VoidHerald
patreon
Patreon Update: News for 2022, Winter Break, etc...
🕑 Added 2021-11-21 11:21:45 +0000 UTCHi guys,
It's been a while since I gave a true update, and while it's a bit early for New Year Wishes, I've got some news that can't wait for December. 2022 is going to be a very different year for you and me, especially with the inevitable release of the Vainqueur webtoon (no set release date yet, but almost certainly early 2022; roughly half of the planned season has been colorized).
- Voidy's Master Plan (all according to Keikaku... or not)
One of you asked me in the community section if I had plans to adapt some of my LitRPGs into say, NFTs or games. It's a good question, and I guess it's time I reveal to you my ultimate evil plan to take over the world.
Truth be told, while I love living from my writing, I always considered it an intermediary step towards a larger objective. My true goal has always been to branch our my stories into the world of multimedia; comic adaptations, video games, animation... an art entrepreneur friend of mine has also advised me to go into the NFT field, and though I don't want to enter a market I don't fully understand yet, I admit I'm interested and looking into it.
When I started writing, I realized early that I didn't have the mentality to write a long-running story like the Wandering Inn or HWFWM. I've been burned off from manga that I feel should have ended a lot earlier (like Naruto), which instilled in me the belief that a story that overstays its welcome will lose its quality. There's also the fact I'm something of a chameleon, always wanting to try new faces and genres.
As such, I decided on a hybrid Patreon/Amazon strategy, where I published a story, finished it, then packaged it to Amazon/Audible. My goal was twofold: to attract companies willing to adapt my works while remaining independent from them; and generate passive income from royalties. That way I could afford to actually finish stories, rather than gamble everything on one but become unable to finish it out of fear of killing the golden goose. I hoped to develop enough cashflow to fund more expensive projects like video game development.
While it hurt my Patreon revenues (I believe I would probably earn a lot more from Patreon if I had focused entirely on Vainqueur or The Perfect Run/made them last 800 chapters or so), the strategy paid off; I managed to land a webtoon adaptation for Vainqueur, hope to secure one for Never Die Twice in the long-term, and I can write full-time without being entirely dependent on one story/publisher while funding riskier ventures. Everything was well and good.
- What went wrong: pirates of the internet
However... I've been facing with a new unforeseen issue that makes my current model a lot more difficult to implement.
Piracy.
At this point, The Perfect Run, Never Die Twice, and Vainqueur have been uploaded without my consent on dozen of pirate websites with attempts to take them down having so far mostly failed (as pirates don't care about DMCA takedown). I've been considering measures to either damage these websites or redirect the traffic to my main account, but in the end they're like weeds; always coming back.
And that's causing me real problems with Amazon, as I need to prove to them that I am the original owner of the work. That's why the second Perfect Run ebook took so long to get out, and piracy is costing me quite a lot of money in copyright fees. I expect more difficulties with the other volumes left unpublished.
I had planned to use November to accelerate my update schedule, finish Kairos' second volume, and build a larger backlog for Underland... but then I got hit by the news that a dozen sites had copied my stuff (not just the usual suspect I shall not name), which really hit me morally. I feel there was a dip in quality in November because of it. I'm just furious that people not only try to profit from the work I put thousands of hours into, but also make it harder from me to live from it.
It sucks. Sometimes, I wish we were back in the Middle-Ages where you could cut the thieves' hands.
I'm really attached to post-by-post and web serials, but the current environment is making it harder to keep with my current model. I've considered a few alternatives, like publishing the full book on Amazon first, then releasing it chapter-by-chapter on Patreon and finally RR; or putting more focus on developing merchandise to make up for the revenue loss. It's currently up in the air.
But honestly?
What I really need is time to think.
- Winter Break & Multimedia Projects
For all of these reasons, I will be taking a two-weeks break in winter, probably from the December 20th to January 4th.
A preview of my break.
I haven't had a true break since visiting my family in April, and I feel I need one. I wouldn't say I'm burning out, but I can tell the creative juices are getting a little too dry, especially on the Kairos department. It's a combination of the piracy issue hitting me psychically and long-running exhaustion with writing two stories at once + scripting and other projects.
The break will also let me rethink my strategy for Amazon, see how I'll adapt from now on. I also would like to rework the Patreon to focus on only one story at a time, as I've realized that running two stories at once limits the growth potential and doesn't give me enough time to build up a chapter backlog.
Finally, a big change for 2022 is that I intend to pursue more multimedia projects beyond writing serials. Besides the Vainqueur webtoon, I'm in early discussion for a few indie projects such as animated shorts or a second webcomic; we'll see how that go, but I hope to give you visual adaptations of Walter Tye or Quicksave's adventures one day.
And well, that's all for it now folks. Stay safe, and write you soon.
Best regards,
Voidy.
Comments
Grog_Guy
Late reply and all, so maybe its already sorted out... but maybe it would helpful to ask some other RR writers what they did? There's at least a few who I know published after posting it for free.
Kyle Boyd
Sorry to hear that. your rates are so reasonable for such a high quality of work its absurd that people deel rhe need to pirate it.
Massgamer
Sorry that internet pirates got you down and hope you take time to enjoy your winter break with family. Be sure to really think about what is the best next steps for you personally and get advice from those you trust.
