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Special project reveal: A YCH Story!
5 years ago
General
If you've been paying attention to my profile page you might notice I have allocated some slots for myself. I'm doing this every 5th slot so that I can schedule some time to write for myself and avoid getting burned out, and to work on some writing projects you might find interesting.
The first one coming up is going to be for an experiment: a YCH story. Sometimes I get ideas for interesting scenes that don't fit any of my characters, or I'll propose a scene during a commission and it gets rejected. These ideas can be re-used for a YCH if someone else likes them.
The obvious question arises: How the heck does a YCH story work? Well:
0. I write the story privately with placeholders for character names and such. This gives me a reasonably accurate word count for the final story, but this does not get posted.
1. I will post the outline to the story, similar to the outlines I provide for my commissions. It is a very high-level and not prosaic "(YCH) does this. Then they do this. They go here. They do the thing."
2. With a method TBD (see below!) someone(s) win(s) the YCH.
3. Taking the template from step 0, I write the story proper, making adjustments for the characters as necessary. The finished story gets posted.
It should go without saying that this is experimental. I don't know of anyone else on FA who's attempted to do YCH stories (though I also haven't looked very hard). I'm very open to feedback or suggestions, so post away in the comments.
Now, the only thing I'm really undecided about is the YCH method. The options are:
1. Auction
- Pros: Everyone gets a shot at it, one clear winner.
- Cons: Just a contest to see who has the deepest pockets.
2. Raffle
- Pros: Everyone has an equal chance of winning, extra measures like cooldowns can try to spread wins around
- Cons: Not getting a slot is pure luck
3. First-Come, First-Serve
- Pros: Clear winner
- Cons: Basically everything (I hate FCFS): It comes down to who happens to be refreshing FA at the right time.
4. Fixed price, multiple slots
- Pros: Can offer lower prices and make it up across multiple slots, multiple people get to take an idea they like
- Cons: Several very similar uploads back to back
5. Author's choice
- Pros: I pick the character/suggestion I like the most, making me more motivated so I work quicker
- Cons: Basically a popularity contest
6. Rotating (all of the above, but one at a time)
- Pros: Mix things up to get the pros of each one
- Cons: Really convoluted
I haven't decided which of these to do, so if you have a preference or suggestion, please speak up in the comments to let me know. I will likely put up the YCH outline between the next two commissions so there's time for it to be resolved before its slot actually comes up.
The first one coming up is going to be for an experiment: a YCH story. Sometimes I get ideas for interesting scenes that don't fit any of my characters, or I'll propose a scene during a commission and it gets rejected. These ideas can be re-used for a YCH if someone else likes them.
The obvious question arises: How the heck does a YCH story work? Well:
0. I write the story privately with placeholders for character names and such. This gives me a reasonably accurate word count for the final story, but this does not get posted.
1. I will post the outline to the story, similar to the outlines I provide for my commissions. It is a very high-level and not prosaic "(YCH) does this. Then they do this. They go here. They do the thing."
2. With a method TBD (see below!) someone(s) win(s) the YCH.
3. Taking the template from step 0, I write the story proper, making adjustments for the characters as necessary. The finished story gets posted.
It should go without saying that this is experimental. I don't know of anyone else on FA who's attempted to do YCH stories (though I also haven't looked very hard). I'm very open to feedback or suggestions, so post away in the comments.
Now, the only thing I'm really undecided about is the YCH method. The options are:
1. Auction
- Pros: Everyone gets a shot at it, one clear winner.
- Cons: Just a contest to see who has the deepest pockets.
2. Raffle
- Pros: Everyone has an equal chance of winning, extra measures like cooldowns can try to spread wins around
- Cons: Not getting a slot is pure luck
3. First-Come, First-Serve
- Pros: Clear winner
- Cons: Basically everything (I hate FCFS): It comes down to who happens to be refreshing FA at the right time.
4. Fixed price, multiple slots
- Pros: Can offer lower prices and make it up across multiple slots, multiple people get to take an idea they like
- Cons: Several very similar uploads back to back
5. Author's choice
- Pros: I pick the character/suggestion I like the most, making me more motivated so I work quicker
- Cons: Basically a popularity contest
6. Rotating (all of the above, but one at a time)
- Pros: Mix things up to get the pros of each one
- Cons: Really convoluted
I haven't decided which of these to do, so if you have a preference or suggestion, please speak up in the comments to let me know. I will likely put up the YCH outline between the next two commissions so there's time for it to be resolved before its slot actually comes up.
I also hate First Come First Serve and Auction can just be a money pissing contest
I think auction can be good since it basically means you don't end up losing out on what you might otherwise be able to get for your work. Still, with most YCH auctions they either come down to no-bids/a single bid, or auto-buy, without really much back and forth. Plus the back and forth is often just a hassle from the buyer's perspective.
Raffle sucks. But I only say that because I've tried numerous raffles and never won once. Meanwhile, my friend who also commissions from time to time has won both the raffles he's entered, the bastard. If anything, as a habitual raffle loser it'd be nice to see a system that increases the odds for people who repeatedly miss out, though with YCH's this could be tricky since not every YCH will appeal to every buyer.
I think first come first serve is good in certain circumstances, though this probably isn't one of them. Moreso good for generic commissions that have numerous slots and a ton of demand, though only if there's notification journal saying when it'll be available since it means the most committed have the best chances rather than just being whoever happens to see it first.
I tend to like fixed price, multiple slots. It lets everyone whose interested get something, allows you to make more off your work, and adds more variety for the readers who might prefer certain characters to others. You could potentially pick one to upload and for everyone else say it's up to them if they want to post it themselves, requiring a link back to your profile of course. Or you could post the extras in scraps to prevent crowding your recent submissions.
Author's choice I think would be good since it would probably allow the story to match the closest with your original vision for it.
And rotating does sound convoluted.
Personally, I like author's choice or multiple slots the best, though I think auction or raffle could be good as well.
I appreciate the feedback, since as you mentioned, there's no good solution, it's a trade-off no matter what you pick.
For instance, with cooldowns it'd suck if you won one, only to find out that the next one was something you like significantly more, only to know you have absolutely no chance. Auto-wins after a set number has the issue of multiple people building up and having "forced" wins at the same time. I think a weighting system is probably best, potentially something along the lines of getting an extra ticket for every enter and lose, up until you finally win, at which point it gets reset.
However, even such a weighting system has some major issues in cases like YCH's since the buyer doesn't control the content. One person might have no interest in the first 9 that are offered, but really want the 10th, at which point they'd be coming in at a major disadvantage compared to those that have entered more often. This potentially gives a significant advantage to those with the broadest tastes or whose interests are closest aligned with yours since they'll be able to enter more often and therefore accumulate more losses to increase their odds.
- FCFS sucks.
- Multiple-slot for a YCH works for pictures, since the character is the main focus. I don't see how it'd work for stories, where the action is the main focus, when the action would be largely the same for each.
- Auction and FCFS become less-bad when you combine them into "auction with auto-buy option." Though still not exactly good.
- I think going between Author's Choice and Raffle -- possibly with some Auction w/Auto-Buy mixed in -- is about as good as it's going to get. Exact ratio of how often you do each option can be adjusted, and/or just go with whatever you feel like at the time.
- I can't spend money for the foreseeable future, and...well, you know me, so my opinions probably shouldn't have much weight.
- Probably not much point in worrying about this overmuch until you know you've actually got some demand for this experimental service, as it were. Obviously you have to pick something to start with, but you can figure out what's best later. XP;;