End of June Report (Patreon)

So we reached the end of the month and it's been a series of ups and downs.  I managed to get affiliate status for Twitch, something I was really proud of, but at the same time I've fallen a bit behind when it comes to Patreon.  I've also managed to get a hundred thousand words written, and though it wasn't close to the two hundred thousand that I wanted it's not a half-bad number.  I also managed to keep patreon pretty steady, though I was hoping for a bigger bump with the post blitz that I had on FA and SF we managed to keep it above seven hundred dollars, which isn't too shabby.  Next month is July which is AnthroCon, and after that we have two of three months where we're going to be selling.

Now for a bit of a hard truth...

Things have been very rough financially... for the last almost year now my mate's paychecks have been garnished and we've lost twenty percent of her income because Dell decided to collect on a ten year old debt that my mate racked up.  Though I've managed to make a few strides towards the business this massive deficit has caused me to take patreon funds (as well as book sales and commissions) and put them towards household bills instead of the  business.  As a result flow to the business has been extremely stagnant.

In other words, Smilodon Studio is completely broke.

This was part of the reason why I took the commission blitz that you no doubt saw on FA and SF, and that's the reason why the patreon hasn't been given the love that it should.  Even those some of the stories I'm writing are rather long it's hard to do them plus work on Rain and Shine and other things.  Though I wish that I could bring more people into patreon, thus eliminating the need for commissions to supplement my income.  It sucks though because the whole reason that I quit in the first place was because my mate was supposed to take care of our bills with her income while I used my money for the business... but that's not the case...

...and it doesn't end there.  Even though the garnishment will be over in August we're going to be getting hit with a whole new set of bills.  My mate also has a significant amount of student loans, two of which will be coming due in September since my mate is no longer going to school.   It basically replaces the garnishment which means that it's replacing one debt with another.  I currently have four books that can't get covers commissions, a new cover, new stock...

So now I have to focus on commissions plus patreon... which has resulted in a lot of late nights and work.  Though I hate to say it I'm just exhausted with everything.  And now it's going to be ninety degrees and my production in heat absolutely sucks.  I'm hoping that AnthroCon is going to provide some sort of revitalization, the doing twitch thing helps because I can at least play video games to try and relax and still not feel like I'm wasting time.  

Anyway, apologies for the wall of text.  I also just wanted to thank you all for your support and hope that I can keep trying to earn what you're giving me.  I'm by no means giving up but I might just be letting off the gas for a little bit and try to look at Patreon in a slight revamp in order to try and attract more people to supporting me.  Please be patient... once we get this financial fiasco under control I want to start investing heavily in Smilodon Studio, which with my mate continuing to excel in her job is looking like a better and better possibility.

Thanks for listening,

Serathin