Bob News! Here's what's going on, and what's coming up! (Patreon)

First off, the usual - September Patreon rewards will be going out today and tomorrow! A new public DOTU page went up today, and the newest Patreon page went out last Thursday, so be sure to check them out if you haven't.

Now I'm going to try to break things down by category to let you know what's going on.

Bob Stuff

I've been crunching for the past 6 months - working with my publisher on 3 novels, manufacturing and sending out 80 enamel pins, bringing DOTU pages back to the public, doing new Patreon pages, and of course tending to my freelance day job.

My goal for the rest of the year is to shift my priorities back to DOTU and Merritt's Story.  However, I have a few obstacles that are going to be a struggle over the coming months.

1. I *have* to move.  I've been paying for my new place for exactly 1 year now, while still living in the old place because my work schedule has been so brutal that, after putting time into some simple and necessary renovations like painting walls and getting rid of cat pee carpeting, I lost the one free time block I had last December to pack up my pets and me.  So that's what I have planned for the first 2 weeks of October.  In other words, production might be a little slow during that time.

2. My chronic health issues have been acting up ever since I came back from my publisher's workshop in Orlando in mid-September.  This means I sometimes lose 2-6 hours on random days without warning, and sometimes I lose entire days.  So, again, my output will be affected until I'm able to get the health stuff under control.  But this is where your steady Patreon support has been a godsend.  I had to leave my full time job over these occasional health blips, but you guys have given me the flexibility to work through them, so THANK YOU!

3. I'm dealing with a late payment issue with one of my regular freelance clients.  I can't go into detail at this time, but I'm currently owed $2500 and counting.  This has been an ongoing problem all year.  I *do* expect that I'll be paid eventually, but I don't have a firm date, and there's a small but real risk that things could go south with the company and the money could be lost.  Until the money comes through or I'm able to replace it through other means like Patreon, I'm not in a position of being able to turn down new (corporate) freelance work from my high-paying clients, so that also makes my schedule tighter.

Patreon has been my steadiest income this year, so I'm ESPECIALLY grateful for all of you who've continued to support DOTU while I'm being pulled in a thousand different directions.  And that's another reason why I want to shift more of my attention back to DOTU and Patreon!

Merritt's Story

This is the one I get asked about the most, so I'm starting here.  Now that my biggest publishing deadlines are behind me, Merritt's Story is at the top of my list for "work that doesn't have a specific deadline."  I'm absolutely determined to get the next chapter out in October, and I want to give a HUGE thanks to everyone who's patiently waited for it.

It's killed me to have to set this story aside while I worked to meet my contractual obligations, so I'm especially eager to get back into it.

Demon of the Underground

Over the next few months, my goal is to shuffle my priorities so DOTU is back up at the top.  I want to increase production to 3 or 4 monthly pages.  This will be a lot easier if we can also bump up Patreon support.  I've been bringing in a lot of new readers through the DOTU site but haven't had as much time to "sell" my Patreon since I've also had to promote my novel.  This is one of my goals for October, though.

One hint for you all - you ARE allowed to talk about my Patreon content in public!  As long as you mark/tag any spoilers (or avoid spoilers in places where you can't mark them), you're free to talk about Merritt's Story, etc. on social media or in the comments on the DOTU website or elsewhere.  It helps a lot for prospective patrons to see what other patrons are getting, and this is the main thing that got lost when I had to take new pages private for a while.

DOTU Enamel Pins

Special Offer patrons got their pins forever ago, but I still plan to put my remaining DOTU enamel pins up for sale, first to patrons and then to the general public.  Finding time to set up the storefront has been a challenge.  It'll happen in October or November!  My goal is to sell them all by the end of the year.  There aren't that many, and they're "2019" pins, so...

Other Patreon Content

Part of my goal to bring in new patrons means I need to put out more Patreon content.  I'm always open to suggestions for things you guys might want to see!  More minicomics?  DOTU bonus scenes?  More Merritt's Story illustrations?  Audio version of Merritt's Story?  More naked Troy? :P  Or just more/faster DOTU pages and Merritt's Story chapters?  Let me know if there's something you'd love to see!

My Published Novels

My Lychgate series of novels has been a big priority over the past few months.  Now Art of Death (Lychgate: Book 1) is out, Bonds of Death (Lychgate: Book 2) is done with edits and has a finalized cover, and Reins of Death (Lychgate: Book 3) has a completed manuscript with the publisher.  This means most of the hard work for the series is done, and I'll have much more time to focus on DOTU again.

But I still have to work on getting these books out to everyone I can.  Small press is great because they open up the market to people with outside-of-mainstream voices.  My publisher, DSP Publications, is one of only a tiny handful of publishers that focuses on LGBTQ genre fiction (rather than just m/m romance) and also works to get their books into stores and libraries.  But the publisher still doesn't put as much marketing behind their non-romance-genre titles, so I really have to depend on my readers to help me get the word out.

If you read Art of Death and enjoyed it, here are some things you can do:

• Recommend the book to people you know
• Share it on social media and/or book rec websites
• Rate/review it on Amazon, Goodreads, B&N, Kobo, Hoopla, etc.
• Request it at your local library, either in paperback or through your library’s digital services (like Overdrive/Libby)
• If it’s already at your library, check it out!  If your library has Hoopla, I already know you can get it there.
  —Library checkouts DO support both the publisher and the author!  One of  the main reasons I went for a traditional publisher instead of self-pub is that they do more to get you into libraries, and I’m a BIG fan of libraries.

Speaking of Amazon reviews, my goal was to hit 10 good reviews by October 3, my book’s 1-month anniversary.  We’re already at 8, so we only need two more!  If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review.  I’m planning to release some (free) short bonus fics when we hit various  review milestones leading up to 50.  When we hit 10, I’ll let y’all choose which of 2 stories you want to read first!

Inktober

I know I'm already swamped, but... I really want to do it. XD  In 2017, I did a sporadic round of Merritt's Story art along with a full round of Honktober, which I invented because, well, I like geese. ^_^  This year, I plan to do one sporadic round of Lychgate+Merritt's Story art, AND another full round of Honktober. XD  I don't know how successful I'll be, considering my schedule.  But I feel like it's also a good way to bring in more readers.

So that's what I have planned!  As always, thank you all so much for supporting all my million projects. :P