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Novelcrafter is the start-up helping authors realize their literary dreams.
After the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, Novelcrafter founder Leonie saw an opportunity to let AI help with brainstorming, reviewing and writing a novel in English, despite not being a native speaker.
Within a year, the tool evolved into a fully-fledged SaaS offering.
Equipped with a knowledge-base that keeps constant track of characters and an AI writing assistant, Novelcrafter now helps writers across the world plan, write, and store their work on one single platform.
The challenge
Initially built for her own use, Leonie quickly realized she’d created a great product for both experienced and novice novel writers.
Owing to the quality of the tool, it wasn’t long after an initial beta period that Novelcrafter became a paid product, attracting customers globally.
Aware of the issues sales tax in overseas territories could bring, Leonie landed on the Merchant of Record (MoR) model to help manage payments, subscriptions and tax compliance and mitigate any risk.
Novelcrafter onboarded onto Lemon Squeezy in December 2023, having been sold on the promise of ease of use, its licensing functions, and affiliate program access.
But with an international audience came the requests for more payment methods, since Lemon Squeezy only provided subscriptions via Credit Cards at that time.
Around a month after we started taking payments with Lemon Squeezy, we noticed a big influx of customer support tickets; they were complaining that they had paid for the product but were unable to access it.”
Kate Robinson, Head of Customer Success, Novelcrafter
The Novelcrafter team realised that a faulty PayPal integration had been pushed through to all buyers without notification, rendering the payment method useless for many customers around the world.
We had to quickly build a polling timer that would pull subscription data from Lemon Squeezy every 10 minutes, it was all a complete mess.”
Leonie Gräßel, Founder, Novelcrafter
This major issue was paired with poor support and high fees.
Although Lemon Squeezy's fees were advertised as 5% + 50c per transaction, the actual fee ended up being over 12% most of the time. There were extra costs for subscription payments, transactions outside the US, and when using PayPal.”
Kate Robinson, Head of Customer Success, Novelcrafter
The hunt was on for a new MoR that would support the company's growth ambitions.
The Solution
Through research and hearing about the positive experiences of other SaaS founders online, Novelcrafter turned to Paddle.
Stripe wasn’t an option because they aren’t a Merchant of Record. Paddle was the clear choice. It handled everything from taxes to disputes. The fees were transparent, and the onboarding experience felt collaborative.”
Leonie Gräßel, Founder, Novelcrafter
12-hour implementation
Switching payment providers can often be a daunting process, particularly for fast-growing businesses like Novelcrafter who needed a quick and seamless transition to avoid disruption.
During the Easter weekend, Leonie tackled the migration alone, assisted by Paddle’s Developer Documentation.
I made sure to leave the door open to a new payment solution when I built out subscription support for Lemon Squeezy. That’s why the migration only took about 12 to 13 hours. I simply added support for an alternative provider, added in the webhooks, and everything just worked. I spent the entire Easter Monday on it, but by Tuesday, we were ready to go.”
Leonie Gräßel, Founder, Novelcrafter
The Results
Access to 50+ payment methods, currencies and languages
Lemon Squeezy lacked support for different currencies on the checkout, limiting Novelcrafter to a single currency option for credit card payments.
Given their primary audience was based in the US, they chose USD over EUR. However, this decision created friction for international customers who wanted to pay in their local currency or use their preferred payment method.
Paddle resolved this instantly with support for over 30 popular currencies and alternative payment methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Alipay, as well as for Novelcrafter’s global audience.
With Paddle, customers immediately had more ways to pay, and we saw the impact straight away. Watching buyers choose Google Pay or Apple Pay over credit cards on the same day as implementation was affirming.”
Kate Robinson, Head of Customer Success, Novelcrafter
Selling into 114 countries without sales tax worry
With an MoR solution taking care of any compliance and sales tax, the Novelcrafter team is enjoying time back to focus on product and growth ambitions.
Paddle takes on the responsibility of calculating, collecting, and remitting sales tax on their behalf. This has allowed Novelcrafter to market and sell freely in 114 countries without the administrative headache.
We hadn't anticipated the worldwide nature of running this business. We didn't realize how quick it would be before we needed to be thinking about all of this stuff.”
Kate Robinson, Head of Customer Success, Novelcrafter
Streamlined subscription management and higher customer satisfaction
Access to simple features like pausing or partially refunding subscriptions were impossible for Leonie and the team before moving to Paddle.
The team was often forced to cancel accounts unnecessarily or overcompensate with full refunds. This poor customer experience led to increased churn and impacted the company’s reputation with users.
With Paddle, Novelcrafter has gained access to robust subscription management tools right out of the box. Features like subscription pausing, flexible refund options, and a user-friendly dashboard eliminate those previous friction points.
Everything we need to manage subscriptions is right there. Refunds, pauses, it’s all built-in and reliable.”
Kate Robinson, Head of Customer Success, Novelcrafter
Actionable revenue insights with ProfitWell Metrics
ProfitWell Metrics has been transformative for Novelcrafter, offering clear, actionable insights into their revenue performance.
I personally love to look at the segments/segmentation. Seeing the differences in yearly vs monthly, and plan A vs plan B is very valuable and tells a lot about why people pick and choose.”
Leonie Gräßel, Founder, Novelcrafter
With access to data like MRR, churn rates, and cohort trends, the team now holds monthly review calls to analyze growth and optimize retention strategies.
With ProfitWell Metrics, we finally have the data we need. Monthly churn, lifetime value, and subscription growth. It’s allowed us to understand how we’re performing and make smarter business decisions.”
Leonie Gräßel, Founder, Novelcrafter
The future
Noting a significant shift in customers from China and other Asian markets, the team is excited about Paddle’s continued investment in local payment methods, including Alipay for subscription payments.
We’ve seen how Paddle’s payment options can transform conversions. We’re so excited to see what Alipay recurring payments will unlock for our business over in China.”
Leonie Gräßel, Founder, Novelcrafter
By choosing Paddle, Novelcrafter has unlocked reliable, scalable, and future-proof payments and revenue growth.
The result is a SaaS business empowered to deliver value to authors worldwide without the weight of operational headaches.
Want to know more about how Paddle can help your SaaS or digital product sell globally with ease? Create your free account now or speak to our team. Get Started.