Back when I decided to make a Patreon page of my own about a year and a half ago, I did it because I was in deep financial trouble. I was making payments on a $21,000 loan I took out a few years before (a few months after my brother moved) and my cost-of-living expenses were beginning to get too high. I didn't want to beg for money, so I created a page on Patreon to earn some extra money by writing stories. It hasn't been easy though, there have been a lot of stories that I've wanted to publish to Patreon that I couldn't because it would be against the site's rules. If I could publish more of the material that I normally produce, updates would've been a lot more frequent and things would've been easier. Anyway, that was then and this is now...
In the 18 months or so since I started my Patreon account, things have changed for the better in terms of my financial status. The loan I mentioned has been paid off and I've been able to build a bit of a financial reserve as a result of that. Further improvement should occur as the year progresses thanks to the baseball season, allowing me to further build my reserve so I should be in a much better situation come next offseason. While my current financial status is far from ideal, I'm beginning to think that it might be stable enough where I don't really need to have a Patreon account any longer, so I'm thinking about reverting to "donation only" status.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ANY PATRONS OF MINE READING THIS JOURNAL:
First of all, I cannot begin to thank you for the donations you've made over the course of the last 18 months. You helped me out when I needed it and your kindness will be rewarded (especially Ashen Hugo). I also want to stress that if I do decide to close my page, I will not be doing it right away. I will keep the page open for now as it is, but I will not upload any other 'for pay stories', just free releases for the time-being. I will also make an announcement on when I intend to close my page ahead of time if I should decide to do so.
Should I decide to close the page, I will come up with something to make your donations worthwhile (I.E.: Giving patrons free story requests based on the amounts I've received from them over the last 18 months). I will be making a decision about whether to continue the page or to close it in the next few weeks.
What will happen to the Patreon-only stories if I decide to close the page?
Most of them will be released publicly for everyone to see, although some will be stored in my archives for potential future release. Those stories were originally intended to be a bonus for my Patrons, but if I close the page, I see no reason to keep them exclusive any longer. WIP versions of stories will not be released, though.
What about all the other future stories you said would be released as Patreon-exclusives or bonus features that would be Patreon-exclusives?
Don't worry, I'll still make these stories and bonus features, they'll just be released publicly instead of through Patreon.
What about stories requested by Patrons? Will they be released publicly?
That will be up to my Patrons to decide. If they want to keep the stories I make for them to themselves, I will honor that request, but if they are OK with me publishing them I will do so.
What about the Raposa High series? Will you still be producing that?
Yes (by the way, I really should be getting back to that series. It's been a while since I last published something in that series).
Anyway, I think that's all I have to say about this. Like I mentioned a moment ago, I will be making a decision about the page's future in the coming weeks, so if you're a patron of mine you'll want to stay tuned for that
Not a Patron, but I suggest you keep things the way they are. You never know if you might need that financial buffer this is helping you have.
Never thought I would be against someone reducing Patreon only stuff, but you are already established and have a good thing going. Be different if you started to tire of doing it and needed a break or something.
Not a Patron, but I suggest you keep things the way they are. You never know if you might need that
