I've been accused of hiding my money behind stories.

Can somebody please tell me how I'm supposed to have done this? Apparently it includes Patreon, but I've seen no such option. I've only got three patrons, so it would be a highly exclusive audience. Also, only four creations.

Comments

[Cold Spike]

Because you mentioned this:

Because of my lackluster writing this month, I've decided to do something a bit different. I'm going to get Winds of Change finished, then put all four written chapters up on Patreon at the same time. That's chapters 14, 15, 16, and an epilogue.
So yeah. Coming to a close

I don't mean to accuse you of anything, but it sounds like you are hiding the chapters away to anyone who can't afford or is unwilling to donate to your Patreon. I don't know of your real life situations, I am assuming they are bad?

Either way, you may want to clarify if you are planning on releasing those chapters to Fim or not, otherwise people will just spread rumors.

Where information is not clear, rumors spread like fear.

[Themaskedferret]

2430033 I was under the impression patreon didn't have a host site unto itself, it was more like a bouncepad for folks. As in, you agree to donate money and then when you tell patreon you've updated, you get monies.

I could be wrong though.

[Cold Spike]

2430061 I haven't used it, so I wouldn't know... but it kind of sounds like Kickstarter only the people donating the money are expecting something, instead of guaranteed something... again I don't want to insult 'Masterweaver' but he may really wish to clarify here what is going on.

[kagemao]

I know of a tumblr that keeps some content exclusive to patreon patrons so I guess the assumption would be that you would hide them on Gdocs and only link patrons to them or something. I took the blog post as meaning you were planning on posting all of the chapters as one piece, one payment from patrons.

I do find it funny, people use ad-block and make it harder for content creators to get paid. Then the creators find a way around ad revenue and all the kids throw a fit that they might not get something for free.

[Wellwater]

I assume the accusation would be hiding stories behind money, rather than the reverse?

Anyway, hiding early access to stories behind a paywall (donations or otherwise) is not the same thing as hiding them entirely, and such accusers would do well to keep that in mind.

[Nealend86]

As one of the people pledging, I can tell everyone that I'm not getting anything exclusive.

[Titanium Dragon]

thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/money-hidden-old-book-9617670.jpg

[FaceDeer]

2430108 I think part of the problem may be that it's very unclear what "I'm going to get Winds of Change finished, then put all four written chapters up on Patreon at the same time" means. Especially for folks who don't really know much about Patreon (I'm only vaguely familiar with it myself).

I'm pretty sure that what happens with Patreon is that people pledge money to be given to the artist when they release works, so there's no "paywall" or funding threshold or anything like that in this case - the chapters get publicly released when they get released, and Masterweaver gets his Patreon payout when they get released. But I'm not 100% certain and it might be a good idea for Masterweaver to explain explicitly what the case is here.

[ABitterPill]

Okay. So you want to know how and why you're being accused of hiding your stories behind money?

I don't use Patreon personally, but every time I see it brought up, I see things like this:

Pledge X dollars a month to get access to a behind the scenes blog.
Pledge Y dollars a month for access to side stories exclusive to Patrons.
Pledge Z dollars a month for access for character sheets/art/whatever exclusive to Patrons.

At one point, I happen to go to someone's Patreon page, and under the "creations" tab, the only thing I see is this message upon every submission.

For Patrons Only
To become a patron, view this post, and contribute in this activity feed, click here.

Then, you post a blog stating:

I'm going to get Winds of Change finished, then put all four written chapters up on Patreon at the same time. That's chapters 14, 15, 16, and an epilogue.

So yeah. Coming to a close. Here's my Patreon link.

So exactly what in the name of Celestia are we supposed to think upon reading that? Can you blame us for interpreting as meaning if we want to see the rest, we have to pay for it?

Then the icing on the cake of this fiasco: you begin posting a sequel to an incomplete story. A sequel that has spoilers for things that have not yet happened in what has yet been posted of Wings of Change here on fimfiction. Leaving us with the impression that Wings of Change apparently has been finished elsewhere. Thus we come around to your previous blog of "I'm going to get Winds of Change finished, then put all four written chapters up on Patreon at the same time."

... Can you see why we could be lead to believe it's been completed and put on Patreon now?

It does not help matters any that you've never bloody clarified what the flagnog you meant either. You only stated "I never said that". If you had clarified things on what you meant by posting them to Patreon, or that yes we WOULD be seeing the chapters here on fimfiction as well, a lot of headache and confusion could have been avoided all around.

Edit: And also, I LOVE Winds of Change. It got me genuinely crying a couple times. To find a story that can evoke that kind of emotion in you, and then be lead to believe you couldn't see the end of it without paying? You could say I was a little miffed.

[Masterweaver]

2430900

I apologize. Life got in the way of me finishing the final three chapters on time, so I... simply didn't. But I did not put any lies on Patreon. I write to share my art; I view Patreon not as a demand from me, but a reward from my readers.

[ABitterPill]

2430925

No need to apologize. I know full well that life gets in the way of things and can keep you from writing or even enjoying yourself at times. So long as I know they are coming, I can be as patient as needed. I've waited 4+ years before some fanfics update, so I think I can wait a little more.

But you honestly do need to be better about clarifying your statements. It makes things so much easier in the long run.

[Starcat5]

2430925
I'm just glad the whole thing has been cleared up. I also feel glad I waited until cooler heads had prevailed before commenting. Trying to get a word in edge wise around emotionally charged individuals with a point to make(, even one that doesn't make sense,) is hard to do at best.

...so yeah, holding off on reading the sequel until the current story is actually finished, as someone mentioned it contained spoilers beyond "Dash and Bonbon are openly Changelings", which is less a spoiler and more "clearly implied by subtext up to this point". I'll be refreshing my tracking list in the meantime.

[G S tol Kriaal]

I see all these comments telling you how you're hiding your stories behind money, but none explaining how you're hiding your money behind stories, which, going by the title, is what this blog is about (frankly, such a concept confuses me as well, but I think 2430249 got the closest)