In regards to which service to use, I think I'll just do both. I see no reason why not as, like I said, they compliment each other very well. Patreon will have all the shinies in exchange for a monthly pledge, and Ko-Fi will permit the casual once-in-a-while donation with just the offer to have their name listed among the contributors for that month.
RE: Paywalls; I won't be hiding any content behind any paywalls. I'd only have it be that the people in the higher contribution tiers would be invited to be beta readers. Which would only be proper since Betabooks no longer has a free service, and their contributions would go towards handling that cost.
As for it being in a gray zone... Yes, I'll fully admit that it is, but one has to keep in mind that Star Trek would be nowhere nearly as popular if not for fanfiction, and that the 'zines of the day often paid people to run their stories. I'll abide by any C&D's that may come my way, but I doubt I'll get many of those because, again, I'm not hiding any actual content behind any pay walls. The contributions I'd be receiving are 100% voluntary and the rewards would have no real pertinence to anyone's IP.
That said, I'm open to ideas for rewards. I know Patreon has integration with Discord, so exclusive access to a server or a channel on a server can be something I do.
I could probably also do commissioned original shorts at the highest tier - say that a patron contributes at the highest tier for one year grants them a voucher for an original short up to a certain word count.
I could also probably commission an artist to draw someone's favorite scene and then provide them with digital and hard copies (with the caveat that the artist can use it for their portfolio and also viewable in a gallery online).
Thoughts? Any other ideas?
RE: Paywalls; I won't be hiding any content behind any paywalls. I'd only have it be that the people in the higher contribution tiers would be invited to be beta readers. Which would only be proper since Betabooks no longer has a free service, and their contributions would go towards handling that cost.
As for it being in a gray zone... Yes, I'll fully admit that it is, but one has to keep in mind that Star Trek would be nowhere nearly as popular if not for fanfiction, and that the 'zines of the day often paid people to run their stories. I'll abide by any C&D's that may come my way, but I doubt I'll get many of those because, again, I'm not hiding any actual content behind any pay walls. The contributions I'd be receiving are 100% voluntary and the rewards would have no real pertinence to anyone's IP.
That said, I'm open to ideas for rewards. I know Patreon has integration with Discord, so exclusive access to a server or a channel on a server can be something I do.
I could probably also do commissioned original shorts at the highest tier - say that a patron contributes at the highest tier for one year grants them a voucher for an original short up to a certain word count.
I could also probably commission an artist to draw someone's favorite scene and then provide them with digital and hard copies (with the caveat that the artist can use it for their portfolio and also viewable in a gallery online).
Thoughts? Any other ideas?