What's Been Going Patreon
Yup, another Patreon post, another pun. Don’t act surprised, you all know what you’re getting by this point. Poor literary jokes aside; I decided it was time to update you wonderful folks on the status of my decision with Patreon.
For those who missed this article a while back, I asked my readers what they would want to see from me as far as rewards go, and for the most part the answer was: nothing. Some just liked using Patreon and wanted to add me to their list of people they support.
After reading the replies people left, I decided that if that was something folks genuinely wanted, then I would go ahead and launch one. So, with pride, I am happy to announce that I now have… a Patreon Page!
Drew’s Fabulous, Sexy, Wonderous Patreon Page
The nuts and bolts are on that page, including my few milestone rewards I pitched in despite people saying they wanted nothing, but I wanted to take a couple of minutes and talk about what didn’t make it in. There were two ideas that were raised when I held the open forum that were pretty solid, and neither of them is currently present in the Patreon as it stands. Here’s what they were, and why they haven’t made it on there.
1. Allow Patreon supporters early access to chapters
This one ultimately didn’t get included, and I have no plans to change that, because the longer I thought about it, the less fun it seemed. Part of the joy of web-serials, at least from what I’ve seen and experienced, comes from that fact that all the readers are experiencing the unfolding of the story together. Positive or negative, people get to react to new discovering in the comments and forums, it’s a shared experience you can’t replicate with normal books.
Even philosophical objections aside, the logistics of managing that would have been a nightmare, since Squarespace doesn’t allow for much granularity in user-profiles. Adding in that it creates a bit of a divide between readers with disposable income and opens up the potential for a lot of fun surprises to be spoiled earlier and out of context… it just didn’t make sense to add this option.
2. Let the Patreon money go toward Bonus Chapters
This one I agree with on principle, the only reason it didn’t make it in is because of logistics. As it stands, when a reader donates to the Bonus Chapter fund, they tell me in the comments if it should go toward SP, Corpies, or be split between the two. I haven’t yet found a way to ear-mark money like that for Patreon funds, and it feels like just throwing it into whichever fund I feel like robs you of the chance to choose what you want to see extra chapters of.
I really hope this will be a temporary absence on the page, and that once I actually have the Patreon up and running with contributors, I can get more familiar with the back-end interactions and find a way to have appropriate funneling of funds. Bear with me folks, I’m usually learning about this stuff as I go, which means it takes a bit for me to get fully up to speed.
Aside from those two absences, I feel pretty good about the page that’s been set up. Contribute if you like, keeping reading for free if you want to, so long as I can continue to put these books out I’m going to.
In closing, let me thank you for all the support you folks have given me so far. It’s not an exaggeration to say that without this story, and the wonderful fans who read it and spread the word, there is no way I’d have made it this far in my career already. You all kick ass, and I’m thankful for every last one of you.
One last thing! My wonderful publishers at REUTS were kind enough to make a book trailer for Fred, The Vampire Accountant, so I thought I'd share it with you all today. Enjoy!