On Comic Voting [Further Thoughts] (Patreon)

It's about time for me to get started on the next comic, and I wanted to bring up comic voting, which is one of the rarely-utilized perks on the Platinum Tier.

In the past I would put together a poll of various comic ideas, both m/m and m/f, and ask my Platinum patrons which they would prefer to see. A perfect plan, I thought! Except some problems arose:

First, I realized that given a choice between m/m and m/f content, m/m will win the majority vote every time. Since I have an interest in both types of content and want to strike a balance, that's an issue!

The second is sometimes there are ideas that I really, really want to work on, but it may not line up with what my patrons are into at the time. And while I wouldn't put an idea on the poll if I wasn't somewhat interested in making it, a comic takes a very long time from start to finish, and I'd rather be working on the projects that I'm 100% jazzed about.

I want my next major comic to be Passing Love 2, and I feel like if I put it on a poll it would probably win anyway! So for the time being, I will be removing the voting perk from the Platinum Tier. Because of the great expanses of time that occur in-between each opportunity to exercise that perk, I am not sure how people feel about this, but I would be happy to hear anyone's thoughts if this is a jarring change.

 [Update] 

When I wrote the above post, I honestly wasn't sure if the voting privileges were very important to people, since the opportunity only came about roughly once a year. I know now that there are some folk who found this a valuable perk, and I feel I was hasty in outright removing it, even for a short time.

The issue of balance is easily solved by swapping out choices for the polls to all M/M and all M/F when it comes time for each. And if there ever is an idea on the poll that I'm not super jazzed about, that's really my own fault!

For the past year I have been getting a lot of people asking me when Passing Love 2 is coming out, so I really felt like I had to get that comic going sooner rather than later. Because of this, I felt a growing anxiety about the upcoming poll, and the possibility of putting PL2 off in lieu of something else. Because it takes me so long to finish each comic, it could have meant another year of people asking me where PL2 is.

However, if there really is such anticipation for Passing Love 2, then it would probably win the poll, like I predicted above. While I appreciate the support of the people who don't mind whether there's a poll or not, I no longer feel like removing them is the best solution.

My major goal is to come up with a reliable comic style that is simpler and easier to finish up, so that more comics can be made during the year, and that maybe I could do multiple comics at once! ...That may be far-fetched unless I grow a couple extra hands, but we'll see how it all pans out.

Anyway, I apologize for the back and forth, and I greatly appreciate the feedback. I'll be organizing the next poll, so look out for that soon! And if people have any suggestions for ways I can improve the Platinum Tier (short of offering commissions), let me know.