Plans Going Forward

It's that time. I'm nearing the end. Making allowances for the fact that sometimes a chapter will diverge and become two chapters as inspiration strikes, I expect to finish the book this week. I have some time off from work and my only plan, besides working out, is to get those last 4-6 chapters finished. Once it's complete and the editor has done his thing, I'll release them in one go here and then go into book two. So, what does that mean for the Patreon and all you wonderful people?

I will set the page up to non-collection while no content is being released. At least I'm told this is a thing I can do, I'll need to figure it out in the next couple of weeks. What remains to be decided is how I will restructure the Patreon for book two. As you all know, I currently have three options for patrons. There is the Super Fan tier for $5/month and you receive 2 chapters a week, then there's the Fan tier, for $3 a month, with one extra chapter a week, and then a free member, who gets the same release schedule as RoyalRoad. Having three tiers requires a lot of juggling on my part as I try to remember who is getting what on what date, and I would like to simplify that for book two for those of you that wish to continue your support. So, with that in mind, here's what my ideas are.

First: Eliminate the two pay tiers. Rather than a Fan/Super Fan tiers for $3/$5, I will make just one tier, for $4. So a dollar more for fans, and a dollar less for super fans.

Second: With the single pay tier, I also want to change the release schedule to something that hopefully offers even more value for those of you willing to part with your crowns. For book two, I would like to change it to three chapters a week, maybe Monday, Wednesday, and Friday release schedule, or three chapters, once a week. So for Fan-tier members that want to stay and pay an extra dollar you'll get two more chapters a week, and for Super Fans, you'll pay a dollar less yet get one extra chapter than you receive now. Seems like a better deal all around.

I plan to release at least 50k words of book two here before ever going to Royal Road. So for a while, book two will be a Patreon exclusive. Once again, this is an attempt to streamline everything, and make things simpler overall. I am expecting to have some time off in the spring between jobs, so--much like my plan for the remainder of this week--I will write every day and hopefully have book two finished in a fraction of the time I've taken to write book one. I've set myself an ambitious schedule, but as long as there are no major life events, it's definitely doable.

Because of the large lead-in I want to have before I start releasing here, there might be a delay of a month or two before the first chapters arrive on Patreon. I will post an update a couple of weeks in advance before payments are turned back on. This will give everyone a chance to take a look at things and make a final decision. Also, if you'd like to be kept updated on the status of book two, I can post updates on word counts and things, as I progress, if anyone wants to know.

So, please let me know in the comments what you think of the plans to restructure the Patreon. I'm sure everyone would like more chapters per week, so I expect that to be well received, but what about the elimination of the two tiers and a single price point for everyone? Also, what sort of release schedule would you like the chapters on? Is a Mon/Wed/Fri good, or would you prefer all three chapters at once on a Wednesday or something?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.