Partner in Crime is now available in Audiobook edition over at Kobo. I have still not gotten the Patreon update, which essentially means I cannot put audiobooks up for sale in their store. (When the update goes through, my old store is locked, I cannot edit anything, and I have to revamp the entire store. This is a hellish nightmarescape.) Apparently, it might be until the end of September until they get this rolled out, and they have zero way to give creators even a heads up on when their account might roll over.
It is, by far, the worst rollout experience I’ve ever suffered through as a creator. I wish that was an exaggeration, but it’s not. The other rollouts were inconveniences, sure, but they were done in set batches, creators had a good idea when they were getting it, and disruptions were minimal.
I’m in limbo until possibly the end of September, and yeah, I’m pretty crabby about it.
So, Partner in Crime IS processing at Audible and other retailers, but that isa 2-6 week process. Moving forward, here is how Patreon store for audiobook is going to work:
I will post to all retail, including Patreon, at the same time. Yes, this means I will lose money on audiobooks, as retailers don’t pay as well. Yes, it means audiobook production may be slowed as a result. (The current method was meant to help increase funds specifically for audiobook production.)
As the Patreon basket is currently losing me money at a pretty hefty clip, I’m going to process all audiobooks at the same time, and when Kobo has processed, I will make the announcement to the blogwith the Kobo link and the Patreon Store link. (Patreon users may or may not see anything about a new entry in the store, but I really do not know how the system works until I see the new system.) Patreon users will be notified that there is a new product in the store, but HOW they will be notified is dependent on how their new system works.
Talk about frustrating.
So, a basic recap of Patreon and what users get when supporting me there:
1: Patreon is the vendor I use to pay for a few things, including the following:
- Royal States Production (Retail Sales do not at all influence Susan Copperfield release schedule.)
- Rent. (I like eating and having a home.)
- Audiobook production.
2: Retail performance determines how other series are prioritized; Patreon adds a consistent number of ‘sales’ to each book because all users who receive books receive ALL books that are not multi-author anthologies and a few other set circumstances, which are generally mentioned as those circumstances arise. (AKA, if I add Patreon to the sales values of the other series, it’s literally always the same number of book sales. The subscriptions are fairly consistent, and those who are paying for subscriptions get ALL the books. Factoring Patreon literally changes nothing because it’s the same number of books per title per series.)
The reality is, I go by retail, because that IS putting my eggs in other baskets and making certain I can keep writing in the future.
Susan Copperfield is the only exception. Once the Susan Copperfield books have naturally run their course, Patreon subscribers will vote on what series/world gets retail immunity next.
3: Tiers. (These are the various subscription brackets.)
- 0: Free Subscription
This is basically signing up to a mailing list so you can see news when I set things to public. I THINK I have managed to turn off the annoying “RJ has posted this to higher tiers” thing that was driving even ME crazy because I have a free subscription to see what free subscriptions get on my own Patreon… (If anyone gets one moving forward, please do let me know so I can see if I can figure out how else to turn that obnoxious thing off.)
- 1: Tip Jar.
$2. The Tip Jar is just a small “Hey, I just want to throw a few pennies in your jar to help out” subscription that gets news and things like that.
- 2: Pixies
$5. Pixies receive news and read along posts of old books. (And a copy of the ePub of the book once the read along has concluded.) They sometimes get polls and other stuffs.
- 3: Otters.
$10. Otters receive a copy of all new books (with a few exceptions/exclusions, which are mentioned when they happen.) Anthologies, for example, are generally excluded. (Multi-author ones, ones I don’t have rights for, etc.) They also get everything from previous tiers.
- 4: Sirens.
$15. Everything listed above plus twice a week audiobook files. (It’s like a game of Pokémon but with audiobook files.)
- 5: Cindercorns
$25. Everything listed above but read alongs of unreleased works, audiobooks as they’re released, polls, and other fun things.
- 6: Spicy Ponies With Bite
$100. They’re Cindercorns but spicier. I’m currently working to send some book boxes out to everyone who has given me their address, although this might have to wait until my research trip. (The books are like RIGHT THERE, but I’m super overwhelmed with life, the universe, and everything.)
Patreon typically gets the news ahead of the blog, but sometimes not. I am chaos.
For those of you waiting on #150 Days to 100k Words, I’ve been swamped. I’m redoing my stage 1, 2, etc, but at least I’ll have some new cover art to show for my efforts the next time I do post. (Which will continue to follow the trend of providing quick and dirty little ways of improving your writing skills.)
Okay, I’m going back to the fray. Today is going to be busy, and the Litter Robot isn’t going to clean its globe itself apparently. (BOO.)
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