Patreon Update: Release Plans, Tiers, KU, Secret Project...

Hello everyone,

I would like to thank all of you for your patience. I've spent the last few weeks building up the backlog for Apocalypse Tamer and working on another project without communicating much; in retrospect, I should probably have spoken up a few weeks ago. 

I think a general update is long overdue to tell you how the Patreon has been changing, new stuff etc...  

• Apocalypse Tamer

So, I have finally reached the chapter backlog I wanted for Apocalypse Tamer, namely 10 advance chapters for the Dragon tier and 20 for the Dracolich tier. That was the milestone I set for myself before releasing Apocalypse Tamer to the public. Hurrah!

However, some of you will remember that Underland encountered some issues with the trending list when it was released. This forced me to send up multiple chapters in quick succession and even then it didn't work out well. 

I asked Kana (RR's dev) and a few others about Tamer, and I've been told that it would be best for me to release at least 20k words in short succession on launch. Which is the equivalent of roughly five/six chapters. 

I'm still considering how to deal with this, but for now I'm leaning to continue increasing the backlog for both Dragons and Dracolich, and then have a public release around the 20th of June where I release the first five or so chapters in bulk. Building up the backlog further would way let us stay at 10/20 advance chapters after I release this batch.

In any case, now that we've reached the milestone, I'll start unlocking chapters past the 11th for Dragon patrons when I post new Dracolich advance chapters; same as if I were publishing on RR already. Dragon patrons will now be able to read chapter 12 tomorrow, and so on.

• Kairos II going to KU soon, and Underland later

Kairos' second volume, Legacy of Hades (old title: War of the Pirate Kings) is soon going to KU and Audible on July. As per the exclusivity clause, I will remove chapters available on both Patreon and RR by June 16th, including the PDF ebook.

As such, if you haven't downloaded the free patreon PDF, this is now your last chance. Since Kairos started as a patreon-funded story, you can download the ebook on this post if you're a patron of any rank: https://www.patreon.com/posts/kairos-epub-pdf-60054706 

Underland will also now go on KU and Audible in partnership with Podium, but the deadline has been fixed much later. The first volume (representing the first 31 chapters) will be removed by August 7. This leaves you two months to download the PDF if you haven't already. These PDF are however exclusive to Dracolich patrons. You can download Underland here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/underland-free-65753872 

• Tiers Update

Besides upgrading Dragon tiers to 10 advance chapters and Dracolich to 20, I've also added 'prestige' tiers past the Dracolich one. Some fellow authors advised I put one or two, but I've never felt comfortable doing so without giving additional benefits.

Since the Bestiary entries have been well-received, I've added a tier, 'Overslime,' allowing people to request one with a full monster illustration; the money will help cover most of the artist's fees.

It's common knowledge that both Kairos & Never Die Twice were commissioned stories funded entirely by patrons. I occasionally receive requests for more. I've created a new tier to more or less 'codify' that principle. The 'Banker' tier allows people to commission a one-time side story chapter or the equivalent (like a Bad Run oneshot). However, due to my schedule, I'll write these extra chapters on my own time.

I don't expect many people to subscribe to these two tiers, if any, but at least they're here now.

• Secret project

I've been working with other collaborators on a super secret project for a few months now. It's my policy never to publicize things until they're well-advanced or I have something solid to show; I've seen too many cases of entrepreneurs over-hyping projects that amount to nothing in the end. It just destroys credibility.

But in this case, I feel we've advanced enough that I can show you a few things. Like this innocent picture.

More details will come up in the following weeks, but for now I'll let you speculate.

• General Plans for the future

Results for Kairos' launch on KU are in, and while its results are modest compared to other juggernauts (I think launching the KU as Kairos was coming to an end might be to blame), the sales simply dwarf an average Kindle release nearly three-to-one. 

Considering I don't profit much from leaving my stories free after they're finished (unless they end up turned into webtoons like Vainqueur), KU is almost certainly going to become one of my core interests in the coming years. 

Older stories like the Perfect Run, Vainqueur and Never Die Twice will remain free, but I'm strongly considering writing shorter, experimental novels on the side of Apocalypse Tamer with the express intention of developing a KU audience. 

Webtoons are also now in my sphere of interests. Although the Vainqueur webtoon is considered solid but not a big hit, the sales have made me consider creating a second webcomic in partnership with artists. I've said before that I was interested in expanding to multimedia projects, and I'll keep going in that direction. 

These are only seeds of ideas for now, but they'll probably bloom in a few months.

And that's all for now. Sorry for not giving more news. I admit I've been raised to only speak up when I have something to say or something to present, but now I realize silence isn't always better.  I'll try to give more insight into what's happening in the 'background' from now on. 

Best regards,

Voidy.