A Fictioneer alternative built for selling advance chapters
JormunTL is a WordPress theme for web novel and translation sites, with coins, Patreon tiers and timed unlocks in the theme itself. It installs on the site that already runs Fictioneer and brings your stories across in place, in the order you arranged them.
Step by step, with screenshots: the migration guide.
What changes when you leave Fictioneer
Sell a chapter, not only a tier
Fictioneer gates chapters with Patreon tiers and passwords. JormunTL keeps Patreon tiers and adds coins through Stripe, PayPal or Ko-fi, so a reader who will not subscribe can still buy the next chapter.
Your arrangement survives
Chapters arrive in the order you set in Fictioneer, interludes and author notes where you put them, with forewords and afterwords kept.
A move you can take back
The migration never edits or deletes Fictioneer data. Until you are happy with the result, the old site is one theme switch away.
What comes across from Fictioneer, and what does not
The migration reads your Fictioneer library where it sits in the database and builds the JormunTL version beside it. Nothing Fictioneer owns is changed or deleted.
Brought across
- Stories as novels, with their descriptions, short descriptions and slugs
- Chapters in the order you arranged them, interludes and author notes included
- Chapter prefixes, joined onto the titles
- Forewords and afterwords, joined onto the chapter text
- Genres, authors and co-authors
- Statuses: Ongoing, Completed and Hiatus as they are, Oneshot as Completed, Canceled as Hiatus
- Chapters behind a Patreon tier or a password arrive locked
- Draft, private and scheduled chapters stay unpublished
- Covers that are already in your media library
Left behind, or set up afterwards
- Prices. Locked chapters arrive paid, and you set what they cost on each novel
- Your Patreon setup. Connect Patreon in JormunTL and choose which tiers unlock what
- Chapters with no text stored. They are counted before you start and skipped, not created empty
- Tags, characters, fandoms and content warnings. Genres come across
- Comments, and what readers kept in Fictioneer, such as follows and bookmarks
Move a Fictioneer site to JormunTL in four steps
There is no file to export and nothing to connect. It all happens on the site that already holds your books.
- 1
Back up, and use a copy if readers are on the site
A migration is exactly the moment you want a backup, and you cannot make one afterwards. If your host offers a staging copy, run it there first.
- 2
Install JormunTL on the same site
Upload the theme and switch to it, then install JormunTL Transfer from JormunTL ▸ Install Plugins. Fictioneer can stay installed.
- 3
Look before anything is written
Open Tools ▸ JormunTL Transfer. The From Fictioneer tab lists every story with its chapter count and any chapters with no text. Choose what comes across.
- 4
Bring it across, then set prices
Press Bring these across. Then price the chapters that arrived locked, connect Patreon, check chapter addresses, and only then tell readers. The migration guide has the checklist.
What your site looks like on JormunTL
Screens from the live demo. Colours, layouts and cards are yours to change in the Customizer.
Built into JormunTL, with no extra plugins
Paid early access
Coins through Stripe, PayPal or Ko-fi, Patreon tiers, and chapters that unlock on a date.
Reader accounts
Continue reading, history, favorites and a coin balance, with no membership plugin.
Releases that schedule themselves
Set a release date or change access across chapters you already published, in bulk.
Fast with a real library
Lighthouse scores the live demo 99 on mobile with 940 chapters in it.
All of it is running on the live demo. The full list is in the documentation.
Questions from Fictioneer site owners
Will chapters I charge for become free?
No. Anything behind a Patreon tier, a Patreon amount or a password in Fictioneer arrives locked, so nothing you were charging for is published by accident. Set its price afterwards, on each novel under Access & price.
Will my author notes survive?
Yes. Forewords and afterwords are joined onto the chapter text, because JormunTL has no separate field for them. Entries you marked as not a chapter, such as interludes, keep their place in the reading order.
Do my readers keep their accounts?
Yes. Reader logins are ordinary WordPress accounts on the same site, and changing theme does not touch them. What Fictioneer stored for each reader, such as follows and bookmarks, does not come across.
Will my old links keep working?
Story and chapter slugs are kept, but the address format changes: JormunTL novels live under /novels/, and chapter addresses follow the format you choose in performance and URLs. Check your most visited links and add redirects before you announce the move.
Can I undo it?
Yes. Everything the migration creates is marked as coming from Fictioneer, and the same screen removes all of it. Your Fictioneer stories are never changed, so switching the theme back brings the old site back.
Does Fictioneer need to stay active?
No. The migration reads the database directly, so it works after you have switched themes.
Can I run it again later?
Yes. Stories already brought across are refreshed rather than duplicated.
Does the migration cost extra?
No. It is part of JormunTL Transfer, one of the companion plugins included with the licence.
Ready to move off Fictioneer?
$69 for the theme and every companion plugin, the migration included. One-time purchase, one year of updates.
Rather not do it yourself? I can move your Fictioneer site across with you, set everything up, and keep it running afterwards.
Fictioneer is a theme by Tetrakern. JormunTL is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Coming from somewhere else? See switching from Madara.