A Question for Patrons

Thank you for your support! I appreciate it. I would like to do a tiered system but I wouldn't know what to put out for it. I couldn't do 'early releases' as I need Lit for the copyright of the story. The same doesn't work for Patreon and I have needed that copyright on Lit to face people who have stolen my stories in the past. As for my over-promising, I feel that I would make reasonable decisions. As noted before, I wanted to write a story per month or two months in a later pledge goal on Patreon. I have always aimed at writing more, i just need the freedom from real life earning money. With a monthly income I would have something to balance the amount of time I need to write. It may not be what I need in the goal to live on, but it would be something. Similarly, I would not risk the quality of my stories for a quick release. I would let everyone know if it takes a while to release or will be a long story and will try to post other content or teasers, or at least let you know. But either way I wouldn't risk the quality of my stories. I am too much of a perfectionist for what I want them to be. The delayed charges is a good idea if I need it. That is something I will think about. That said I haven't made up my mind what to do yet, but I appreciate the feedback and your continued support. Thank you for supporting me these years - here and by reading my stories!

Elmer Fudd

I generally fall into the “just happy to be able to support” category of Patron. That being said, it would be nice (if you flip to a monthly charge) if you implement some kind of tiered system. However, do not put yourself in a position that you burn out because you tried to hard/over promised. I have been following for years on Literotica, and am accustomed to your…lengthy writing times. But, quality takes time. Pretty sure you felt once or twice in the past, which led to a story with a copy/paste of part of a sex scene (complete with a name from a previous story getting used). Also, be aware that even a pay wall of *some* content might get leaked. It is a common problem for artists. That, and fakers taking credit. TL;DR, I’ll support you either way. As long as you keep writing EDIT: As a thought for the tier piece. Maybe “early release” type stuff? We get it a week early and/or PDF posted the same time it is sent to Literotica (since it takes a day or 5 for them to approve and post)? Teasers also make sense. Also, maybe you do a per month charge with a charge at join, but pause the charges until you are about to release or are releasing a story? Not sure if a paused account still charges the initial upfront? Never joined a paused artist, just had some that paused here and there if they overpromised/got delayed/felt guilty. Just additional thoughts

Thank you for your feedback too, I appreciate it! I agree, some will likely reduce their pledge or remove it if I decide to go monthly. And I understand if you do that too - and I thank you for all the support you've given me up until now! I just want to think of what is best overall and scammers are getting more frequent and annoying. That they should get the same benefits as you who support me just doesn't sit right with me. The teasers would still come - probably two per story, one at submission of the story to Lit (a longer one) and one about halfway through writing (a shorter one). That should give you something during the month(s). Also the PDFs would still come and any deleted scenes/behind the scenes work I have, if any. I am hoping I could write more often and make it one story a month or every two months too. That would be a lot of work but possible if I have that little income to balance the work. It would still be a lot but with the teasers/pdfs, etc, it may be enough. I haven't decided yet, but we'll see. I just want to do what is best overall and I can't see any other way to stop scammers. It makes me sad that they do this because this is a voluntary support of me, not necessary. My stories still come out free on Literotica. The only thing they gain are the benefits you all have for supporting me and that is the little i can do for you. It is just not fair for them to treat people this way and I want to stop it.

I appreciate your concern, and I share it. I want to make sure that the stories remain of the same quality I am used to. But one of my higher tier goals on here is to write more often if I have money to offset how much time I would need away from real life earning money, and so on. So it would just be the same but earlier on. Having said that, I would always put the quality of my work first, so if I needed extra time or if the story is particularly long so it needs extra time, I would take it and explain to you all. So don't worry about that. We'll see anyway, I haven't decided on anything yet. But I do value your feedback so thank you again for it and your valid concerns. I do take them on board.

It's unfortunate that you're in this predicament. I do like the per story/creation charge that you currently have. It's probably not ideal, and I'll let others chime in, maybe the teasers and pdf's could be set as creations as well; though some may reduce their pledge amount (I'm normally a decent pledge amount per story for you) Anyway, just an idea to throw out there for you. Been a supporter of your Patreon for a long while now, and will continue to do so. Whatever you decide, you cant please everyone. Thanks for your stories and I can't wait for this next one.

My Love Is Your Love

You're welcome ! I'm just worried that you put too much pressure on yourself with a story every (2) month(s). It would be bad to do disservice to the quality of your stories because of scammers. Then again, if you think it can gently "push" you to write more frequently without affecting the overall quality of the stories, I'd be glad to have a story much more frequently! If you need more time, just sharing a monthly teaser of your current story would be good enough for me. (Still wish you create a higher tier to access to your WIP, like this month having the build up of The Wedding Guests for example, but I totally understand that you'd rather have feedback only after you submitted the whole story !)

Thank you for this. I appreciate the honest feedback! I would love to add more tiers but I don't have anything worth sharing. Deleted scenes all depend on whether I have any in a story and I usually don't. I usually know what I'm writing and just stick to that. Also I want everyone who shares my stories and supports me to have access to the Patron-Only material I post. I am not sure how much Patron-Only material I could post monthly, but the aim instead would be to try to publish one story a month. At most one story every two months. That should make it worthwhile, but it would be difficult for me to write that much that quickly, but I would have an incentive. Even so I understand preferring the Per Story over Per Month and the one charge per story practice. But with people scamming the system this way often I do not know of any way to stop it other than put it Monthly with the upfront charge for new patrons. I'll weigh in what you have said in my decision. Thank you so much for it. I am just trying to find what's best for me and my Patrons. (UPDATED): I would be able to do one or two teasers with each story. So one when the story is submitted to Lit and one when I was about halfway through the story, like I did with this new story. So that may help too.

My Love Is Your Love

Hi Shadow ! It's unfortunate that this point is reached, but even if it gives you little confort, it's a wicked sign that a lot of people are really expecting your stories (which hopefully compensate for aggresives readers in Literotica that for some reasons always sends/posts hostiles messages although they are warned that it's a cheating story without payback) ! This account is personally the first Patron account that I ever made, but honestly even if I love your stories, I only made the leap because of your teaser and knowing that even if your story will be released in 5 months, I'll pay only once (= in summary I only pay for the teaser). I never planned to delete my pleged tho. Thus, I'd be glad to switch to monthly pledge if some regular content (even just monthly) is released for patrons. Even better imo would be to set several tiers. For example: - A custom pledge for those who just want to support you - A higher tier with teasers, early access (to not have to daily check Literotica when you submitted it) and why deleted scenes - An even high tier, let's be crazy, with weekly or monthly draft of your current story (even if I know you don't want to released unpolished stories, can't blame me for trying!) All of this are selfish desires of someone who is pretty much foreign to how Patreon really works. And I understand that it may create an unwanted pressure and a "commercial" side that you don't want... So once again, it's all my selfish desires but in any cases, whatever you choose to do, thank you for your awesome stories ! PS : I ignored polls because I guess you already proved numerous of times that you know your stuff and don't need/want externals opinions.