Previews, sneak peeks and early access

Three walls and one setting. A preview wall says what a card shows. A sneak peek wall says what readers get before something is out. "Early access" lets a paid level read first, and everyone else wait or pay.

Preview wall

In an article, type "/" and choose "Preview wall" ("What cards and excerpts show"). The block draws a line, "Preview ends here: cards and excerpts show what's above". Everything above it is the article's preview.

Today, the preview shows in one place: the article's spread card, the large card with the cover, the title and the subtitle. Under the subtitle, the card shows your preview, fading out at the bottom. An article without a preview wall shows nothing there.

Only open blocks count. A block that asks for a level, or that is set to "Email only", is left out of the preview.

A preview is how an article is presented. It never decides who reads what: for that, see Access and paywalls.

Zines have a Preview wall block as well, but no card shows a zine's preview yet. Leave it out for now.

Sneak peek wall

In an article, type "/" and choose "Sneak peek wall" ("What readers get before its release"). In a zine, add the "Sneak peek wall" block. It draws a line, "Sneak peek ends here: before its release, readers get what's above".

Before the release, a reader gets what's above the wall, and a notice on the page says "Sneak peek: out", followed by the release date. Without a wall, the notice says "Out" and the date, and there is nothing to read yet. Once the release has happened, the wall changes nothing.

In an article, only open blocks count above the wall, as for the preview. In a zine, blocks above the wall that ask for a level stay locked.

A sneak peek needs a release date in the future. The Publish window doesn't offer one for articles and zines yet, so for now a sneak peek has nothing to hold back.

Early access: wait or pay

In the Publish window of an article or a zine, "Early access" lets one level read first:

• Early access is "Everyone at once" (the default), or a paid level: "Paid members", "Paid members, tier 2 and above" or "Paid members, tier 3 and above".
• With early access: days before everyone reads it is a number of days, from 1 to 365. It starts at 7.

Choosing "Everyone at once" clears it.

What happens next depends on the day:

• Before the release, readers of the early level and above read all of it, with a notice ("Early access: out for everyone", and the date). Everyone else gets what's above the sneak peek wall, if it has one.
• After the release, for the number of days you chose, only the early level and above read it. Everyone else gets the article's free preview, and a notice: "Paid members read it now: free for everyone", and the date. They can wait for it, or pay.
• After that, everyone reads it as usual.

The free preview is the one from your paywall settings: see Access and paywalls. It needs "Allow free preview" to be on. Without it, readers who wait see the notice and no text.

For a zine, the part held back during the wait is what's after its first Paywall block. A zine with no Paywall block isn't held back, so add one where the free part should stop.

It suits a serial or a long piece: the chapter comes out for your paid members first, and the others read it a week later.

Related

Access and paywalls covers who reads each block. Series and zines are the formats early access suits most.