How Long Does it Take to Unlock the Payments Section?

Authors who have unlocked the payments section, how long did it take you to do it? I am struggling trying to unlock it because it’s hard trying to unlock it. My numbers keep on decreasing, and I have no idea why :sob: I’ve been trying to unlock it for over a year now, and it’s starting to stress me out because 500k general reads and 100k gem chapter reads are impossible to earn when your story isn’t even trending.

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You were on a shelf not that long ago, right? Eventually you’ll lose the impact of the shelf and that’s why your numbers will decrease.

I think there have been a lot of people make it while on a shelf but often it’s because they have multiple stories with gem choices so all those reads combined have qualified them.

Sadly, that’s true, but I think that’s kind of the point. To get 100k reads in 60 days, I think you’d realistically need to be within the top 100 overall trending for at least some of those 60 days.

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Ugh, this sucks and is really demotivating :disappointed: I’m working my butt off, and it seems like it’s all going to waste.

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You have a story that was recently featured, I’m sure gained a lot of reads in that time and likely has a lot of loyal readers :slight_smile: I wouldn’t call that a waste.
If you’re basing your success solely on getting into payments then :woman_shrugging:t4:

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It’s just that I’ve been trying and trying for years now, and I feel like nothing’s working. I am forever grateful for the loyal readers that I have; I’ll never take them for granted. Unlocking the payments is my all time goal before I leave the Episode platform. I don’t know anymore…

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It’s a difficult goal. Lots of people have tried and failed to make it, in some cases just missing out by <5k reads.
All you can really do is continue updating (you’ll likely find you get a spike in reads when you complete a story) and also publish something new (and if you’re lucky, that could also get featured, giving your story a spike).
Certain stories do better than others. My new story (for example), would have a really good shot at qualifying on its own (I don’t need to qualify, but I’ve gained about 72k reads in 40 days, 25k of those since Monday). It has a click-bait cover and description and I already have 10 episodes published in <2 months.
So maybe you’re not having luck now, but the next story you update could be an instant success. I think there’s a bit of luck involved too.
But it’s a hard goal. Lots of extremely talented authors haven’t gotten into the program yet despite trying really hard. It’s nothing to beat yourself up about.
A top trending story definitely doesn’t mean that the story is the best quality.

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I didn’t unlock it until I had 800K reads altogether, it felt like it was going to take me forever but honestly the 100K with gem choices is a much easier option - I saw a lot of users do this and I just put a gem choice of Would you like to support the author at the end of the episode to help me unlock it faster.

In all honesty the Payments program doesn’t pay a lot at all, considering how many endless hours go into writing our stories, unless you get millions of reads after unlocking it so it’s not worth the chasing anyway :woman_shrugging: I’m just happy that people are reading and enjoying my stories tbh

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A week~ after I got featured on a shelf, I had 100k reads and unlocked the payments ^^
I released a chapter while I was featured, so it really helped

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Wow. That’s very quick.

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Ohh alright. I thought Episode paid authors a descent amount of money. I feel like they should because a lot of time goes into writing one single episode :woman_shrugging:t4:

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I saw a video about it, and it depends on your reads and ads. They like pay you 0.0018 cents(something like that) per read. (and you won’t get paid when you unlock the payment section, so basically you don’t get paid when you hit the 500k reads/100k gems the first time)
And plus you have to pay taxes

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I don’t think it was ever meant to be a major source of income. Just a little “something back” to creators who have earned a lot of ad revenue I guess. (I think the rationale behind gem choices in user stories is that this is a form of “revenue raising” and some of that revenue can go back to those creators.) The more people that enter the program, the more the rate reduces too.
Some people can live on it, but those people tend to be from countries where the cost of living is lower and they have millions of reads.
You also have to remember that you still own your story rights when in payments. There’s nothing to say you can’t write your story on other platforms and make money off them there too.

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There’s transaction fees too :sob:

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I’m so sorry that sounds incredibly frustrating I know it won’t make much of a difference but I’ll be sure to give your story a read and even drop some gems :gem:. I hope you can achieve your goal

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I unlocked payments toward the end of my 3rd story!
I think a lot of people think it happens quick for those who get it, but I don’t think that’s the case for the majority.

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Thank you. It means a lot.

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Frrr :skull_and_crossbones: damn :joy:

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