Greetings!
With the onslaught of AI books flooding Amazon (and other retailers) among other things, life has been hard as an author. For a very brief recap, essentially, people (who couldn’t actually write their own book to save their life), are feeding prompts into AI tools to write “stories” for them.
Essentially, a machine can write a “book” in like thirty minutes, where it takes me 300+ hours to produce something. Hip-hip-hooray.
So, I’m trying something a little different with my Patreon.
First, the monthly Patreon (Cindercorns, Spicy Ponies with Bite) are the ‘test readers’ for all new Royal States series. They’ll receive the books scene by scene. Each scene will stay on Patreon for approximately a week, after which it will be deleted. There will be a very brief “what previously happened” to clue new readers into what’s going on.
50% of all future production funds earned on this Patreon will go towards Royal States books being officially produced. This is the only source of funding for Royal States. The read alongs are “unedited drivel”, so they’re really designed for those who want the story more than they want perfection. Once I have earned sufficient funds to produce the books professionally, they will be edited, proofed, and prepared for release.
Otters+ will receive the book first, after which it will be live-dropped to vendors. (Otters+ will receive the polished book when it is ready, with the typical bonus story and Patreon notes.) After the Otters+ have received it, the book will be published to vendors. (Essentially, all of this will happen at the same time, but vendors can take up to several days to actually publish a title once uploaded.)
In addition to the Royal States books, the Cindercorns and Spicy Ponies with Bite will also get to read along with some other unpublished books. There will be a total of four going at a time, so readers will get something new at least once a week.
Here is the current line up for the read alongs for Cindercorns and Spicy Ponies with Bite:
Murder Floof (Bernadette Franklin): Read Along begins Friday, August 25, 2023.
The Trickster King (Susan Copperfield): Read Along begins September 1-8 (date to be determined; I will be at DragonCon for a chunk of time, and it REALLY depends on if I have the brain power to post.)
Iron Unicorn (Susan Copperfield) (Terry x Olivia): Read Along begins 1 week after Trickster King begins.
Grave Affairs (Lilith Daniels): Read Along begins 1 week after Iron Unicorn begins.
Quake Zone (Susan Copperfield) is the probable project to be Queued in once another Royal States book is concluded as a read along.
Note: each scene will only be available on Patreon for one week.
Here is the current line up for the read along for Pixie Patrons, Otters, Cindercorns, and Spicy Ponies with Bite:
Storm Surge: Ongoing, weekly.
Playing with Fire: Begins shortly after Storm Surge completes.
Please note that Storm Without End and Storm Surge will be available for these readers for a period of 3 weeks after Storm Surge’s conclusion, after which these will go extinct.
So, if you want to read them, you need to be at least a Pixie Patron and sift through the archive.
Future read alongs will be available for 3-4 weeks following the posting of the last chapter, after which it will disappear.
Patreon does email active Patrons with the completed text of the post, so you will be able to read from your email if you choose. I recommend you make a folder to collect your Patron perks for future reference.
In the interest of full disclosure, this is how my earnings with my monthly Patreon work out:
Note: I remove the amount I’m taxed before I distribute funds.
Household: Receives 60%. This covers things like food on the table, rent, bills, savings for retirement.
Future Production, General: 20%. This goes to any non-Royal States book.
Future Production, Royal States: 20%. This goes exclusively to Royal States.
The amount I remove for taxes is my “overall estimated percentage for the years.” Usually, my mathing on this guess is fairly accurate. Any amount that I receive in tax refunds goes to fun and games and play and real life. (Because when the tax man giveth… I go play.)
As an example, my payment received in August, after taxes, looked a little like this:
To household: $1,294.87
To General Production: $431.62
To Royal States: $431.62
Note: my rent is $3,200 a month. So while Patreon really, really helps with the rent, there’s a valid and important reason why that number is set at 60%. (Eating and having a place to live is important, and I’m not working for free. (I’m quite done with working for free.))
So, if you want to support the Royal States series, the monthly Patreon is where to be. (And yes, even the tip jar applies funds per the 60/20/20 rule.)
Otters receive all other non-anthology novels regardless of length approximately 3 days before retail release.
While the per novel folks have been notified of this already, it is probable I will be winding down and closing that specific Patreon. Why? I price my books by length, and I cannot change pricing, exclude tiers, or at all do any fine-tuned pricing work on that Patreon.
Which means any books over $6.99 are distributed at a loss, and it is unfair to charge $5.99 for a $4.99 (or lower) title. That Patreon was supposed to help give options and lower stress, but considering how people have been gaming it, stolen books via dropping and resubbing after the post has been made to get a free copy, etc… it has caused far more stress compared to its earnings.
That Patreon will remain until Grave Affairs, after which I will transition completely to the monthly patreon.
For those who want to support me without buying through Amazon and still have a book file, please make use of Smashwords.
Why does the Monthly patreon not have this issue?
People are required to pay up front for access to the posts/files, so it’s very low-risk for me as a creator.
So, I know this will upset some folks, and I apologize to those who are unhappy. (I won’t be changing my mind on this, however… I’ve been bitten a few too many times regarding the per novel patreon, and the stress levels were becoming quite unmanageable.)
