A (belated) Thanksgiving Post...

Thanksgiving itself is too hectic to allow me to sit down and compose thoughts well, so you get this one today! It's public so that everyone can see what I say to you, my Patrons!

I have many things to be thankful for in my life (and, like all of us, some things not so much). Many of these are the same as other people's: my family is together and, some chronic issues aside, reasonably healthy. I have a home, and good food, and friends. These aren't trivial, either. 

But I have a few unusual things to be thankful for -- and this Patreon is one. 

I'm not sure how many of you understand how profoundly it affects me -- not just the first time, but every single month -- to know that my work has touched people sufficiently that they think I'm worth additional, constant support to produce more of that work. Real, tangible, monetary support that makes all sorts of things possible that wouldn't have been before. Even though I, myself, am also a Patron of a few people, I'm still stunned that so many people out there are willing to be mine. 

I keep the income of the Patreon separate from all my other income. This means that it is ALL devoted to things related to my writing (as this is the purpose of the Patreon). That would change to some extent if my Patreon became really large (in the thousands of dollars) as I would then be able to use it to defray other real-life costs and free up more time and energy for writing), but at the current time it allows me to have a resource to support my writing-related efforts that I simply would not have were it not for all of you.

The major tangible results of your support have been, in general, artwork. Art is something I can't do. When it comes to art for my books, I want them all, even the small or self-published ones, to look as professional as the best of those from Baen. But that kind of cover's generally expensive if you aren't, or don't have as a close friend, a cover artist of that caliber. It is my strong belief that while art won't sell the book by itself, poor art can un-sell the book. Before you read it, the first thing you see of a book is the cover, and if the cover doesn't fit the book, or looks crude (and not artistically so), you're more likely to skip that book and go to this other one that looks more attractive or at least more "in tune" with the genre you're looking for. 

The other artwork area you've helped with is promotional and backgrounding art. You can't do good promotion if you don't have the right artwork. I've gotten professionally done (short) animations for three of my works ONLY because of the Patreon's support.

In addition, you've also supported various editing and related functions (and those are very important). 

Currently, you're helping with the covers of two new forthcoming novels, and I expect next year you'll be helping not only with more art, but also with me devoting more energy and time to promoting myself -- going to conventions and things of that nature. And it will be all thanks to all of you, thinking that my work is worth that little (and sometimes, quite a lot!) extra.

Thank you all, so very, very, very much.

                                       Ryk E. Spoor