Updates on Publishing Cadence, and Beyond! (Patreon)

Nov 27, 2023

Hello, everyone.

Here are a few updates on the forward-looking publishing schedule, an official new collaborator, a couple new tiers (all advance chapters will continue to remain available at Kernel tier) and our upcoming patrons-only Discord channel.

Publishing Cadence

As (hopefully) many of you know, my listed publishing schedule on Royal Road for Mage Tank is set at one chapter per day for the duration of November. Daily chapters are currently scheduled to release through December 2nd. My original plan was to drop down to three chapters a week once November ends.

However, I believe I can do a little better than that for the month of December. For December, I'll be moving to four chapters a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Then, starting January 1st, the plan is to move to three chapters a week on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday (just dropping Tuesday out of the prior schedule). That'll be the schedule moving forward.

Three chapters a week is more in line with the number of (quality) chapters that I can produce without burning out. The rapid upload schedule so far has been thanks to the amount of pre-work and writing I did prior to launching on RR, and putting everything I have into the project throughout November on top. I also think adjusting to 3/week will give me the breathing room I need now to get deeper into plotting book 2, which is all of a sudden something I need to be getting very busy with. I've already got a good handle on what will be happening, now I just need to nail down more specifics on how it will happen.

Because Patreon chapters are pegged to the publishing schedule on RR, the above schedule will also apply to the publishing cadence here, but I plan on increasing the number of advance chapters available on Patreon. Once we get into the 3/week schedule, my goal is to put Patrons 6 weeks ahead of RR, which will translate to 18 advance chapters, rather than the current 12. This should happen by the end of March, which means Patreon will get a bonus chapter just about every other week for the first quarter of 2024. All advance chapters will continue to be available at the $5 Kernel tier.

TL;DR: The publishing schedule for both RR and Patreon will adjust to 4/week for the duration of December, and then to 3/week starting on Jan 1 and remain at 3/week moving forward. Bonus chapters available to Patreon members will go up to 18 by the end of March, which will result in a fourth, bonus chapter on Patreon about every other week.

New Collaborator

Some of you may have noticed the occasional credit to Sir Raiu Koren (SRK) for creating the maps I've been slotting into chapters here and there. SRK is someone with whom I have worked closely in the past on various creative endeavors, and he has been instrumental in helping to develop not only the maps, but also certain aspects of the world-building and System (game?) design. He has agreed to come on in a more official capacity, so I wanted to give him a warm welcome, and take the opportunity to introduce him to everyone. Your support for Mage Tank is deeply appreciated, and will now be going toward allowing both of us to focus on the fiction.

New Tiers

I'd like to give Patrons a bit more flexibility in how you are able to support the work, so I plan on introducing a $2 Candy Corn tier, and a $10 Cob tier. For clarity, all advance chapters will continue to be available at the Kernel tier, including the additional chapters scheduled for Q1 2024.

The $2 tier is for folks that would like to help out, but for whom the $5 tier isn't a good fit. The $2 tier will grant access to King Cyborg, and some Paid Members exclusive posts, which will be bonus content such as articles that dig more deeply into the world and creatures/people inhabiting it, and maybe some art and such. Anything created for this tier will also be available to the higher tiers as well. Happy to hear suggestions for anything you're interested in seeing concerning those.

The $10 tier will be an option for anyone who would like to provide a higher level of support to the project. Again, this will not grant any additional chapters beyond the $5 Kernel tier, but will likely come with a few extra benefits, such as a unique Discord role.

Discord

SRK and I have been working on getting a Discord server online, and are in the final stages of setting up integration with Patreon. We may need to fiddle around with bots a bit as well. The Discord will be up by the end of the week, and there will be a post making the announcement.

The Discord will be Patrons Only. We are considering whether there is value in having public channels added at some point down the line, but for now the realities of having a public Discord are not feasible without a more developed community of moderators and such.

Personal Note

When I started writing Mage Tank I absolutely never expected it to gain the amount of traction that it has so far. I've been mainlining LitRPG for several years now--primarily in audio book format--and somehow missed the existence of RR until very recently. I want everyone to know that it means a lot to me that everyone is giving the fiction a read, and especially to everyone here! You're really helping out with allowing us to continue working on the fiction, and I am staggered by how many people have found their way to the Patreon. I've been writing as a hobby more or less since I gained conscious awareness of the universe, and having the opportunity to write for a community has been incredible so far.

As always, thanks for reading! Hope you're having a great week.

--Cornman8700