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State of the Patreon Q1 + Poll (Patreon)

Published:
2024-03-26 01:34:29
Imported:
2026-06

Poll

State of the Patreon Q1 + Poll

  • Keep current reward system 51
  • All tiers get 1 early chapter (same reward for everyone) 227
  • Higher tiers get more early chapters 122
  • 2024-03-26
  • —2024-03-28
  • 400 votes
{'title': 'State of the Patreon Q1 + Poll', 'choices': [{'text': 'Keep current reward system ', 'votes': 51}, {'text': 'All tiers get 1 early chapter (same reward for everyone)', 'votes': 227}, {'text': 'Higher tiers get more early chapters', 'votes': 122}], 'closes_at': datetime.datetime(2024, 3, 28, 1, 17, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'created_at': datetime.datetime(2024, 3, 26, 0, 49, 32, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'description': None, 'allow_multiple': False, 'total_votes': 400}

Content

Heya everyone. This one isn't an update, so sorry about that, but please read until the end.

After doing some thinking, I think I should be keeping you guys better informed as to what is going on with the patreon, my life, and anything that might come between you and what you're paying for. That in mind, I've decided to start these roughly quarterly updates on what is going on. This plan came a little late here in March, until the next one will be at the end of June - early July.

Moving on, we come to a Band-Aid off moment. I haven't been keeping up on my end of our relationship.

When I decided to become a full-time writer, I did a lot of soul searching and decided that one update every 10 or so days is plenty manageable, and for a while I was able to keep to that. Overtime though, things started to fall apart a bit, and it's been taking me longer and longer to output for you all. Some of it is bad luck and real life events, but if I'm being honest with myself, there is still a fair amount of delay caused by things I can prevent. Most of it boils down to me writing when I'm feeling most inspired.

That, unfortunately, can be anytime, and if it strikes when I'm in the middle of something I can't put down, then there is a little I can do. More than a few chapters have been written in 30 sleepless hour bursts, and I'm not sure how much longer I can sustain that.

Compounding the issue, with patreon as my primary income, I effectively don't have a rigid work schedule. As a consequence, My sleep schedule is completely trashed, and has been for the past year and some change. I know that's beginning to negatively affect me.

With all of that in mind, I've made some significant changes to my workflow starting today. Going forward, I'm going to start treating this like the job that it is and actually use rigid work days. Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. until I've hit a daily quota, I'll be sitting down and doing nothing but writing. I'll also be treating the weekends as actual weekends, and not be working on them.

I've started that this morning, and was able to hit a 1000 word quota before 5:00 p.m., so that was heartening. I've already got a bit written from before this change, and I'm hoping the next chapter will before the end of March.

Moving on, against the wishes of my financial advisor, I'll be restoring the visibility of how much I make on Patreon here soon, so that newcomers can make an informed decision on whether or not they want to support me. At the time of writing this, I make about $4,600 a month before taxes, or about $2,900 after tax. (Taxes in the USA are not kind to the self-employed). I said before that $5,000 a month was the minimum I wanted to remain full-time, but I'm fine cutting back each month if it means I can keep doing what I love, which is writing. That being said, there is some uncertainty on the horizon I'm my life, and I'd rather be north of that $5k figure just in case. I'm hoping that getting my workflow together and being closer to that 10 update cycle helps, but I want to get some input on a possible change.

I know I said I wanted to keep my current system of "give what you want, but everyone gets the same access", but in order to try and jump that $5k hump, I might start giving patrons an advance chapter that is withheld from the public until the next one is done. (Basically, how every other writer does it.) I've included a poll on this post to get your feedback (Note that the most popular choice isn't necessarily what I'm going to go with.) If you have any comments, please let me know. The poll will be open until Wednesday night.

That's all for this one. If I don't read your comments either here or in discord tonight, then I'll read them tomorrow morning. I'm getting ready to head to bed in the next hour or two.

Thankee much,

Fuggmann.

Comments

Ottstop

Thanks for the update! Just remember that we'd all prefer a delayed update than you being burned out for months. Dont push yourself too hard if you don't have to

ht1318

I wish you the best! I'm happy with whatever you do.

