A plain-language guide to the three ways you earn, what NovelStack takes, how long each kind of money takes to clear, and how to cash out.
6 min read · last updated May 2026
Every reader payment goes through three layers, in this order:
| Platform | Their cut | Your cut |
|---|---|---|
| NovelStack | 30% | 70% |
| Spotify | 30% | 70% |
| Apple Music | 30% | 70% |
| YouTube creators | 45% | 55% |
| Kindle Unlimited | ~40% | ~60% |
| Wattpad | 40-50% | 50-60% |
| Medium | ~50% | ~50% |
| Substack | 10% | 90% |
| Patreon | 5-12% | 88-95% |
Substack and Patreon take less because they don't run discovery, don't run an app, don't pay App Store distribution fees. They're a payments pipe plus an email list. We sit in the same bucket as Spotify and Apple Music — pool-based engagement platforms — at the floor of that bucket.
When a reader taps “Tip the author” and pays $4.99 via Apple, you get $2.97 in your available balance immediately. Math: $4.99 × 0.85 (Apple) × 0.70 (writer) = $2.97. No lag, no pool, no monthly settlement window. You can withdraw the moment the tip lands.
NovelStack+ readers pay $6.99/month for ad-free, all-access reading. Each month we pool that revenue and split it across writers in proportion to how many minutes subscribers actually spent reading your paid chapters.
Example: 100 subscribers in March. Apple takes 15% ($104.85). NovelStack takes 30% of what's left ($178.25). The pool is $415.91. Subscribers read a total of 18,000 minutes of paid chapters that month; 900 of those minutes were on your work. Your share: 900 × ($415.91 / 18,000) = $20.79. Paid to your available balance on April 7th.
There's a $0.02/minute cap on the rate to protect the pool. In rare low-engagement months the cap kicks in and any surplus stays with NovelStack as a safety buffer. The cap can only ever pay you the same or more than the natural rate, never less.
When a non-subscriber wants to read your paid chapter for free, they can watch a 30-second rewarded ad. AdMob pays NovelStack for the ad view; we take 30%, you get 70%.
The lag exists because AdMob (Google's ad network) doesn't tell us the actual revenue until two months later — first they validate the views and verify advertisers paid, then they wire the cash. This is industry-standard for ad-rev-share programs.
While unlocks are pending you'll see “N unlocks awaiting AdMob reconciliation” on your dashboard. We don't show estimates because they can be 5-10x off and we'd rather not lie to you about what you've earned. When AdMob's real numbers land, the unlocks flip to confirmed and the cents become part of your available balance — at which point you can cash out immediately.
Free preview chapters (the first three of each book) carry banner ads. That revenue stays with NovelStack as the discovery subsidy — banner ads fund the platform itself so the free side stays free. Writers earn from the three things readers do on paid chapters (subscribe, watch rewarded ads, tip), not from banners on the preview chapters that bring readers in.
Any time your available balance is greater than zero, you can tap Withdraw and your money transfers to your bank via Stripe Connect — landing in 1-3 business days. There is no minimum withdrawal threshold. There is no withdrawal fee.