I run a Ghost site with over 70 individual authors. We would love an integrated system to allow readers to directly tip an author. I could see this happening a couple of different ways:
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Sign up to receive tips is an optional service that authors can individually configure once they are onboarded (etc. via stripe, payments go directly to them).
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Tips are collected in a pool via one-time payment made to the publication via Stripe checkout (similar to membership), and tips are tagged to a specific author. The publication is then responsible for distributing the tips manually via their own internal process.
Then maybe there could be a specific block type available in the editor that is a button that can be added to any given post to tip the author. It would also be great if this information could be integrated into the dashboard – which authors rake in the biggest tips and how much?
This would solve a lot of problems for us. We allow authors to self-publish on our site, and encourage them to individually monetize their articles by including a link to their Patreon, Buy Me Coffee, Paypal, etc. However, most authors ultimately do not sign up for such a service because it is extra legwork, and they are unsure about the process. For those who do, it creates an inconsistent experience for our readers to be sent out to multiple different platforms for tip authors when ideally we’d like the reader to be doing this in-house (aka giving us their email so we can convert them to monthly subscribers!).
I know this would be a big feature, but just thought I’d put it out there into the universe and see if anyone else is interested!