Jojolity

You need to take care of yourself. Wanting to keep this tip-based is admirable, but early chapters for donors is standard and no one will mind. Given the quality of your work, I’d be totally cool with more for early stuff

Dizzy

You should be able to set rewards to encourage it. This is your job after all, and I have to tell you it's my favorite story I found off royal road and I drop what I'm doing to read your writing. You should be proud of your work and I hope you get back into the groove, because the more visibility you get on your story the better off you'll be!

Signal

Creating a backlog +1 for every tier sounds like it's gonna be a lucrative pain in the ass.

SedoMonty

I have had the pleasure of reading and adoring your chapters as they come out and I am filled with anticipation when I get an email about a new chapter but frankly you deciding on keeping this method or holding one back makes really no difference, so long as you keep putting your own effort into every chapter I will enjoy them all the same.

Buster_Bro

Honestly I have to say doing it as a 8-4 job or such is probably the best choice for this. As well as having tiers having access earlier. I know it’s not my place to make suggestions but maybe have your Fridays to a review of what you have written so of each week?

That Guy Kye

I honestly really appreciate the openness with this Fugg. Obviously no one wants you to get burnt out and I truly think have more structure may help regulate stuffs. As for the poll I’m split; but I do feel if you really want to continue to push growth it’s the only sustainable way to make everyone happy; both patreons and potential subscribers. Essay over tho, keep up the great work!

Leander

Take care of yourself, and do what you think will work best.

Kurt S.

This. There's rewards for different tiers that are better than trying to set the entire Patreon on a sliding scale of release, and I don't know any writers who do that. One public release schedule + one advanced reader tier seems the most practical, both for managing and for making sure the public audience can actually still get updates this calendar year.

Bunny Waffles

Man, screw taxes. The amount of money we lose to them is utter bullshit.

Dylan

I feel like the 1 early chapter model is reasonable, i support you here because i enjoy what you write and think it's reasonable/expected to pay for things i enjoy and want more of, that doesn't change with a different model, do what you need to support yourself. I'm slightly wary of treating writing like a monday to friday job. I know im not alone in having supported other authors on patreon for a while only for the feeling that they NEED to keep writing because it's their income to cause them to burnout or for them to fall out of love with their stories. I'm personally 100% fine with having to wait a bit as long as it means i can keep reading stories i love and that those stories potentially get an ending someday. You've been good about taking breaks when needed so far, please continue to be so. I like i said at the beginning, do what you need to keep yourself stable and happy, my support stays as long as you keep writing.

xxpowerxx1qz

My two cents. Do what you need to do to take care of yourself. I dunno about others, but I subscribed to help you do what you love, not for Patreon benefits. I get early viewing and stuff but as far as I remember, I never really participated in those anyways, preferring to wait for the upload. Don't be afraid to pace yourself as well. As someone's whose written in those slog periods where the inspiration well is utterly dry but the story must progress, I know just how miserable it can be.

Nicholas Apicella

I think maintaining an early release for patrons is sustainable (not giving more to higher tiers), and instead continuing to involve the higher tiers in other stuff to keep that exclusive feel. That said, building a structured work schedule is a good move. Might be hard at first to stick to it, but it’ll pay off.

(K) KaurisAzurai

I also subscribed to help you because I love your work. Not because of some need to have chapters early. Do what you need to to get your affairs in order.

Orion Dye

I think its overdue to regulate your writing schedule. Regular Sleep is necessary for keeping your brain and body healthy, which will hell you stay inspired longer. Another suggestion is to make sure you exercise and eat right as well, since having a healthy body will help your brain output better longer. I used to follow professional StarCraft players and all the best ones followed this advice. Hopefully it’ll help you as well. As to the Patreon schedule, i don’t mind if higher tears get 1 chapter in advance. It’s pretty normal after all.

