Elamimax

I market on facebook, twitter, in this thread (lol), crosspromotion with other artists and I do presentations on twitch as a guest. Finding readers is a matter of appealing to a large audience for some works, which draws in the more loyal readers for the more niche works.

Writing short stories is such a great place to start because it avoids a lot of the trappings that come with writing fiction.

Some tips and things I wish I'd known when I first started:

• Read! You can never read too much, and reading more expands your repertoire of phrases and words you wouldn't have otherwise come up with.
• Don't stop writing! A lack of engagement can seem daunting at first, but don't give up. People will want to read your work.
• Diversify and Experiment! If you only write, say, wish-fulfillment 80's-style action horror, it can be hard to find an audience. On top of that, writing in different styles also makes you a better author in general.
• YOU ARE NOT TOLKIEN. I hate to say this, but nobody cares about all the worldbuilding you did. Not up front, anyway. Learn to write engaging characters and dialogue first.
• Find a workflow that works for you. I write top down, which means I have my plot outlined first, with character arcs, then chapter outlines, and then I write every chapter in chronological order. That works for me, but not for everyone else.

I hope this helps!

Patrons and commissions, for the most part.

Essentially? Slow growth and "customer" loyalty. The advantage of writing, especially if you can do it regularly, is that someone pledging for a month is only getting the exclusive stories up to that point. That is discouraged twofold:

1. I am always writing more. If you want to keep your exclusive content, subbing for one month every few months means everyone else still gets early access and you don't.
2. I publish almost everything for free after a set amount of time, chapter by chapter. That way, the exclusivity comes from time. "But I want to know how it ends!" -> "The whole thing is already available for patrons, but if you wait you'll get it over time."

A big factor is offering decent rewards, especially for high-paying patrons, and offering solidly high tiers.

• Action
• Romance
• Science-Fiction
• Drama
• Erotica

Ideally? A novella should take just a couple of weeks worth of hours. I write 2-4k words a day, but I work on several projects simultaneously.