Fluttercheer and the Path to Patreon..... at long last.

It's time to do this. It has been a long time coming. And I would have done it much earlier already if my writing skill hadn't suffered so much since Spring 2017 that it needed almost two years of recovery to get to a point where I can trust the quality of my writing again.
But now the time has come. I will do what countless pony authors have done before me and open a Patreon account to get financial support for my writing.

Interception: Is this Too Long and you Don't Read? Click here for a shorter and compressed version with all the facts and infos you'll need.

I will do this now, because I think it is the right moment for it. Season 9 will end My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the best show ever and the show that changed my life and gave me a new one, and we don't know what will come after the last episode of Season 9 has aired.
We don't know if Generation 4 will continue in some capacity or form, we don't know what Generation 5 will bring exactly and whether or not it will keep on to the same universe and I especially don't know how much interest in G4 ponyfics there will still be during the long winter or when a rebooted Generation 5 is hitting us with full force.
If I want this Patreon to be successful, I need to kick it off while My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is still continuing and while I still have some traction from a new season to pull it on a good track. Season 9 is the last chance for this, so it has to happen now. However, it won't happen immediately.

Once I open a Patreon, I will ask all of you to give me money for my writing. And this is a big thing to ask in this world. Opening a Patreon needs proper preparation and it needs a lot of thoughts being put into it. This is not a process that can happen overnight.
And I made the experience that asking for money in a rushed way isn't a wise thing to do once already.
Maybe you will remember my attempt to receive small donations via Ko-Fi about two years ago. This didn't go well. I have not received any donations and that was because I approached it in the wrong way and because I tried it at the wrong time. Now I feel that the time for it is right, but I will give it more time regardless.
The plan I have is to open a Patreon either once I have reached 275 followers or once the mid-season hiatus starts. A week after Episode 13, we will get the “Rainbow Roadtrip” Special and I will open the Patreon in the week that follows if I have not reached the follower milestone before that week. Until then, I will prepare everything that I need for it.

The reason why I want to go on Patreon is rather simple and predictable. I want to earn money with my pony writing.
Writing ponyfics is a passion that nothing else can replace for me. So much of a passion that I would and always will do it regardless if I receive financial compensation for it or not. I am always the first to tell that there is more than money in the world and that many things have a lot more merit than money has. However, even I need that shiny metal and that rustling paper to eat, to drink and to survive.

Currently, I am unemployed. Which isn't a recent state of affairs. I am actually unemployed for more than five and a half years now. The last time I had a job was in October 2013.
And I could just not care about this. I could afford to not care about it, because I have the huge luck to live in a country that covers all the expenses that I make while ensuring that I keep breathing, no matter if I have a job or not. A system of a very generous guaranteed minimum income, that requires me to try getting a job and to provide documentation of my efforts to get one in order to receive it, allows me to live a mostly carefree life as a long-term unemployed person.
So I really could not care at all while my government pays everything my body and my mind need to survive and to live. The problem with this paradisal status, though, is that I do care. And I don't want to spend my entire remaining life in this world, which will still span over at least 50 years (unexpected health issues and horrible accidents not counted), in this state.

Even though I'm living off government funds for years now, it was never my plan to let this be the status quo until the grim reaper escorts me out of this world. But at the same time, I also feel that I am not cut out for an ordinary job. Which doesn't mean I couldn't do it.
I have a degree from a commercial school, I have knowledge about all sorts of office programs, I can work fast if needed and I don't mind typing away while staring at a computer screen for eight hours each day. I do the last thing on this list for at least five hours every day when I write ponyfics.
But it's not where I see myself. I don't see myself working in an average, boring and mundane eight hour office job like millions of people do. And I see myself working in retail and get constantly abused by entitled, snooty customers and dickish, heartless store managers even less.
Being just one more cog in a gigantic machine that doesn't create anything remarkable is not the kind of life I want to live.

