IMPORTANT: Upcoming Changes to the Doomgender Patreon

Hey everybody, patrons and otherwise!

I’ve got some very important stuff to talk about today, regarding the upcoming revamp of this very Patreon page right here! There’s gonna be some changes, both straightforward and surprising. Lots of twists and turns in this post, so prepare yourself accordingly!

First off,

Nothing Is Changing This Month.

Vote in the May poll, read the winner at the beginning of June. All changes will be effective for the month of June on.

Second,

Why Change Anything?

So, Doomgender and the smutty stories I write under that heading began as a fun thing to do while I couldn’t sleep, idly hoping to draw a little bit of attention to the more complex, in-progress smutty games I was working on. I got a lot more attention than expected, and a little bit of a following out of it even. When I started this Patreon, it was at the urging of some very good friends who insisted that I make it possible for people who enjoy my work to send a bit of support my way. I guessed 5 patrons would sign up, counting all those aforementioned friends.

Instead I got a flood of support that blew me away. And it’s been growing ever since!

Since then, I’ve been pretty content with the state of things. A fun hobby that I loved, with eyes towards turning it into something more One Day In The Future.

Jeez the future comes so fast sometimes.

See, I’ve got a full time job. I work at a movie theater, in customer service. It’s not great, but bearable, and pays just enough that I’ve been able to mostly cover my bills on a razor edge margin. It's why I haven't been able to fully devote my time to writing, as well. When businesses started shutting down a few months ago, we went down pretty early. And I’ve been getting paid despite vastly reduced responsibilities since then.

But, as the month turned into months, staff is getting furloughed. And I’m on that rapidly shrinking list of non—essential personnel. Opening is coming later, not sooner.

So put plainly, I have a few more months of pay before I lose it for an unspecified time, (if I ever go back to that job) not to mention the new Patreon changes that add sales tax to your pledges cutting into what I make already. While I’m not in immediate danger, I’ve been thinking that it might be time to ramp up the work I really do love. And so, along with other projects and announcements that you know about and some you don’t, we come to this Patreon, and the changes ahead.

So,

What’s Changing Then?

The most immediate noticeable change is going to be the tiers.

Right now we’ve got these 3: 

$1/month- read all Patreon stories and vote in polls

$3/month - all that and suggest monthly poll prompts

$5/month - all that and itch.io stories for free, early access

Here’s what it’s going to look like in June:

$1/month- tip jar + access to all Patreon stories up to May 2020 (Changed)

$3/month- access to all Patreon stories, suggest poll ideas, vote in polls (Same)

$5/month- all that and itch.io stories free, early access  (Same) 

$10/month- all that, plus you get to add names for me to pull on for characters in doomgender stories (New!)

$30/month- all that and monthly postcard club  (New!) 

So, the $1 tier is ramping down. Staying at or signing up for $1 will still get you everything on my Patreon up to the May 2020 story (still upcoming). If you’ve been a $1 supporter and you want to jump off once you’re not getting the same benefits, I absolutely do not blame you, and I appreciate your support so far, so much. If you want to jump up to the $3 tier, you’ll get the same benefits as before, plus you can add your ideas to the monthly poll, which is always an absolute ball. Otherwise, the original tiers are gonna be pretty much the same as always.

But, we have a couple new tiers now!

The $10 tier is for people who want to see their name in lights a little bit. I’ll add your suggested name(s) to my cycle of characters, and when I do use that name, I’ll check if you’re okay getting a shout out with the story in question (name, twitter handle, etc). I will veto offensive or demeaning names, names chosen to harass someone, joke names that would wreck the vibe, and so on. (EDIT: Also as someone pointed out, it might be stressful for people to have their character thrust into unknown scenarios! If I'm going to use your name for a character, I'll check in with you about the context first. Also, you can let me know when you submit a name what kinds of stuff is off limits for that name, I'll track it all!)

Now the $30 tier is the weird, fun, experimental one. This is not gonna be for everyone obviously, but I’m very excited for it anyway. Starting the month following signing up for the tier, you’ll receive monthly postcards with a tiny microfic exclusive to the series on one side, and a doodle from me (or possibly a guest artist occasionally, haven’t worked out the logistics on that part though) on the other. New postcards every month, signed by me! The stories won’t be in a sequential timeline and may share characters and connections with other stories I’ve written. For the sake of the people delivering mail, the cards will be pretty swf, up to and including pinup style drawing and flirty writing. If you specially request it, I can also put the postcard in an envelope before sending, if you’ve got concerns about receiving flirty robot girls in the mail for some reason.

So, let’s see how that goes! I’m excited! Making physical stuff with my work on it is a long held dream of mine, so I’m hoping y’all like this!

Moving on,

What Else Is Changing?

Yeah, I’ve still got more to talk about!  Logistical changes are less bombastic, but still cool.

First up, I’m going to go back to writing a free Twitter microfic once a week. So if you were worried about staying in the tip jar tier and not getting to read anything by me at all, fret not! 

Also, a schedule!! I haven’t ironed out the dates exactly, but I’ll be putting up posts for suggestion thread, poll, etc on a more rigid schedule, so you know when to expect posts. I’ll put the schedule in the revamped About section when I redo the page in June.

Then, I’m introducing a new little twist on the monthly story poll. I’ve suggested themes before, like monsters in October, but I’ll be doing that every month now. I think it adds a nice spice and variety for everyone. These are non-binding, but I’ll put a twist on the winning idea that helps it fit the theme a little even if it wasn’t explicitly theme-fitting.

Finally,

Patreon Goals!

So as I was saying earlier, I’m trying to scale this operation up a little, so I’ll be setting milestones at which I’ll add additional stories and other stuff to my monthly releases. I’m gonna be outlining these in a followup post in a couple days, I think this has been altogether enough of a detail dump for one post. Suffice to say, I’m real excited about all this, and hope you are too!

And if you're a fan who hasn't jumped on to the Patreon, June would be a good time to consider it! And either way, retweeting my work and telling your friends about it and encouraging other folk to check out my Patreon is always a good way to support me without spending a cent!

Thanks for bearing with me for this unusually long and serious post. Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments! You all are wonderful!

~Benn ‘Doomgender’ Ends