Why I’m Starting a Cult… I mean Patreon, I’m starting a Patreon
Yesterday, I was on a social media thread where people from around the world were throwing out emotional support to people in the United States right now. The sentiment is appreciated, as is the recognition that most of us didn’t vote for this, don’t approve of this, and are still wondering how anyone with the minimal ability to do something about it not only allowed it to get so bad, but to let it continue unabated.
There was one post, though… and I’m not going to share as much as a screenshot here, because I think the person’s heart was in the right place, even if I don’t think their head is… saying that no one outside of the US is spending any money on anything inside the US, including on small creators. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. I pointed out that the small amount of taxes I pay on the modest income I make as a creator really isn’t going to make a huge impact on a regime that’s spending an estimated half a billion to a full billion dollars per day on an illegal war started because someone’s daddy never hugged him. You’re not sticking it to the fascists. You’re tanking the people already struggling with rent, groceries, and gas prices, all of which have gone up because of the fascists.
It’s bad enough that regular customers inside the US no longer have discretionary spending for things like games, for the reasons stated above. I get that. I am that. We’ve cancelled streaming services, buy locally, and when we do have money to spend, we’re pouring it into small businesses like the family-owned cafe up the street or the local indie bookstore. But when customers in the rest of the world are boycotting you because the regime might indirectly see a penny of your meager earnings, that feels incredibly screwed up.
Anyway, rather than whine about it, we’re trying new things. This was something that’s been planned since late last year, and there are other reasons for it that we’ll cover in the newsletter tomorrow, but here’s the point:
We have a Patreon now.
It’s already been running to mirror the blog on Lightspress.com and, to a lesser degree, some of the posts on the Story at the Table Substack. That was a placeholder to allow us to get all of the fiddly bits, graphics, and such set up. We’re trying to differentiate the content available in different places, which we’ll also discuss in the newsletter tomorrow, but let’s focus on Patreon.
There are three tiers.
This is the free tier, and it fills an immediate need. Anyone can sign up and get notifications. We’ll be mirroring blog posts there, and for the people who’ve wanted a way to receive blog posts automatically by mail (a paid feature on Squarespace), I recommend you sign up at Patreon.
I am old, I have been ill lately, and it’s neither practical nor profitable for me to continue banging out long-form content the way I have been for the past 14 years. To address that, I’m working on short-form content, 2- to 4-page scenarios formatted for Principia Canonica but usable with the system of your choice. These will be for sale individually, but subscribers to the Scenario Tier on Patreon get them all as a reward for their patronage, plus the perks of the Principiati tier.
To focus efforts on what people want, and what might actually sell, I’ll be turning the most popular scenarios into full-blown Story Bibles, expanded and including all of the Principia Canonica information to make it easy to just pick up and place. The first proof of concept, Longbourn, is already out. Subscribers at this tier get everything, including the perks of the Scenario Tier and the Principiati tier. Bargain. Tell your friends. Sign up now.
Sidebar 1: Pricing
I want to be clear that, even in a world where a small cup of black coffee costs $4, I’m not thrilled about the $3 price point for stand-alone scenarios. I think $1 for a 2-3 page PDF is fair. The problem is that Patreon sets the minimum price at $3. Making it $1 on other venues defeats the purpose. The point, and I hope this was already transparent enough, isn’t to sell individual downloads, but to get people to sign up for Patreon.
Sidebar 2: Print Editions
Scenarios and series of related blog posts will eventually be collected into print anthologies. Story Bibles will be made available in print. None of that is going to be included in the Patreon. Those will be stand-alone products available through the usual outlets.
Thank You
Whether you sign up or not, and I get it if you can’t, we still appreciate your support. Share this, if you can. Tell anyone who might be interested. We’re not going anywhere, but we need to adapt to these unprecedented times, hopefully bringing some sanity and distraction from the horrors that persist.
