Following the Vampire of Montana drama, I evaluated the Royal States series to rather unpleasantly discover the only person to not be paid for the books was me. (This is never a good situation to be in.) As such, I changed how I was working on my novels.
I have two funding lines for books: the future productions line and the Royal States series. The only place that is funding the Royal States series is my monthly patreon. After taxes and fees, 60% of my regular Patreon earnings (excluding the shop) goes to the household, which includes bills, living expenses, and so on. 20% goes to future book production. The final 20% goes to the Royal States series.
This lets the show go on, plus gives people a way to support that specific series.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, the Cindercorns and Spicy Ponies with Bite ($25 and $100 tiers) will be reading along as I write the Royal States books. Right now, they’re reading along on four different projects, which are given roughly once a week in a rotation. (It takes time to write, and I’m rotating these.) I may up the frequency if I have a plethora of extra written; the Trickster King (unbeknownst to the Patreon as of this moment), will be weekly installments on Wednesdays as I have a huge chunk written and it comes out next year.
Unlike other read alongs, the scenes are not kept on the Patreon permanently. They have a 1-2 week lifespan, and I will be including a “in the previous episode(s)” catch up for those who missed the earlier scenes.
Speaking of which, this is the last call for people to read the first scene of Murder Floof, as that will be deleted shortly.
Anyway, I was asked if I could create a tip jar to help support the Royal State series, for those who can’t budget to join the read along tiers. While I said no to the tip jar, I said yes to putting my various photographs in the Patreon shop. (Generally, they are in sets of 5 photos for $5, although there was an experimental Death Valley set at 2 for $10.) I also put the Royal States books in set bundles so people could purchase them directly from my Patreon shop. (All future books will likely be added to the Patreon store so people can buy epubs as close to directly from me as possible.)
There is one set (at current) dedicated to funding new camera gear. I need a low light lens, as I do not have one at all, and the one I want is… pricy. (Sob.) Otherwise, everything currently funds the Royal States series.
I will be adding sets here and there as I sort through photos and have time, so it will ultimately become a bit of a mystery bag for photographs. (This is a hobby and I try not to take myself too seriously with them.)
All I generally ask with the photographs is that you don’t monetize them for yourself and credit me as the photographer. (Realistically… it’s a hobby, and I’m too old and tired to chase unethical people around when it isn’t my bread and butter in question.)
Yes, only one photograph from each set is showcased because I have to create the square image for all the preview pictures, and it’s a pain in the ass. They’re mystery sets with themes.
Anyway, I hope you like this little side project. I expect that I will transition my “Per Novel” patreon users to the monthly in the “free” subscription category, and I will put the patreon version of the novel up for sale at retail price in the Patreon store to give people access that way. Non-Royal States novels will follow standard funding rules (60/20/20; household/future productions/Royal States).
For those who are late to the show, the new funding methods will begin after A Light in the Dark releases. I am gathering (and reserving) money starting now to hopefully minimize delays in production, but moving forward after these titles, I will not be publishing any books unless I am also paid for having written the books. (No more free work for me.) I don’t give myself a huge pay rate (I assigned myself $25 an hour for the work) but I will be paid. (Am I worth more than $25 an hour? Yes. But this is a reasonable amount to pay myself up front for having written the damned book.)
This just makes sure I am not working for free, like I have for the entirety of working on the Royal States series.
Passion only goes so far… especially when people get mean about said passion.
(And yes, this is a ‘people bit the hand that fed them’ situation. And as I do not like getting bitten, I’m taking care of me first this go around.)
As a somewhat gentle but not too gentle reminder… no reader is entitled to authors, period. Be kind. If you bite authors, they may give up and stop feeding you.
This applies to many things in life. But if you want authors to keep writing books, above all, be kind.
Writing a book is hard. It is always hard.
Nobody says you have to like a book. But it really won’t kill you to be kind, not in this instance.
Because the failure to be kind does lead to one place rather consistently: authors quitting, because between AI, entitled and nasty readers, and low pay… well, passion only goes so far.
Please be kind.
Before I go, I want to answer a few questions I’ve been getting a lot lately.
The Per Novel patreon will very likely be closed down after Grave Affairs. I will maintain my obligations to that Patreon until then. I highly recommending canceling that Patreon, sliding over to the Monthly one and joining as a free subscriber, and buying the Patreon editions from the Monthly store. (I will be linking to the Patreon store from my website when it is live.)
The Patreon store will ultimately be the place where I receive the highest royalties for my novels.
The Per Novel Patreon looks like this:
Blue Cheetah/Fire Pony is the one you want. Dancer and Fire Pirate is NOT the one you want, as that is the one that will be retired.
To escape a membership, you click on settings in your control panel, and then you click on memberships.
Find the membership you want (Fire Pirate Icon) and click View Details.
You will be presented with a screen that gives you the option to cancel membership. Click that.
If you are on the monthly (Cheetah, Blue), and you wish to change which tier you are in, click “Switch to another tier” as shown below, and you will be given your options.
If you are on the per novel, and you change the value of your subscription, it will not give you access to the other Patreon’s perks. You must cancel, subscribe to the correct patreon, and select the correct tier. (But a hearty thank you for those who did want to up the amount paid for each book. That is super kind of you and very appreciated.)
This confusion is part of why I will be phasing out the per creation patreons ( very probably including the short story one that hasn’t gotten used because I haven’t been writing shorts outside of the bonuses for novels.) I’ll probably just put the shorts (when/should I write more) into the store for those who do not get access to them as part of their perks.
And now that I’ve broken my brain on that, I’m going to go play some WoW and find something to eat, as I seem to have developed a severe case of hungry.
Happy reading.
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