The long and winding post... (Patreon)

Hello there,

Thank you for all your thoughtful messages and comments regarding my decision to end Totty. I'm sorry if I haven't been able to reply to you personally - I've been a very busy bee, working on something rather special for the end of the month :)

I wanted to share my thoughts on some of your feedback and suggestions...

To clarify, the main problem isn't with Patreon - this has been a wonderful home for me and despite a few technical glitches, a very rewarding and satisfying way to share my work.

The issue is social media and not being able to build a larger audience. Over the last 18 months, the vast majority of people I've encountered online have been supportive, complimentary and kind - but I've also attracted a handful of bad apples who seem to have it in for me. On TikTok, these people leave comments including the words 'kink' and 'fetish' - this immediately kills the post. On X, 'inappropriate content' and NSFW images are regularly attached to my posts, often leading to my account being flagged. And on Instagram, I regularly receive unpleasant messages like this...

"After dealing with so many shitty onlyfans "creators" and having to report them for dishonest business practices and getting them banned - I just wonder why selling nudes is such an ego trip."

I don't want to appear like a helpless victim, (these trolls irritate more than upset me) I just don't have time to moderate my socials and deal with all these resentful creeps, but I believe they're part of the reason why A Bit Of Totty has stalled on my socials.

So, how can I continue without a social media presence? Ernesto suggested that I should add a higher tier, but I don't want to be greedy and I'd much rather gain more subscribers to enable me to add a lower tier to offer better value for money.

Another suggestion from Tony and Nico was to set up a crowd-funding campaign to produce a collected volume of all the comics and pin-ups. This could be an alternative way to fund future work. Stretch goals could allow me to continue making new Totty comics. Maybe I could produce a regular annual that I send out to backers every year :) This is an exciting possibilty and I'd like to hear your thoughts. Is this something that you'd be interested in?

Squash wattage, Jack and Zachary suggested that I should leave my Patreon page active for those who'd like to continue supporting me, stay in touch and keep abreast of what I'm doing next. I'm reluctant to completely delete the page - there are now roughly 130 comics archived here, along with all your lovely comments and messages, and it would be a shame to lose it all. I guess this page would then function more like a blog with less regular comic content - perhaps with a lower-priced tier to reflect the changes. Let me know what you think.

On a positive note, I have several new projects that I'm currently developing. I feel the Totty name has become a bit tarnished and has gained a bad reputation in some quarters, so it may be time for a reboot or even a complete Bowie-style reinvention. A couple of these concepts are similar in style to Totty, but centred around brand new characters. One idea is completely bonkers and would involve me dressing up as a chicken. Whatever I decide to do next, I know I'd benefit greatly from your feedback, so perhaps this page could turn into a sort of creative workshop, where you can help me bounce these new ideas around.

Woah... this post is getting far too long, so I'll wrap it up here. The bottom line is... I'm not very good at handling the internet, (I'm amazed that I've made it this far!) and it's not easy putting yourself out there online. I'll miss making Totty comics but I'm an eternal optimist - hopefully there's something bigger and brighter just around the corner.

Totty x