I’ve been so stressed out about everything since the Vampire of Montana fiasco that I simply haven’t written hardly a word in three weeks.
This is just one of many steps I’m taking to try to actually like my job again. And, you know… get paid fairly for doing it.
Passion doesn’t pay the bills. (And this artist is not into starving.)
Really I think it’s an elegant solution. I upgraded to cindercorn for it. I feel like the royal states books handle mental health and trauma so well that they’re comfort books to me (ptsd from abusive parents I’m still battling). Greatly looking forward to all you will create, and i hope this lets you get back to enjoying it more.
Well said Xander! It’s why I upgraded too.
I’m not familiar with Storm without End and Storm Surge but I think they are the sequels to the first Rift King which was a per-novel extra? I did see something about chapters on Patreon and wondered if a new Cindercorn may download the previous chapters I saw there? I don’t want to take advantage
Storm Surge and Storm without End ARE the first two Rift King novels. They’re on the Patreon atm to be read, so go to town.
Thank you!
Can you tell me if I am a Patreon and what level? I get your newsletter, I thought I signed up to be a Patron, but I can’t find a regular bill. I’m able to sign into the website, but it doesn’t tell me what level I might be at! 🙂
You are part of the free tier, so there’s no level for you. 🙂 The free tier just gets the newsletters.
I’m a per novel patron. I can’t find the other tier options to change tiers. I’ve clicked every button I can find. I’ve hovered my cursor over every word. Help!
You can’t change tiers in that patreon. That’s why it will be shut down. You have to go to the monthly patreon, which is a completely different entity, and subscribe to that. (And cancel your per novel one if you’re wishing to switch.)
Hi Pat,
You can log into Patreon, click on ‘search creators’ and type in [R.J. Blain] (without the brackets). It’s the one with the cheetah for a picture. Then you can choose your monthly tier. Hope this helps
I’m dancing the dance of joy! I’ve looked forward to Murder Floof since you first announced it a couple/few years ago. And Terry and Olivia are definitely something I’ve needed since that combination was first mentioned. Add in unknown extras to read? Being a Cindercorn is making me very happy! Thank you!
I have all the Bernadette Franklin’s but I don’t remember Murder Floof being mentioned as upcoming?
I’ve mentioned it numerous times in the past. I’ve been working on it for years.
Sorry, memory issues LOL. Have a blast at DragonCon.
There are places where you could rent something wonderful for $3,200/month, but it’s WELL BELOW the average for where you live. So folks, she’s not living the high life!
Yeah. The current going rate for apartments of the same size right now is $4,500. We’d have to put down $10,500 at a MINIMUM for a shack of a house here. It’s brutal. 🙁
The apartment is REALLY nice for the price we pay for it, though… I wish I had the millions sitting around required to have a house, but as husbutt’s job is here, and we do not just have several million dollars just sitting around… we live in a 2 bedroom apartment as close to his work as we could afford.
But yeah, we definitely aren’t living the high life lol
We DO use some of the savings for fun things to do and see, though, so we’re not like completely miserable. We just have a very basic apartment within our means.
“husbutt” I’m cackling lol
I’m all for anything that eorks for you to be able to continue writing. Your books are my rereading stress relief and I’m hoping to be able to enjoy them for a long time. It did take me some major searching on Patreon to figure out how to cancel my membership in two lower tiers so I could go for Cindercorns which is where I wanted to be. It wasn’t entirely intuitive.
Any info on how you did it would be appreciated as I need to do the same.
I hope this does de-stress you. And puts tears in the eyes of the smug layabouts that have been gaming the system.
Hi. I think it is probably a difficult endeavour to have to go to the extent of having to prove oneself by showing their private financial details. Me I personally would stick 2 fingers up at they who feel the need to make this happen.
Kudos to you for doing it but in my mind not necessary. Do what you want , even if the few get upset .
We have to remember that indi authors mostly don’t ever make the big time , and personal I have discovered authors with superb work who unfortunately end up giving up because making a living by writing is impossible.
I apologise for the rant but if you can afford it and you have a struggling author you think is great a little bit of help goes a long way.
Thank you to them all.
Brian
At the end of the day, people suck and tend to think “people who entertain don’t deserve to make a living”, so… yeah. I’m putting it into perspective for them.
I don’t care if people know how much my rent for a small apartment is… and the patreon information is readily available just from going to patreon, so there’s nothing precisely private there. (People talk about how much rent they pay all the time.)
I love your writing. Since you explained your payment process, I’m all for paying yourself before producing the book. Please take care and thank you for many enjoyable reading hours.
You do what you think will work for you. I’m one of the per-novel Patreon holders and I have no problem with buying each novel as it gets posted without “gaming” the system. I just want your work. It is too bad that there are unscrupulous people out there out to steal your novels. I guess I’ll have to figure out what I am going to do next.
You can just follow me on smashwords; they’ll notify you when a new book comes out.
I want you to be happy and to love your craft again. Because when you’re happy your books are wonderful and not stressed written. As the song went “Don’t worry be Happy”😁 and I know you haven’t been happy for a while now. So in my world known as Becca’s World….. you be happy!!
And I don’t mind paying more for one of your books. It is worth it to me!