Grant Daniel

You need to take care of yourself. Whether that is setting a work schedule or anything else. You need to be selfish because at the end of all of this when the stories are done and you have to transition to something new (say your own self published work), if you have made it so you live paycheck to paycheck you wouldn’t be able to truly “survive” that transition and it will be harder than it should be for you. Also the fact that your take home wage of ~34.8k/yr isn’t even considered a livable wage in any of the 50 states is unacceptable. We deeply appreciate that you want to keep to your old promise or make the transition less painful for us but in truth you need to look out for yourself. Any previous money promises you made to us were made with the best but flawed intentions on your part and you need to course correct to something that actually will work for you. You need to do a brutal accounting of how much you can honestly write in a week at a reasonable hourly rate, and then extrapolate that into chapters and cost. Especially since being a Fanfiction work locks you out of other certain lucrative deals like kindle unlimited if I am correct. Make it so you earn a livable wage and then worry about giving extra too us, because it’s either that or likely you are gonna have to go find another job and we then will likely get less chapters. And whatever price you come to is not going to be you on a high horse or big fish small pond; it’s going to be the realistic rate that you need just to survive.

Tech Priest

Man, what ever works works. I'll be honest I'm willing to shill out a bit more as as of this time you're currently my favorite active writer!

Berd

You do you, champ. You're self aware enough to realize where you need to fix yourself and you've got a plan. See where it takes you and adapt. Some progress is better than none.

Green0Photon

Despite this effort, be careful. Sometimes I find public accountability like this to be a bit similar to self harm. I hope you're either on medicaid or an ACA plan with this level of income. It should be possible to get a lot of subsidies. Financial advisors often aren't the best. I can only think/hope you're using a fee based one? Not AUM. Unless they're more like an accountant or something. Being self employed, it's very hard to save for retirement. Please make sure to do so. Broad index funds, at minimum S&P500, but ideally globally. "Bogleheads" is the resources you should look for. Your financial advisor should not be doing anything expensive here. Or at all. It's very simple nowadays, if you know how to avoid the expensive complicated scammers. Good luck. And you should definitely do the at least one hidden chapter thing that every other author does. I really don't know why you don't.

WirelessGrapes

The early chapter model works for a reason, go for it

Drake Lundstrom

Fully flexible work can be rough, with the lack of structure. Holler if you ever want to talk about it. Also, Cal Newport has some good productivity books about how to manage a schedule like that, with his time block planner probably being the place to start

Drake Lundstrom

Also, make sure to take weekends, and even explicit holidays/vacations once in a while. Always being able to work means that you can’t fully relax, and then can perform your best.

Spice_King

It nice to see you still trying to improve yourself still, rather than be content with how things are. Dont burn yourself out, remember to take breaks. Having your stats back is nice in my view, shows as a bit more of a backbone in honesty, though, I do get why people opt to hide it as some people can get some crazy fans or critics over it. As for the supporter early access, I think that a single chapter for all the tiers is probably the least stressful for both you and us as a whole. If I was two or three chapters ahead I'd have a lot of lip biting if I was chatting about the stories in the public spaces. I'm sure the mods would have less work trying to maintain multiple time gates for things if people start talking. I'll also suggest an alternative to the fixed chapter count lead over public, you can do it on time. Like we get it for a week or two before the public does, then the public is not blue balled if you end up with issues that make the next chapter takes longer due to something. I do think adding some value for supporting will help to increase your income some and hopefully help make it more stable. I won't deny that openness you chose to use got me to be here. I've seen some pretty deep gating and it did not sit that well with me. The simpler and open approach you have felt more honest to me. That and you right some good shit. Take that all as you will.

