Requited Change Update Plus a Change Coming (Patreon)

Hey, all of you most wonderful of supporters.

I'm still having a rough time of things, and want you all to know that although improvement is slowly coming it is being achieved.

But what I really want to do is have a serious talk concerning my Patreon page.

It's hard to really put into words, as I feel as though my writing ability has diminished somewhat alongside my mood over the past year, but this is the gist of it that I wish to articulate to all of you:

This Patreon page, and by extension, all of you patrons with your incredible support, have allowed me much freedom and liberty, which I am endlessly thankful for. This freedom has been both creative and otherwise on this crazy rollercoaster of a journey I continue to roll along the tracks of.

Throughout my life, I've suffered highs and lows, as all of us have, but Patreon has enabled me to seek some joy and a life outside of factory work (the work environment I was in for the bulk of my youth) and create some humble works that touched people's hearts in ways that I didn't expect. From 'The Last of the Kitsune' all the way to 'Requited Change' it has comforted and humbled me knowing that my works evoked so much feeling in everyone. Whether this be frustration at Amya's churlishness, the loss felt over your kitsune daughter(s), or the upset experienced over Ken's familial life falling apart, it did me good knowing that I was, for what felt like the first time in my life, being appreciated for my hard work.

I sincerely cannot thank you all enough for the opportunity that you gave me and continue to give.

But, the problem I found was that no matter how hard I worked I couldn't earn any sort of decent income. I know that this has been a consequence of my wavering mental health, but even when I was consistently working 10-14 hour days, even after giving up weekends I didn't make any sort of ends-meat. I had a major low point this year upon completing my tax return to find that I'd earned less than half of the UK minimum wage over the course of this past tax year.

It may seem shallow that I'm focussing on the fiduciary side of life, but I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a money-motivated individual and the cost of living within the UK is at an all-time high, at least in my lifetime. I wasn't too bothered about money at the outset but surviving is getting harder and the UK government won't help bridge the discrepancy between my earnings and minimum wage, at least not as a self-employed individual.

Please know that I'm not placing blame at anyone's feet other than my own; as I mentioned, my own mental health has been a barrier to releasing consistent content, and all of you have been more than understanding over the many mental health wobbles I've suffered over the past year or so and the moral and monetary support you have shown has blown me away.

SO AFTER WAFFLING ON THIS IS THE PLAN - TO CHANGE MY PATREON PAGE MODEL:

I'm still positive that I can turn this around and I'm not an e-beggar,  requesting money for nothing is not my style, it should be transactional. I've always thought that what you should earn is reflected by the effort you put in (I'm an idealist, sue me), so in fact, I'm doing the opposite of begging.

FROM THE 26th of NOVEMBER there shall be a new tier on my page entitled 'Miko'. This shall be both thematic and utilitarian.  The 'Miko' pledge shall give access to all content for free until I decide that I'm in a good place to keep charging for my content and have it released in a consistent manner.

"But Mass" I hear you cry, "wouldn't that mean that you'll be earning less?".

And my answer is: Yes... maybe?

The primary idea in introducing this is to convey my thanks to current supporters but it also has a secondary goal of earning money, as I'll be aggressively advertising my content again across the World Wide Web. If people want to throw me a coin or two then they can still pledge on the existing tiers, as these won't be removed and shall be altered to offer the same perks as the 'Miko' one- universal access to my content.

I'm going for a scheme of drawing in a large number of supporters and hoping that some will like my content enough to stick around and/or donate to me. I'll also be making a 'Ko-Fi' and 'Subscribestar' account for those who don't want/ can't create a Patreon account- overall it'll be more avenues for income.

It's going to be an experiment, will more traffic make this idea work?

If anyone has any questions I'll respond to them over the weekend. For those who have messaged me and are yet to get a response; first of all, I'm sorry, second, I shall return any messages this weekend alongside the others.

Speak to you all over the weekend. Enjoy your Black Friday binge!