In our last exploration, we looked at the current landscape of creator funding. We celebrated the incredible empowerment that platforms like Patreon, Kickstarter, Medium, and Substack have brought, while also identifying crucial gaps—particularly when it comes to sustainably funding ambitious, resource-intensive journalism and creative work, and truly aligning the success of specific projects with the communities that support them. It left us with a question: what could a model designed from the ground up to fill these gaps actually look like?
At InHouse Journal (IHJ), our answer revolves around a core innovation we call Story-Stocks.
Imagine a world where your support for a groundbreaking investigative report, a stunning graphic novel, or an ambitious documentary goes beyond a simple donation or a pre-order. Imagine if you could hold a tangible stake in the journey and potential ongoing success of that specific story you believe in. This isn't about owning shares in a media company; it’s about acquiring a direct interest in the future revenue streams generated by an individual creative work.
That, in essence, is a Story-Stock.
What Defines a Story-Stock?
A Story-Stock, as we envision it at IHJ for future, regulated implementation, is a novel financial instrument. It’s designed to represent a fractional share of the net revenues specifically generated by a single, clearly defined creative project—whether that’s:
- An in-depth investigative journalism series.
- A serialized novel or a collection of short stories.
- A feature documentary or short film.
- An intricate illustrated narrative or webcomic.
- A season of a data-driven podcast.
Instead of your contribution leading only to a thank-you note, a piece of merchandise (like in our fantastic store), or general access (all valuable in their own right!), owning a Story-Stock means you’re positioned to receive a proportional slice of the actual revenue that specific project generates downstream—from advertising directly tied to it, syndication fees, licensing deals for adaptations, sales in different formats, or even certain impact-related grants or awards.
The Fundamental Shift: From Patron to Partner
- Deep Alignment of Success: If the piece you backed breaks a major story or achieves new revenue opportunities, both the creator (who can also hold Story-Stocks) and the community of Story-Stock holders benefit. Success becomes shared.
- Empowering Communities as True Stakeholders: What was once passive patronage turns into active stakeholding, fostering deeper engagement and support for quality and impact.
- Valuing the Work Itself: Returns tied directly to a project’s revenue encourage funding based on quality, uniqueness, and potential rather than follower counts or perks.
- A New Asset Class for Culture & Information: Story-Stocks offer a novel way to “invest” in the cultural and informational assets you believe matter.
What Story-Stocks Aim to Achieve
Our vision for Story-Stocks is ambitious. We believe they can help:
- Unlock sustainable funding pathways for high-quality, resource-intensive journalism and creative work.
- Foster a more equitable ecosystem where creators are fairly compensated and share directly in their projects’ success.
- Give communities a direct way to invest in and champion the stories and art they deem essential.
- Reinvigorate genres like deep investigative reporting or niche artistic endeavors with a dedicated economic engine.
Of course, bringing such a novel instrument to life involves significant challenges—from the technological architecture for revenue tracking to navigating financial regulations. These are challenges we’re actively addressing through our InHouse Financial service layer and our broader Trust Architecture.
The core idea remains simple and powerful: what if you could truly own a piece of the stories that shape our world?
Now that we’ve introduced Story-Stocks, the natural next question is: how would they function from a project’s inception through potential payouts? We’ll delve into those mechanics in our next post.