sammynona
patreon
Proposal for new Patreon tiers
🕑 Added 2017-11-04 01:36:01 +0000 UTC When I first started this patreon I never expected to see such an overwhelming amount of support. In almost two years I went from writing erotica in my spare time after work to actually supporting myself off of your patronage, something I never would have thought was possible. As I got more popular I strove to keep my work accessible. Some popular writers are able to support themselves off of a small number of dedicated fans and patrons, but I've always preferred having numerous fans offer what they can to support me. That's why for almost two years now I've kept my rewards tier capped at $5 for all of the writing I provide each month.While the income from patreon lets me pay for bills and student loans, I'm left to my commissions to pay for everything else. Unfortunately, that's not going to be enough to save up for a new laptop, which I'm sorely in need of. My current laptop is almost six years old at those point and has begun crashing every week or two. It hasn't cost me much work, yet, but I don't want to wait until it dies and then I have no way of writing. The cost to fix it would be nearly the same as a new computer, so I'm making my goal to save up for a new laptop as soon as possible, but I'm not going to be able to do that with the way things are going now.
One option is to get a part time job, which means that I'd need to reduce the amount of stories I can put out a month as I would no longer be certain if I could write that much. With another job I'd likely have to reduce my word count per month to 15,000 words, about 3 to 4 stories or chapters.
My other option is to follow the example of other erotica writers and create a new tier, though I don't want anyone to think that I'm raising prices on everybody already pledging. Under the new system, which could go up in December or January depending on the feedback I get, everyone pledging at the $5 tier will get access to 15,000 words worth of stories, while patrons pledging $10 will get additional stories totaling 8-10,000 words.
To make it clear right away, I'm keeping the most popular stories at the $5 level. I know most of you came (hah!) because of stories like It Runs in the Family, Slaves to the Snake Goddess, and Enslave all Cheerleaders, so those stories will remain as the updates towards the $5 tier. The last thing I want to do is make it seem like I'm exploiting everyone's love for my work for more money, so the most popular series will remain the most accessible. With the new system I expect a majority of patrons to stay at the $5 tier they've been pledging, but anyone going up to the $10 tier will be able to get the full 25,000 words per month, an entry into the raffle for a free 2,000 word commission, and help me out towards saving for a new laptop.
The bonus 10,000 words will be made up of either one shot stories or limited series, like Managing the Office, Sibling Rivalry, and Endless Pleasure Resort (and Doomed to Fail, which will hopefully be back in production early next year once I've cleared out my schedule a little). Since they'll be part of a smaller tier your vote will let you see more regular updates on the less popular series, and give you first grabs on the short stories that you want to see. This is most likely where I'll be posting new limited series, though some will also come in at the $5 tier too.
The new tier system will break down like this:
$1 or more: Anyone pledging any amount is guaranteed a 3-5,000 word story, most likely one of the short one offs. I know some people can only pledge what they can, and I still want to reward patrons who support me with something.
$5 or more: Access to an additional 8-10,000 words in writing. This will be made up of the popular series, so most likely 2 or 3 chapters a month between It Runs in the Family, Enslave all Cheerleaders, Snake Goddess, or any other series introduced. Since I'm no longer aiming at every chapter to be 5K words long, I can experiment with some shorter chapters with more punch, or longer chapters as well. At the start of each month I'll list what series have updates to be voted on, and I'll put out the ones with the highest votes that fit within the word count. Patrons in the $5 tier also get entered into a raffle for a free 2,000 word commission.
$10 or more: An additional 8-10,000 words. Patrons at this level can vote between available shorts or limited series like Managing the Office, Sibling Rivalry, and others. This can either be one long story or up to three shorter stories. The $10 tier also enters you into a separate raffle for a free 2,000 word commission, so you have two chances to win.
I'm also creating another tier that has been requested by a few patrons.
$20 as an illustration tier: You will receive all the benefits of the $10 tier, with the extra money being pooled to commission artists for illustrations. I don't expect a lot of people to go for this, but if even a few do then that can result in some great art being put out every month or two. At this tier you can suggest scenes and characters to be drawn, with all the patrons in this tier voting on what they'd like to see the money go towards.
Last month I actually put out stories according to this new layout, so I would have something to show as an example. There was the Puck story for all patrons. The $5 patrons would have gotten the chapters of It Runs in the Family and Enslave all Cheerleaders, and then the $10 patrons would have gotten all of that and A Night Worth Begging For. This month I'm also going to do the same, so people can get an idea of the type of stories they'd get for their tiers.
