More Patron stories, or more discounted commissions?
Added 2022-05-06 09:50:43 +0000 UTCI want to take some time to regroup, to get a feel of what everyone here prioritizes: more Patron stories, or more discounted commissions being taken and completed?
Now, all of the backlog of Patron stories will be caught up on this year, and writing won't always be such a slog as it has been in the relative dry spell of the past year or so for me—but I want to quash the possibility that I could ever get this behind on the Patron stories (see the queue posted in previous posts) ever again. That, of course, necessitates thinking about restructuring the Patreon. And the sole thing that matters here is the will of the majority.
Are people pledging more for the Patron stories (the bimonthly/two-per-month MPS and CPS), or for the discounted commissions? Because I'm seriously considering doing the MPS story once every 2 months while keeping the CPS story at once per month, meaning that I'd be writing 3 Patron stories every 2 months instead of 4—which, however, would mean the potential for me to be taking on and completing 6 more story commissions per year. (And actually, probably more because commissions can be completed much quicker.)
Is this a good idea? And, on a side note, who (whom I have not already spoken to) has been waiting for a really long time for the patron queue to open up so that they can commission me? I think sometimes a lot of people are shy, but I really would love to hear, and I'm just gonna put my Discord here for DMs (Sini #6725).
On one hand, when I doubled the amount of Patreon stories I was writing per month a few years ago (from 1 to 2), it gave me the opportunity to write a lot more ideas with vast creative freedom, which has been a joy for me. It has also let people vote twice every single month! But the Patreon stories also take remarkably longer to complete than regular commissions (as the average comm is only 4,000 words, and many single Patron stories range with exclusive parts more than double that amount); and because of that many comms have been on the back burner or have been left un-started; so, on one hand, the value of a vote has increased, but the value of a discount has diminished.
And I really, really, really just want to be getting done more of what people want to see; and it's time that I addressed this years-old romp with the double-stuffed Patron story months. So, should I stick with the 4 Patron stories per 2 months model, or reduce it to 3 per 2 months to focus more on story commissions for patrons?
Feel free to leave a comment as well, since structural change is always tricky and needs more nuance than a couple of checkboxes can provide.
Gonna go ahead and run this poll till the 20th; give it about the same amount of time as a story poll to be mulled over.
Comments
I personally love everything you write so seeing more of it, either in commission form, or through CPS/MPS, is a win in my book. My vote would -actually- be for whichever you get the most enjoyment out of writing because a happy Sini is a productive Sini (take that how you will ;3), though for the sake of this poll I'm going to vote for keeping the status quo. <3 Sure, I may be giving you money every month to see fantastical works of fiction, but when it comes to keeping my favorite artists happy and healthy I have no problem deferring to their sound judgment. You know you better than we do, hon.
Draco of Zeradaith
2022-05-11 20:00:40 +0000 UTCI love the MPS and CPS stories, and although I don't always suggest, I nearly always vote. However, if it has gone to the detriment of commissions, then cutting it down a little to give a little more breathing room to tackle individual commissions seems like a good shift in balance.
Tungro
2022-05-06 10:01:49 +0000 UTC