The State of the Ebon (Patreon)

The new computer still kicks ass and takes names, enabling me to render comics much, much quicker. 'Rendering' doesn't mean 'producing' though, so the rate has remained fairly consistent. I've tried to clean up my work process considerably. but it still remains that - like any creative process - sometimes 'the juice' just ain't there. I try to have at least two 20-image comics a month and so far I've met that goal, though sometimes with only hours to spare. 

That's still not as good as I'd like. This Wednesday, I'll have put out four comics in a row, once a week. I hope I can continue with that. Some might be 15-images, but some will be a bit more, like the upcoming one.

So, I want to talk about something, he said ominously.

Things ain't gone so well these past few months. Since the summer, for the first time, cancellations top new subscribers. This might be due to COVID but starting about this time last year, I had a significant ramp up -- and then it all went away. I'm now barely back to where I was this time last year. Subscriber-wise, it's like nothing happened at all over the past year. I cannot seem to grow the subscriber base past 150 reliably. I mean, I know this is a pretty niche thing but damn, there are entire sites devoted to superhero porn. I was even looking at being able to quit my day job. Now, not. It's a little discouraging. Things are not dire, they just are not nearly as good as they were in, say, May. 

And I think I know why. I started to experiment some more with 'actual' comics, and yes, I fell in love with Black Tiger more than I should have to the point that I ignored the fan-fav characters people love seeing. That cost me, I think. Unfortunately, there's no way for me to  positively know that - nobody said this specific thing in the exit surveys, but... I have to wonder. 

That's why you might have noticed that the newer comics are... much more like the older ones :) We'll see more Blue Bolt and Robin in the New Year along with new favs Redhawk, Liberty Lad, and a couple others. 

I'm also excited about the hints patreon is seeding about changes to posting, viewing, and organization. I hope finding and searching for posts becomes much, much easier. I see hints for an actual downloads area you can view. 

Thank you all so much for your support!