Javidom

hey Fuggmann, let me give you my hottake on that stuff, maybe something of it helps you everyone functions a bit differently with scheduling; try the new rigid hours, and if it works, great my recommendation regarding that is though, to schedule some time off, to either do some vacation, mental health recharging, or inspiration searching (for example trips to a marine biology institute, nature hiking trips, or an ecology convention with open lectures) i do agree with you advisor to not make your income public, but you do you; but i do recommend to put higher rewards into higher tiers, for that little incentive for some to give you a bit more money (though it depends on the amount of stress and buffer you can handle/need for that) i am technically not allowed to say the 4 letter name, but there are other places with the same model that might suit you better financially

Rhett Sellers

I can say that for writers who have deep content gating I tend to sub to the expensive tier once or twice a year for just a month if I care enough to come back. I have poor enough impulse control sometimes that I can go to the end if i like the content, but I can also absolutely cut it off until the public content catches up. My 2c is to largely keep it how it is now, but the choice is yours of course. an extra couple chaps for patrons doesnt hurt, but the low bar for the latest chapters (coupled with your good writing) have kept me here long term so far. realistically, i cant justify the cost of a subscription to a streaming service for a single fic, unless that fic releases almost daily.

Crazyone47

Experiment with getting more money is what I say. But take it from me rigid hours can take a toll

V

Seconding everything said here.

CylonTechHD .

I'm more than willing to wait a bit more each Month for a new chapter if that means I can enjoy your writing for a long time.

Doodle bop

I highly suggest you inject some structure into your life by finding something that you can treat like your job even if it's something like fishing. Then going to a quiet public space after such as the library I did this when I was in collage to stay in task instead of doing it in my dorm, preferably somewhere with a view. Wishing you the best.

Pieter

Sleep is essential, nothing works properly without good sleep! I also work from home with a flexible schedule, what helps me the most with both focus and rest is ensuring there is a physical separation between work and the rest of my life. This can be anything, working from a particular room, wearing different clothes, or just using a different chair, going for a walk, whatever. As long as there's some physical action(s) you take before/after work to create a boundary. Another thing that helps me is keeping a rough log of hours worked and things done (be it successful or not). Without this any distractions or just poor progress start feeling like 'not working'. Guilt and stress build up when there's tasks unfinished or more could be done. Focus becomes harder and the temptation to procrastinate becomes constant. It all combines into feeling like I'm never working properly but also never have time off properly. That bit of physical separation along with tracking my progress gets me out of that loop and keeps me focussed and productive at work, and lets me relax afterwards. The nice thing is that this works without fixed hours, as long as it adds up to the expected hours it's good. Fixed hours can form a boundary too though, so whatever works best for you. In terms of the chapters, I think an advance chapter or two for patrons is a good idea. I much prefer your focus on quality chapters, even with the inconsistency, over the standard model of tiny bites of story followed by cliffhangers three to five times a week. (Seriously, screw pointless cliffhangers!)

Marian Ch

A stable schedule would go a long to at the very least settle your mind and body, if nothing else. I'm not sure how good of an idea would be to force yourself to write however, as that might end up backfiring severely with your burned out and unable to create any more content. However, specially if you want to entice future members, you will need a consistent schedule above anything, and you'd ideally want to be able to deliver more than once or twice a month so you can both reach and satisfy a larger audience. I'd say that having one or two chapters extra added to each tier would be a decent compromise as long as you keep at least one such chapter available for the lowest tier. You can try to supplement some of the rewards with art commissions.

conkerer

My only input is that perhaps the issue is more that you haven't tried to create a special writing environment, playlist, incense, specific room, whatever, and only ever using it for writing and nothing else. Maybe the schedule is helping making the time special, maybe there's other things you can try?

Nets Pulse Podcast

I’ve always appreciated your self-awareness and vulnerability. I was laid off in December and feel lucky that I started school right before that. The built in structure/momentum has kept me going, and I’m not sure what life would be without that. What you are doing sounds like a wonderful way to protect our health. Also, just because we pay you, that doesn’t mean that you should treat us like your bosses. In fact…I think that we’re more like shareholders. We all invested because we believe in the current and future value that will come from supporting you. I’d be shocked if I didn’t speak for all of us when I say that you’ve never let us down, despite how it may feel on your end. My hope is that our best interests are aligned with yours. If you are happy and healthy, you will be at your best and, in turn, we will get to read your incredible stories. If the company does well, we all do well! In this case, ‘the company’ = you (we can come up with a better nickname than that, maybe Fuggjitsu or Fuggever 21)