Authors writing ongoing serialized fiction may wish to monetize access to their stories through episode bundles, rather than a one-time purchase to access the entire story.
Setting up episode bundle pricing can be done during the book creation process, or any time later by changing the price in the “Access” section of the book’s Details page.
Authors can set X price for Y number of chapters. Examples include:
- $1 per chapter
- $3 for 10 chapters
- $5 for 25 chapters
Chapter bundles are available in multiples of 1 for all numbers 1-10, then as multiples of 5 from 15 to 100.
Note: We do not recommend setting the chapter bundle size to 1. This creates excessive payment prompts and increases Stripe’s transaction fees, which may discourage reader engagement.
Key Protections for Readers
Anyone who purchases a chapter bundle will retain access to the number of chapters they paid for, even if the size of the bundle or price changes. For example, if a reader bought 10 chapters for $3 and you later change pricing to 20 chapters for $10, they won’t face that new charge until finishing their original 10 chapters.
Pricing Considerations
The minimum bundle price is $0.50 due to Stripe’s processing fees (2.9% + 30 cents per transaction). Creators should balance acceptable per-transaction pricing against fair content value.
How Paid Chapters Work
Paid chapters begin after the free preview. If your preview covers 5 chapters and you sell 10-chapter bundles, readers access chapters 6-15 before the next payment prompt occurs.
Authors can sell chapters not yet written. For instance, you could offer a 30-chapter bundle while your book has only 10 chapters — readers automatically unlock new releases until reaching their purchased amount.
Important Limitations
Readers cannot choose where their chapter bundle starts, or choose to only unlock specific chapters. Bundles always begin sequentially from chapter one.
The system doesn’t prorate final bundles. For a completed 28-chapter book with 10-chapter bundles and no free preview, all bundles cost the same despite the last one containing only 8 chapters (unless you add bonus content).