Recorded sessions

Some of your best hours don’t need a crowd. A recorded session is time in Inland’s live room with no audience: just you, or you and a co-host, reading, teaching or answering questions your fans sent in. Inland records it and turns it into a replay.

Then you decide how people get it. They can follow you and share their email to watch, or pay. Either way, they become part of your audience, and the list is yours.

We’re trying this with a few authors first. If you’d like to try it, ask us in chat.

Open the account menu and choose Recorded Sessions. In New session, give it a Title and a line on What it’s about, then pick the day, the time and the length (30 minutes to an hour and a half). Click Create Session.

Nobody registers and nobody is emailed. The session gets its own page, which says “Coming soon” until the replay is up. Share that page early if you like: anyone signed in can Send a question there, and the questions wait for you in the room.

Beside an upcoming session, click Co-hosts. Type their name and email and click Make Invitation Link, then send them the link yourself; Inland doesn’t email it. Once they accept, they join the room as a host and are listed on the session and its replay. If they already have a profile on Inland, they can appear as it.

You start and stop the recording. For now, what the replay earns goes to you.

On the day, click Open Room. The room opens 15 minutes early and starts recording on its own at the start time. If it isn’t recording half a minute in, you’ll see Not recording with a Start recording button. Fans’ questions are in the Q&A tab; mark one answered and the replay gets a point people can jump to.

When you and any co-host have left the room, the recording stops. More on the room in Running your live event.

A few minutes after you finish, the session’s Replay button on Recorded Sessions opens the replay. Only you can see it until you publish.

Want a cleaner start or end? Click Trim, set Start at and End at in minutes and seconds, and click Trim Replay. The new version takes a few minutes, then waits for you to watch again. You can trim a replay up to five times.

When it looks right, click Publish. Download replay and Download full recording are there too, for your own copy.

Click Who Can Watch beside a session to choose:

• Email: free for anyone who follows you and shares their name and email with you.
• Paid: they pay your price, from $2 to $1,000 (£2 to £1,000 if you’re based in the UK), and share their name and email. You’ll see Inland’s percentage and what you keep. Paid needs payouts set up; ask us in chat to turn on selling.

Turn on Show on my profile and in search to list the published replay on your profile, under Replays, where search engines can find it too. It’s off until you turn it on. Off, only people with the link see it.

All sales are final: buyers see that before they pay, and their receipt says it again. Buyers get a receipt by email. If something goes wrong, message us in chat.

Open Your Audience from the account menu to see who follows you, who shared their email to watch, and who bought a replay. You see an email address only when someone chose to share it, and anyone who stops sharing or unsubscribes drops off.

Export list gives you a CSV: the full list with what each person agreed to and when, or columns ready for Mailchimp or Substack. Emails you send must follow the law where the people on your list live, with a working unsubscribe link, so export again before each send.

Replay sales go to your own payout account, minus Inland’s fee. Once a week, what you’ve sold since the last payout is sent to your bank: instantly where your bank or card takes it, otherwise as a standard payout. We email you when it’s on its way, and you’ll see each one under Settings → Payouts. More in Payments and payouts.

A team can record sessions too, for its own authors. The replay is the team’s: the team chooses who can watch, and what it earns is paid to the team.

In the dashboard, open Recorded Sessions (under Event Management, or from the line at the top of Create Event). In New session, choose up to three Hosts from your team, add a Title and What it’s about, pick the day, time and length, and click Create Session. Anyone on the team can plan one. Recorded sessions have their own page, so they don’t appear in Upcoming or Past Events.

To bring in an author who isn’t on your team, click Guests beside the session, type their name and email, and click Make Invitation Link. Send them the link yourself; Inland doesn’t email it. Once they accept, they record through your team: they join the room as a host and are listed on the session, but the replay and its money stay with the team. Your hosts start and stop the recording.

Recording, review, trimming and publishing work as above. Anyone on the team can open the replay to review it, and Publish it when it’s ready.

Who Can Watch works the same way, in the team’s name:

• Email: free for anyone who follows the hosts and shares their name and email with your team. They appear on your team’s Audience page.
• Paid: they pay the team’s price, from $2 to $1,000 (£2 to £1,000 for UK teams), and share their name and email with your team. Paid needs your team’s payouts set up on Payouts & Balances, and Followers & Announcements turned on; ask us in chat.

Buyers show on your Audience page with everyone else who shares with you, and in its export. Turn on Show on the hosts’ profiles, the team page and in search to list the published replay under Replays on your team page and on each host’s profile. It’s off until you turn it on.

Sales go to your team’s payout account, minus Inland’s usual fee, and all sales are final. If Inland already sends your team its event payouts, replay sales are paid once a week, instantly where your bank takes it, and everyone who gets the Payout sent email hears when it’s on its way. For now, guests and co-hosts don’t get a share. More in Payments and payouts, or message us in chat.