2021 Wrap Up, Updates for 2022! (Important, please read!) (Patreon)

With 2021 coming to a close (this year absolutely flew by,) I can look back and honestly say that this was, by a leap and a bound, the best year that Joshiah's Written Works has ever had...and that was WITHOUT conventions.

This was the major hurdle I was worried about when I started the business: whether or not I'd be able to succeed without conventions as a central hub for advertising my wares and pushing product on people. With the "experiment" several years in the works now and nearly 50 sales conventions under my belt, I've collected some interesting sales info, and seen where a lot of the pratfalls are for those creators who do sell at cons.

With costs ever increasing, there continues to be a little uncertainty about my 2022 convention schedule, but we'll say a little bit more about that shortly. I'm gonna try to make this organized and easy to follow. 

2021 Short Summary

With just one sales convention to speak of, there weren't as many wacky adventures and crazy memories to speak of, but at the end of the day, Joshiah's Written Works is a business, and frankly, business was very, very good.

Surviving the pandemic in 2020 was an accomplishment, and thriving within it in 2021 is that much greater; commission sales continue to trend upward, and though Patreon and SubscribeStar have seen higher peaks, the average monthly contribution is greater, which is what really matters. 

Furfest was our only convention, and saw record sales (for a quick peak behind the curtain, we're talking 42% higher than our previous sales record, which is insane,) but increasing production costs continue to be a profit issue. However, the lack of online presence for furry authors is still a very real thing, and conventions still drum up new customers better than anything else I've ever done. In as much, I plan to attend several next year, but I'll have more information on which ones (and why) in the 2022 updates.

The flat-rate YCH prompts that I started throwing out this year had some peaks and valleys, but it was more peaks, which is wonderful. Those will be returning in 2022, with the discounts still applied for their set plot lines and ease of creation.

Production was also up quite a bit, and I will update with the final totals and percentage increase of words written when I've got the final total for the year.

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2022 Brief Updates

This will be a bit more "bullet point" style, but...let's take a brief look at what's changing for 2022. This will be very cut and dry, and I'll be honest that there will be positives and negatives, but that's the nature of a business and the growing pains that come along with it (and the horrid inflation that's been hitting all of us.)

Price Increase: Inflation has been a bit of a problem over the course of the last year, and it's driven up my production costs for print media, which is an important source of otherwise passive income. I was looking for any way I could offset this, but right now, a price increase is the easiest way to keep up with those demands. The increase is still being worked out so that I'm fairly charging my customers for my work, and I will have an official table explaining the rates, what you get for them, and ways to get discounts in 2022.

Super Rush Commissions: As part of the coming changes, I'm going to be offering "Super Rush" level commissions! They're pricey, but if you need a story done in 10 days or less, guaranteed, these will be the way to go!

Double Diamond Premier Status: The Premier Club was a huge success again in 2021, providing greater discounts across the board for a wealth of customers. However, I had some customers who reached the peak sooner than anticipated, and I felt bad that I didn't have more for them to unlock. This brought about the creation of the Double Diamond level, which will be available to unlock in 2022 for huge savings and much faster turnaround times!

Video Updates: Thanks to the generous support of everyone on Patreon and SubscribeStar, video updates will be a monthly reward in 2022! These will be brief but informative, and $10+ patrons will get a shout out in the credits.

Character Spotlights: I'm taking the AMA feature for my characters a little further by giving them monthly spotlights! Each month, one of my literary original characters will get a "spotlight" interview, and questions for them will be used in the process. You will also receive a small discount for any story commissions you order that month, if they feature said character!

Convention Schedule: I'll be updating this as I go (ALL CONVENTIONS LISTED ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE,) but Joshiah's Written Works will be attending the following conventions in 2022!
-Furnal Equinox
-Fur Squared
-Anthrocon
-DenFur
-Midwest Furfest

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I'm gonna wrap it up here for now, but thank you all so much for the support in 2021, and I hope to provide you with an even better experience in 2022, with all the stories and content you could have ever hoped for!