State of the Azure

So, there's some stuff that needs bein' said.

Currently the patreon is not in a good place. it's not in a *bad* place either, mind! it's not the best it's been since the first big patreon overhaul i did back in '18, but it's not the worst it's been either. The problem is that it's on a downward trend and that's *really bad* in the long term for me. Already I'm not making enough from it to comfortably put away savings on a monthly basis, and if it keeps trending downward then I legitimately don't think I can keep up writing as a career. Especially factoring in the other problem; commissions. To be blunt, I can't keep doing commissions. I've enjoyed every one I've done, at least in theory, and they're some of my best work, but frankly I can't think of a commission that didn't devolve into a miserable grind that makes me hate writing. And to top it off they just don't make me enough money to live off of, and no amount of adjusting the price will change that. I can't make a living off of patreon, I can't make a living off of commissions, and I can't make enough off of either to stall while I write a novel. Essentially, things are kinda dire. I'm gonna have to make changes and I'm gonna have to reverse that downward trend by the end of the year or I'm just... not gonna be able to justify writing as a career anymore. I really dislike doomsaying, but I've kinda gotta.

So what's the practical upshot of this for you all? Well, for starters, if you aren't donating to my patreon yet *please consider donating to my patreon*. If you like my work at all and want to ever see more again, even a dollar helps. Even *spreading the word* helps. Commissions and donations are all well and good, but they're not steady income - and steady income is what I need right now. It doesn't hafta be a livable income, just an income. 100 USD would probably be fine for now, and we're honestly not that far from that point! That's around 7 five dollar patrons, or just *four* ten dollar patrons.

Speaking of ten dollar patrons, by the end of the month the patreon will be undergoing another big overhaul. New goals, new tiers, new rewards, new incentives to Give Me Your Money. I'm still brainstorming ideas, and none of it will be properly implemented until October (obviously I'm not giving y'all anything substantial in four days I'm not a robot), but once October hits expect big changes. I don't just wanna e-beg at y'all, I want to be able to give you something for your money!

What tiers will there be? Well, as I foreshadowed, there'll be a 10 dollar tier. What will that be? Fucked if I know at this point, I'm still figuring that out. If anyone has any suggestion, they're more than welcome! The five dollar tier is also gonna start getting to vote on other things besides the vote stream, as people have been expressing disappointment with the options. Things like growth drive candidates, future story concepts, that kinda thing. The *big* one, though, is the 20 dollar tier. Limited to just two peeps a month, this tier is the tier where you get to tell me what to write. That's right; in exchange for significantly less creative control than a proper commission and not getting a guaranteed wordcount beyond it being at *least* four thousand words, you get at minimum a three times discounted commission. That's a lot!

Of course, on the subject of commissions; no more commissions, at least not for the time being. I just don't make consistent enough money off of them to justify doing them. They're a big injection followed by months of work that just *barely* earns me minimum wage on a good day. Maybe some day I'll up my stamina and be able to finish them quicker, but as of now commissions are off the table folks. Sorry about that. I know that people typically *want* to give creators money, and they only need the avenue to do so, but the best way by far is my patreon (or subscribestar but that platform has Issues that make it currently not very useful for me.)

That is, I think, pretty much everything I can think to say. I understand not everyone has spare money to give. I'm not exactly in the best place financially myself, for obvious reasons, but *please* consider donating a little bit. Even a dollar helps keep me on this career path. I can't stress that enough. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and thanks to the people who are giving me money or who have given me money in the past, whether it be donations or commissions or patreon pledges or participating in the growth drive. It's really, really helped a lot. I just need to stay optimistic and keep working. I *know* I can do this, and every bit of support helps me keep that optimism up.