Pushing Buttons
on my return to Patreon, my starting a Substack, and letting people buy me coffee (or ko-fi, as the case may be)
It’s a Friday night at the beginning of June 2023 and I’m about to push a bunch of buttons. I’m already pushing a bunch of keys in rapid succession to type you this message, so what is it about a few buttons that’s so much scarier?
Let’s step backward a second.
In November 2019, following advice from well-intentioned but not entirely informed acquaintances on how to streamline my author business, I shut down my Patreon. Within days—within hours, probably, if I’m being honest—I was questioning my decision. Patreon had been the only source of steady income for my business for years. Sure, the thought was that it might be getting in the way of me focusing on my books and book sales, but I feared that I’d just given up a sure thing for a much riskier proposition.
And I’m not big on risks.
Three and a half years later, the book sales still don’t bring in anywhere near as much as Patreon did each month. There’s probably a lesson to be learned there. I’ll let you know what it is, if I figure it out. But now, now it’s time to push some buttons.
Today I’m bringing my Patreon back. And beyond that, I’m taking a lesson from the author Monica Byrne, whom I’ve long supported on Patreon myself, and I’m adding two other options for folks who want to support me but don’t want to deal with Patreon the company.
Inspired by Monica, but also by my friend Melissa Brennan, I’m moving my monthly newsletter to Substack—where one can also support me monetarily if one so chooses. I’m also adding a membership option to my Ko-fi page, which is where you can buy hard copies of my books.
The key here is that I’ll be posting the same content in all three places, so there’s no need to follow me on all three or support me on all three (or support me on any of them, for that matter). Just follow me where you prefer (which might just be your email inbox if you’re a newsletter subscriber).
As for what I’ll be posting about, I’ve got a new project that I’ve hinted at for a while with my newsletter subscribers (and with my viewers on Twitch). It’s called The Blood of Seven Queens and it’ll be the first in a series of three graphic novels about the journey of Frieda Jacobs from the precocious “little red riding hood” she was as a child to the ferocious Queen of Hearts she was as an adult.
Subscribers on Patreon, Ko-fi, or Substack will get access to weekly behind-the-scenes content—bits of the script, character sketches, pages from the book, and more—while I’ll provide one free post each month to keep everyone else informed. If you can’t afford a subscription, that is totally fine. Take care of you and your family and your wallet. You’ll still get a monthly dose of me in your inbox (unless you want to hit that unsubscribe button below).
And that’s all for now. I’ll see subscribers in one week and I’ll see the rest of y’all in one month.
Yours,
Chris