These are the proposed tiers to start in December or January, so please feel free to comment with your thoughts on them below. I'm hoping to have an open debate on it, as I've always tried to listen to everyone's opinions while making ideas for the patreon page. Let me know what you think is good or bad about the new setup and how you would respond to it. As I said I expect most people to stay at the $5 tier with the popular stories updating there, but hopefully there are some patrons willing to go up to the new tier and help support me in saving up for a new laptop. Depending on the feedback that I receive from everyone I'll decide if I should implement the new system either in December or January. Thank all of you again for your support, it's been truly unbelievable how all of you have helped me out. I'm doing everything I can to cut expenses and save up for a laptop so I can continue to provide high quality smut for everyone.
Comments
Sammynona
Check out the new post, as I've set up something for one time donations on Ko-Fi. You can donate there and the proceeds will go towards a new computer, and that will let me hold off on the tier changes until early next year like I'd originally planned
Gornyetch
If this happened I'd go to the $10 tier for your stories, but I'd also prefer a one-time donation drive or something to pay for the new computer.
Sammynona
I understand your feelings completely. This was something I had planned to do early next year, after a few months of getting content out to make up for the past few months. Unfortunately my laptop is crashing regularly now and I have no idea when it might crash for the last time. Without my laptop I'd be forced to use the public computers at the library which are in a very crowded place and I doubt they'd look kindly on me writing erotica there. That's why I've had to implement this change sooner, to try and get enough money towards a new laptop as soon as possible so there's no interruption to content. Trust me when I say that I'm working hard to get stories done fast, to get content out on time this month and build up a buffer to be used in case anything happens, so there won't be any more delays like before. If I had any other way of raising the money I would, but the only other option is a part time job that would cut down on content as well. I know this isn't the best situation to fit everyone, but it's the best I can do right now to try and keep this patreon going
M H
I feel like a miserly old curmudgeon saying this but not a fan, especially due to the timing. Last few months have been relatively light on content, albeit for understandable reasons, and to gate off stories afterwards feels bad to me.
Sammynona
I'll keep working on the story but I'm still only human haha. I can only produce so much, but I'll try to make sure there's at least one chapter available a month
Sammynona
Thank you for the support!
Sammynona
Just wanted to assure everyone that it wasn't going to be a major shakeup. I know I get nervous when other creators change their rewards and so I wanted to explain the situation as best I could for everyone
Sammynona
Commissions I handle separately. Send me a message about what you'd like to see, and I can put you on the schedule for it. My new rate is a penny a word, so basically a 3,000 word commissions is $30. We can figure out a good length for the story once we work out the idea
Sammynona
I appreciate the sentiment :) it's enough just to have people supporting me and cheering me on, honestly
Kallie
I think your content is absolutely worth $10 a month. I'm not sure if I'll be able to give that much personally but I hope lots of people do and you're able to get the money you need
ColorlessAlien
Sorry if this is a dumb question but I'm (relatively) new to this. How does one purchase a commission? I might not be patient enough to wait for my name to come up in the commission lottery. :-P
Stephen Williams
Honestly, I'd up it to $10 or more just for more frequent IRITF updates.
Emily Bostic
I would definitely become a 10 or 20 dollar patron!
Dorian Alton
Thanks for the comprehensive explanation!
Sammynona
Some wonderful person took up commissioning it, so once I have a buffer up I'm going to try and get back to work on the second half of the story
Trixie Adara
I'd definitely go up to $10. For me, this is about supporting you. I'm not a patron for the perks, I'm a patron to support your work and give you some independence to create more. Plus, I really want to support more Doomed to Fail posts.
Sammynona
Like I said I only expect those who can to go up a level. I know how tight finances can be. I just appreciate everyone's continued support
Sammynona
I appreciate that. Something like that might work if I only do 15-20,000 words a month and the $10 tier can get everything a month early, though I'd have to build up the buffer first. Not sure if people would be interested in less writing each month but being able to get it earlier. It is a suggestion worth considering though
What you may want to consider is pay more for early access. Work really hard from now until new years and build up a buffer. Then release next months stories for the higher tier and have them come out for the lower tier later. I know of a youtuber who is doing something similar. They have their own forum and they release their videos early by 1 week for subscribers. A staggering amount of people pay for early access. I don't know if it would work the same for you because it's less frequent content. Just trying to think outside the box for you.
Katenotsostraight
reworked money i can do 20 ^^
Spark
I'd stick to five for the time being, personally, but I'm sure some people would go for higher level tiers. I even hope I can follow your example with more tiers one day - though not until I'm more established. (you've been doing this for two years, you have needs, and you put out a lot of work. It. Might be worth a risk just be careful)
Katenotsostraight
Id give more than 10 but im little.stretched at the time^^ sorry i cant raise it more..