Void Herald
Hence why I said I don't want to enter a market I don't fully comprehend ;) in the art entrepreneur case mentioned earlier, it was more to create specific art pieces with limited/exclusivity access through the NFT technology like songs, or issue limited number of special digital editions with authenticity proof. In my mind, it's more about creating digital merchandise or 'special editions' ebooks difficult to replicate. At this point, it's just a vague idea but a potentially interesting one.
Void Herald
The Amazon bots don't take into account the age; pirate websites who pirated my stuff months after the update on Patreon/RR were seen as much 'potentially legitimate' as the older websites. I sent dozens of screenshots proving the time difference but nope XD
Adrian Engel
I'm sad to hear about your struggles. I can't offer advice on this unfortunately but I think it would be a good idea to reach out to other authors and hear how they handle the issue. In this digital age most people want everything handed to them with little to no difficulty.
John Pratt
Whatever you do, DO NOT GET IN TO NFT's. It's a useless and wasteful technology that recently got a lot of anonymous cash infusion when the US government made it harder to launder money through fine art. And now that the US government has made NFT's a taxable security, that crime money will move somewhere else. In the mean time the NFT market is made up exclusively out of art-thieves and con-men desperately trying to bilk the last bit of money they can out of idiots before the FCC shuts the whole thing down for being a pyramid scheme.
How the legitimacy of your copyright is verified? Do you know if they (bots I assume) take into consideration the date of upload/publication of the story? Maybe it would make sense to upload the files for the chapter/story to some "semi-private" locations, so when you want to publish the book you just point to those "semi-private" places, which have clearly earlier publication dates than anything else the pirates have, which would properly serve as proof of copyright? semi-private -> some weird domain that is unlikely to be accessed even in automated manner, but not requiring authentication. Regarding the NFTs... I second your friend for whatever it's worth, that You probably should look into that if you can make some time since the field is extremely overhyped, which can allow some crazy gains, especially if you can make some hot nfts and market them properly (which you can, even through patreon xD, checkout drunkendragon dot games for example, at current stage that's basically only an idea, not even complex one, with relatively simple giffs, but it still generated rather big sales (for a small unknown project xD).... However when it comes to securing your copyright with NFT, unfortunately, I think the field is still not mature enough to provide you any tangible advantage :/. In the future (1-3 years maybe?) I think it should be possible that you will be able to link your crypto verified ID with NFT for art, and then just sign transaction on some service with the wallet which contains both the ID and art nft, as a proof of copyright, but as far as I know there aren't even crypto projects which covers this scenario (even though they spawn like mushrooms after rain xD), and until some corpo structured company will put effort to integrate this type of solution it will take time (if they ever do that :( )
Prinny Knight
Happy hunting
Void Herald
Agreed. Unfortunately, the downside of a web serial is that I have to write chapters now on a set schedule but I can't 'disconnect' them from my thoughts and emotions, so when I feel drained and down, it inevitably impacts the writing quality, as I take longer to write the chapters and edit them. The break is not just to develop a long-term strategy, but to give me enough peace of mind to write Kairos' last volume in a satisfactory way.
Young Youghurt
I hope you find a sustainable way to achieve your dreams. However, and you mentioned it already, it seems to me like the quality Kairos really went down. I am sorry to say this but there is this difference between the grand idea behind every ark and its execution that is, because of all your worries, stingy on elaboration. So good luck with your plans in the long run but please don't disregard your immediate creations.
Void Herald
I might (key word being might) have understood piracy if I put all my works behind a huge paywall, but in my particular case pirates steal stuff that is already free on RR which makes it even more egregious; and the problem is that by doing so they make it harder for me to put stuff on Amazon to get an alternative source of revenue (and I don't even give Amazon exclusivity). They literally prevent people who have the means to support me financially from doing so, and that's the root of the issue.
Void Herald
It's possible, but won't be enough unfortunately. Amazon uses bots to check the works, so if even 30 percent of the story is behind a paywall, I'll still be flagged; it might be easier to prove my ownership, but the review team is mostly automated and difficult to discuss with. I would rather bypass the problem entirely if possible.
Matthew Lewis Worthington
Hmmm in a way I am a hypocrite. It all depends on whether I can access the site for free to read the novel because I am quite poor and can only afford to be a patreon on one or two novels but I do try to support when I can and read from the right sites but for the novels on web novels its just too expensive to pay and I go to other sites to read which is pirating in that way I am a hypocrite I dunno it's sometimes hard to support an author that uses sites that exploit them and the readers. Its why I way prefer royalroad
sri kalyan mulukutla
You can create some security here, but RR is a headless chicken as for as security goes. So this is the idea. Add some content only patreon can access, that way you will be at least be in safety.
Jonas
That’s sad to hear I hope every pirate erupted spontaneously and goes up in flames (but not our lovely Kairos) But do go to better things I really hope for an anime of your works like Vainqueur,Kairos (I started with kairos loved it and now I’m reading the other works from you because I love your writing style
Void Herald
Thanks! For planning breaks I'll think about it in December depending on how I adapt my general strategy. I'm something of a workaholic but I have my limits XD
Nathan Camussi
That great you deserve to take a good break. Joyeux Noël à l’avance. Maybe you should plan more breaks if you can make it financially of course.anyway rest well. PS: a visual adaptation of Quicksave would be soo Hype🤩.
