeToys again to help us out. You’d be basically buying a product, a book, delivered in installments/episodes every week straight to your email address of choice.
If you’ve read any of our fiction before you know they’re worth it. These aren’t 300 word posts, they’re often 2,000 word short stories, sometimes double and split into two or three parts.
Don’t worry, we’re still working on the Big Book of Bate Tales, which would be on sale to all, but we’re looking at this subscription option as something separate to give us some security and allow us to continue to deliver great content in the future.
So, the big question…
Loading ...Personally, we don’t think it’s too much to ask for great fiction. You’ll have an awesome story to read once a week and you’ll be helping to support our blog.
If you have any thoughts or opinions on this please leave a comment. Is there a way we could do this better? Is the price too high? Too low?
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I would pay this. I love coming here and seeing a new story for me to read on the graveyard shift.
Just what I thought. I would pay this for good stories but too many cheap assholes want everything for nothing. This is the “Tube generation” who think everything is fucking owed to them and all these websites should be paid for by someone else. Entitled little fucks. Please do this. I would pay it. It’s only $8 you selfish little cunts!
Yes I would contribute to this site.
I look forward to my up date from Buddybate.
All the best guys,
Paul.
The Big Book of Bate Tales sounds like it could be very hot so I definitely might buy that (I assume it’s an e-book right?), but as good as some of the fiction is (thank you WankFan, in particular) I think I’d probably only sign up to the subscription if it was more like $3-$4 a month.
That said, I really hope you guys are able to make the finances work as this is such a great site that serves a niche that isn’t really filled by any other sites that I know of (just like Tumblr fills a social network niche that is very different from pretty much all other social networks).
There’s got to be another site that can pick up the void when tumblr goes… maybe give it a few weeks. Someone has even suggested that tumblr will realise their mistake and come crawling back.
Not all of us have the ability to pay for a site we enjoy. I truly like your site and look forward to the weekly newsletter. A lot of us are on fixed incomes and have to budget carefully every month. We are retired or on disability. We are not leaches. Personally I could afford $5.00 a month. I hope you find a platform that we can all enjoy. Hopefully all of us can look forward to many enjoyable years to come. Thank you.
I’m in the same bad financial boat. I’m on a fixed income, unable to supplement by work. If I had the ability to pay I would gladly, $8 is not to much to pay. I hope you’re able to get it going for those who can afford it, good luck ?
I enjoy all the posts here but I can’t afford $8 a month. I could probably manage $4.
Most people use Tumblr for the pics. Fiction is not the concern. You should be able to create a website and put the stuff from your tumblr site on there. Take your current site and just add a tab for photos and stories.
$8 a month would be too high for me. I do love your site – but I only check it out maybe 2 or 3 times a month, hence why I think $8 is too high. I’d consider $3 or $4.
My issue with a subscription fee is I might not want to consume the content every month and in that case I’m spending money and not getting anything. I do love the idea of the book though and would pay for a digital copy of that.
How about giving $4 minimum and if you can and are generous you can give more than $4.
Can’t afford it but love your site. Good luck. I’ve already deleted my Tumblr they’ll die a very painful death by doing this.
Have you thought about Patreon as a platform? Many content creators are there and you are able to donate any amount. Personally, $5 is my number. I support several creators there at present.
Hate to say it, but there are other erotic story archives out there for free. And that’s not being “an entitled fuck,” it’s being a shrewd consumer. Is there a way to make money off of showsome.com? It seems like that’s where a lot of the other Tumblr bloods I follow are going.
I love getting your newsletter and bought the buddy bate button. The big book sounds great and would buy that. But I would not want to pay a monthly fee for fiction or stories. Nifty has great porn stories for free. Many in serial form. I work evenings and when it is slow I have read those stories and been behind this desk hard and dripping…can’t wait to get out of work and go to a glory hole.
The fiction is ok but for me it’s the true stories – I’d pay for those, just not really fussed about the fiction.
I love reading the stories, but like many others think that $8 is a little steep. A little less and I’d definitely go for it.
Got the buttons and stickers, so far I’m the only one in my part of the world.
I love the content when there are new things – but it’s not enough new content in a week. Also playing weekly is a little much. If trying to grow the buddy bate community and allow people that are skeptical in general then making people pay is not the way to do it. They aren’t going to pay to possibly be interested in the content or the chance to connect to others.Plus, you have people like me who is already having hardships so unfortunately I would to find something else if you guys did start charging.
I love BuddyBate, but I think that $8/month is too steep, maybe $25 or 30/year for stories. This does not grow the community. My concern is what platform would be used to grow the community and get more people locally to each BuddyBate button buyer. A cost to join is not an incentive. I do not have an answer.
Don’t object to some payment but starting off at 8 bucks is steep. I can get plenty of other content via online for a lot less. By all means offer a paid service but get advertisers on board
Not interested at $8.00 per month perhaps $20 a year would be feasible…I’m on a fixed income/retired. Enjoy the fiction and the rise l get reading and fantasizing the fictional work…Best wishes and Good luck!
hi…sorry but i followed your blog only for pics…i dont care about fake stories, i will not pay 8 or 9 € for something that i can find on nifty.org or elsewhere for free
As an writer (though nothing has been published by BuddyBate), I think it’s a good thing for authors to be paid for their work. Are you planning to begin giving the authors at least a small payment for their work? If so, then, yes, I’d be happy to purchase a subscription. Though I do think $8/month is a bit much. Major magazine subscriptions aren’t that costly.
My advice – figure out where all the tumblr users are going, and follow them there. Adding a fee will drastically slow growth of the buddybate concept (and thus sales of buttons will also decline). Invest heavily in growing your customer base now (adding a fee will drastically reduce your customer base), and then when there is a much higher following, introduce a new concept to the brand that members would be willing to pay a fee to access.
But if you put your content that has helped grow your brand behind a subscription, the brand will die. This is porn economics. There are plenty of sites that offer similar content for free, the merchandise is how you differentiate from the other brands. The secret buttons is your competitive advantage – guys love the concept of finding other dudes to bate with by looking for those buttons. It’s sort of a scavenger hunt with a pretty awesome prize if you find one.
Focus on that competitive advantage and don’t make any drastic changes to your revenue model just because tumblr screwed up. Exploit the buttons and merch (with the concept of a “secret code” only dudes who come here know of) – that could be a cash cow if you focus on growing your customer base.
Go where the tumblr exiles are going.
I would definitely pay but maybe have one-off purchases to begin with. Merchandise is great. You need to build critical mass first.
That said, bating shouldn’t be but it is a niche topic… which makes people pretty loyal to the community. So if you can build it, people will support you because it’s important to them and there isn’t a lot out there except BateWorld which although great, has really fallen behind in terms of its navigation and features.
You could also have a voluntary donation amount with x gift..
I think the price is too high but you could do something like Patreon and charge less and I would do that. I really like the fiction and the experiences.