Per-Month Payments

Hello, my lovelies!

I have an announcement to make. Starting this month, I am planning to switch to a per-month payment type, instead of a per-update payment type.

There's a poll below for you to give your thoughts, and I'm open to not doing this if there's strong opposition. That said, some important context, and information on how this will affect your pledges:

Why This Is:

Essentially, Patreon isn't really designed for a "per-update" paycheck. It gets inconsistent and confusing fast. Some Patrons cap, some don't, some pledge at a lower level to avoid needing to cap, some pledge at a higher level and cap to keep their payment to a budget.

Of course, I have zero problem with my lovelies taking care of their budgets, but it can be a real pain in the neck trying to work out my own sometimes. Pricing tiers can be really tricky to work out, too.

It's also... well, a pain for other reasons. I want to post chapters when they're done, not when I need to hit the deadline to receive my salary. I want chapters to be the length they're meant to be, not cut in half to keep to a quota. And I would love to be able to take a few days off without worrying that it will directly impact grocery money next month. I'm trying to help a friend pay some medical bills right now, and I literally caught myself thinking last December, "If I don't get this fourth chapter done, I can't send her anything this month."

What This Isn't:

This is not a, "I want to do fewer chapters a month" post. I love writing the amount that I do, and love having that as a goal to strive for. I'm not going to refuse to charge for a month where I only manage 1-3 chapters, but that doesn't mean I won't always be aiming for 4-5 chapters per month.

This is not, and cannot, be seen to be coupled with a guarantee of "I won't charge if I don't write the expected number of chapters in a month". Just practically speaking, this Patreon is my income. If I actually do take a full month off, I obviously won't charge—but if I spend a month working and just don't complete as many chapters as I'd hoped, that's still a month of work.

If it helps, consider it as equivalent to paid sick leave/vacation days (which everyone needs, even freelance writers). But I will charge for any month in which I write for you all regularly. Even November. I want to be clear because I don't want anyone to feel like I tricked them.

What This Means For You:

Basically, a lot of the the pledge tiers are going to be "bumped up" slightly—the "suggest a Bonus Pairing" tier, for instance, will likely be bumped from $3 per update to somewhere between $9-$15 a month. There'll still be low-level options, of course! I'm going to look at who's capping where, and sort of decide on fair amounts based on that so that people don't lose out on benefits.

The plan is that most people will be paying basically the same amount. Maybe a bit less, if you never cap, and maybe a bit more if you capped pretty low.

The main thing to watch for, if/when I do make this switch, is you'll have to adjust your payment levels to fit the new structure (since it won't automatically increase your pledge amount). I'll make sure to give a heads-up when that's necessary!

Let me know if you have any questions! <3