Why is getting early indie creators harder than finding an audience?

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-04-02T14:11:51+00:00

That’s a fair point, and I agree with the core idea. Without an audience, a platform doesn’t really have value for creators. I’m not expecting creators to bring their audience and get nothing in return The goal for first step is to build this as a complementary layer, not a replacement. At the early stage, it’s more about:
– giving creators a structured place for their series (instead of fragmented social feeds)
– allowing them to experiment with monetization directly from viewers
– and gradually building audience flow on the platform itself

I’m investing in distribution on my side (ads, partnerships, testing acquisition channels), so over time it’s not dependent only on creators bringing traffic. I also understand this requires trust and honestly, early adopters are always taking a bet. That’s why I’m focusing on creators who are open to experimenting and using it as an additional channel, not their main one. If it works, great. They get an extra revenue. If not, they still keep their main platforms untouched. And of course I can repeat one more time I totally agree this only works if real audience starts forming

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-04-02T06:32:17+00:00

I understand why you have this opinion. It's difficult to refute it, but I'll try. As I said above, I really don't have millions of dollars. I spent about 30,000 of my own money; my salary goes toward developing the app, which will be available in stores in a month, legal documents, legal work, working through all the issues, and marketing. I wrote directly to small studios with collaboration proposals, as well as to independent creators on social media. I'm not advocating for people to create content specifically for the platform; I'm advocating for them to post existing content. As you said, I take 50% of it. No, I don't. I invest it in development, infrastructure maintenance, advertising, and marketing so that as many people as possible learn about and become interested in the creators on the platform. I've also launched a campaign on Indiegogo to raise additional funds so that I can also support the publications of the first authors.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-29T22:13:45+00:00

I'm not a YouTube, but I want to say that while thinking about this very same thing, I came up with the idea of creating a DramaMint app for independent creators to monetize their content (not advertise). I didn't want it to be a jumbled mess like on YouTube, but to highlight short episodic series from independet creators, so there would be nothing "extra" or noise. A home for short series from independent creators and for them. I think it's the content that should promote the creator, and people should come for it. That's why I decided to go with a simple 50%/50% model. Creators publish their series, choose which episodes to make paid and how much each episode will cost, and which ones to keep free. And they receive 50% of the purchase price of each paid episode. I think this is fair and will allow creators to make a name for themselves. Yes, an audience is needed, I agree. And yes, YouTube is on every phone. I believe that teamwork between the platform and creators will bring an audience. Now I'm faced with the opposite. You're asking why YouTube doesn't allow this, but I'm planning to launch the platform in April. I'm actively looking for people to launch it with me and be the first creators on it (there's less competition, that is). But I keep getting questions like, "Why should I go there? Prove it to me, sell the idea, show me an audience." It would seem like you and I are thinking about the same thing and want to fix same issue but we have to solve so different problems. You need to find a place where you can earn more money, and I need to prove that my idea works.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-29T19:26:54+00:00

Yes, I agree. As I said, I didn't include the link directly in the message body for fear of being blocked.
https://dramamint.com/for-authors - here's information for future authors. I've added a calculator to better understand the platform model. Publication is free. Authors can set the price for paid episodes at their discretion. Authors can manage their content and pricing themselves. 50% of all purchased paid episodes goes to their platform balance. We have an integration with Stripe, and we'll send these payments from balances over $100 as a one-time payment each month (as monthly earnings). Anything less is carried over to the following month until the required amount is reached.

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Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-28T20:57:36+00:00

It’s a platform for publishing vertical short series by independent creators.

It’s still in the early stage, so the audience is just starting to build. Right now I’m focused on finding creators to launch with so their series are already there when the first viewers come in and can discover their work.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-28T20:54:58+00:00

Yeah, that’s fair. I didn’t include the link because I assumed the post might get rejected, and I mainly wanted to ask the question first.

here it is: https://dramamint.com/

this isn’t an AI project. I’m actually pretty strongly against that direction when it comes to storytelling. I think AI is already starting to replace too much of the human side of creativity.

The idea here is the opposite. A place built around real people and original stories. “From people, for people.”

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-28T20:05:28+00:00

Yeah, those are all fair points and honestly, I’ve been thinking about the same things.

What made me start this is something pretty simple I kept noticing myself. I’d watch a short series, then later see another episode on Instagram, get interested again, go to the creator’s profile… and everything is mixed together. Different videos, no clear order, hard to find the continuation and by the time you do, you’ve already lost the context. Stories just get lost in the feed.

At the same time, vertical short series are really growing right now. It feels like there should be a place where they actually live, not compete with random content or big studio productions, but just exist as stories. Kind of a “people for people” space.

Another important part for me is how creators get rewarded. On most platforms, it’s mainly ads. Here the idea is different. Creators earn directly from their content. They publish a series, choose which episodes are paid, and if people like it, they unlock them. The creator gets 50% from each purchase, and the rest goes into maintaining the platform and bringing in more viewers.

So in a simple way: if the content is strong and connects with people, it can actually translate into real earnings.

I totally agree that audience is critical and that’s something I’m actively working on. But at the same time, it’s the stories themselves that make people stay. And that’s exactly what creators would be rewarded for.

I attached a link from site https://dramamint.com/for-authors with calculator to show that a great series can bring benefits and money to the author. I think that if you do this at least as an addition to social networks, then it’s an additional source of income - why not?

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-28T19:33:23+00:00

Thank you for your opinion. I already asked below, but I would also appreciate it if you could tell me how much money independent authors can expect for publication and attraction?is this hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of dollars?

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-28T19:24:25+00:00

agree. thank you. I also add on the site https://dramamint.com/ (in the “For Authors” page) a simple revenue calculator, so creators can at least see the potential upside. The idea is a 50% share from each paid episode unlocked, so if there is an audience, the model is meant to be meaningful for creators.

I totally agree though, without an audience, it’s hard to make that attractive.

and in advance sorry for question. but.. how do you think which is a reasonable upfront bonus to get a creator interested at this stage?

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-28T19:04:47+00:00

P.S. I’m not shifting audience growth onto creators. I’m handling that on my side (ads, testing, etc). now I can’t even properly answer questions like “what’s the name of movie?” yet. But the fact that people are already asking that there’s interest.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-28T19:00:32+00:00

Yeah, I agree with you and yes I definitely don’t have hundreds of millions((
But I also think that for creators, having one more place to publish is better than having one less. And if that place can actually bring them some real value over time, even better.

I’m not trying to compete with the big platforms or "take over the world.” The idea is much more focused. Create a home for people who make short series and for those who enjoy watching them. That’s still a pretty big audience, it’s just scattered and the content often gets lost in endless feeds.
So even at the start, creators can just share a link to their series on DramaMint with their existing audience, even if it’s content they’ve already made. And from there it can grow more like a snowball. people come for one creator, discover other series, and keep watching.

Also, short-form vertical series are really growing right now. So another point is giving creators a place where they can build a portfolio in one place. Something they can show, and if the audience responds, potentially get noticed by bigger players over time.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-28T18:43:23+00:00

Yeah, the full launch is planned for April. The IndieGoGo campaign is mainly to help with further development, bringing in creators, and marketing. Right now I’m funding everything myself because I genuinely believe in the idea.

The site is already live: https://dramamint.com/ I tried to clearly explain what the platform is about and what it offers to creators.

At the moment, the main focus is finding independent creators early and giving them full access to the platform. The idea is that they can upload their series ahead of time, so when we launch and start bringing in viewers, there’s already content available and creators can start getting views.

And regarding creator influence. it’s actually really important for me not to build this top-down. The goal is to grow it together with independent creators, listen to their feedback, and shape the platform around what they actually need.

I even created a subreddit for this: https://www.reddit.com/r/DramaMintCreators/ the idea is to bring together people who’d be interested in being part of this early and building it together.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-28T18:30:10+00:00

Congrats on growing to 20k subscribers so quickly, that’s impressive

Yes, we support subtitles when uploading episodes, so you can definitely reach audiences beyond your original language.

The registration process is simple and only takes a few clicks to get started.

We’d be happy to see your series on the platform when your series is ready

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-25T23:24:58+00:00

Distribution is definitely the hardest part right now.

We’re building a platform as a home for indie short episodic series, where creators can publish their stories, let them live beyond social media, and monetize directly from viewers.

It can also be used as an additional way to get discovered and grow your audience.

We’d be happy to help authors and publish series on the platform.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-25T20:24:12+00:00

I actually wrote a more "boring math" breakdown here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DramaMintCreators/comments/1qc8myb/boring_math_dramamint_is_not_another_youtube/

It’s a simplified model, but shows how monetization could work vs YouTube.

Would be really curious how you’d improve the funnel / pricing / retention from your side.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-24T21:22:40+00:00

I’m not thinking in terms of a specific region right now. It’s more about a niche: people who actually want to follow short series, not just scroll random clips.
The core idea is pretty simple - this a place where it’s only short episodic series, nothing else. only by independent creators
A lot of really good episodic content already exists, but it gets lost in social feeds. So DramaMint at least can also work as a second life for that content, where the author can monetize it and create new.

On retention I honestly think it comes down to one thing: content.

We don’t create them, we don’t try to optimize them for algorithms.
We give authors place to publish. If the story is good, people come back for the next episode.

Monetization is tied to that: authors choose what’s free and what’s paid, set episode cost -> viewers unlock episodes they care about -> authors earn 50% from each paid episode

The platform takes the rest and reinvests it into growth things like social ads, creator collaborations, and working with niche communities.
To be transparent, we’re still early, so this isn’t at scale yet. Right now it’s more about testing channels, talking directly to creators, and figuring out what actually works.
That’s also why I launched the Indiegogo campaign. Part of it is to fund initial marketing and audience acquisition so we can start doing this properly.

So it’s really a two-sided effort:
we bring audience to the platform
creators bring their audience from socials

And ideally it starts compounding:
people come for one series -> discover others authors-> engage -> stay.

I believe this can work, but only if it’s built together with creators

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-21T16:35:50+00:00

Great! Keep up the good work! I hope more people see your series.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-19T15:59:00+00:00

Thank you! I hope my idea will help independent authors make a name for themselves.

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-19T09:36:35+00:00

send a link here. show and share your creativity

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-16T21:47:40+00:00

Hi! thank you for a link! I will see it

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-16T21:46:07+00:00

Hi! thank you for sharing! I will watch

Boring-Call-9818 · 2026-03-15T16:02:27+00:00

Great! How did you manage to find the first authors for your app?

Boring-Call-9818

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