But neither do I want to live off of someone else for my entire life. It's especially lately that I feel how nice true financial independence would be and that I find myself longing for it.
And it's not all sunshine and rainbows to get paid for doing nothing.
Aside from actively trying to get a job, I have to meet recurring, mandatory appointments with my local job center. Appointments in which my efforts to get a job are scrutinized and judged.
Sometimes I have to attend mandatory training courses that can span from a few weeks to an entire year and that have proven themselves to do nothing to get me a job, while actively reducing my time to write.
My local law says I have the right to get guaranteed mininum income as long as I live but, like it's the case with so many laws, it is quite loosely defined what “trying to get a job” means. I have to report back to my consultant at the job center and it's that person that judges my efforts. One fateful decision by that person after concluding that I'm not trying hard enough could be my demise.
I am basically hanging on a thread that is being held by a well-paid office worker who, technically, can make a fateful decision about my life whenever they want.

I also don't know if I can trust my country to always give me the social backstop that this income provides for long-term unemployed people like me. Once a year, I need to apply for getting my guaranteed minimum income for another year.
And while the decision has always been positive so far, I am getting a little sweaty every time I have to re-apply. The next time I have to do it for a seamless continuation of my income without gaps will be in the middle of this month.
The last government here in my country was sawing away at social benefits with sadistic glee. In a worst case scenario, the wrong government rising to power could kill what keeps me alive and with a roof over my head.
These things combined can cause a lot of stress at times. It seems mostly convenient, living like that, but it's not at all an ideal living condition that I currently have.

Average society leaves me with two basic choices: Get a mundane and ordinary job that turns me into a drone. Or live off government funds, with the risk that these funds might be gone one day and that I become homeless.
For me, neither of which is an option in the long run.
I'm a creative person. I see myself in writing thrilling stories that keep you on the edge of your seat or heartwrenching stories that make you cry for hours. I see myself in creating large worlds and even entire universes that I can explore while writing and that my readers can explore alongside me.
I don't want to be a cog in a machine. It would be unbearable. While normal people are afraid of not getting a job they applied for, I find myself constantly afraid of getting that job.
What I want is to be an independent writer and creator, who wows people with his creations and earns enough money to live off his work. And the road to write and publish a book and make it into bestseller lists is a long and rocky one.
Patreon is a first step towards this goal. And one of the biggest ones. The coming weeks will be filled with preparations for it.

One thing I need to think about, possibly the most important thing, are rewards and perks for Patreon supporters. The possibilities there are endless, but I need to carefully think about that, to offer incentives that are attractive enough, that don't make me a complete sell-out and that I will be able to deliver in a timely manner.
One idea I already have for a lower reward tier, and that I will likely use, is that everyone who reaches that reward tier can pick any episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and I will write a one-shot story based on it then, with the characters and the exact plot chosen by me. And possibly expand the available choices to any of the official comics and official books.
I can see less restrictive versions of this reward for higher tiers. And another idea I have for a reward tier is to let supporters who reach it pick any pony/creature/character from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (including any background ponies/characters) and to write a one-shot story about this character for them, with something they'd like to see this character do or being faced with.
I will need a couple more ideas, but I fancy these a lot because I have not seen any writer/creator with such rewards on Patreon, so these seem to be fairly unique ideas for rewards.

Then there are, of course, the usual reward ideas; such as OC cameos in stories, free commissions involving a supporter's OCs, earlier access to certain stories, access to early drafts of certain stories, behind-the-scenes looks, story raffles, ect.
I want to develop and offer creative and unique perks and rewards, that fight to me style and image as author, but I will look into each possible option before I decide for or against one.
Since nothing is set in stone as of now, I also take suggestions for possible rewards. So if you have an idea for a good reward that you would like to see, tell me about it and I will consider it.

Something I definitely don't want to do is building paywalls. I always detest it when I see an author/creator only offering their works on Patreon for active supporters. Potential fans of a creator who resorts to this will have to pay first before they can see if they even like the creations and are essentially held at gun point by the creator, as they immediately lose access to their work once they (have to) stop pledging. And interested readers who aren't financially capable of becoming supporters will get nothing.
It's something that I think shouldn't happen in a fanfic community and it's also not necessary in a world where even commercial books can be read for free in a library.
The most I can see myself doing is offering early access to certain stories before they get released here. But I will not hide stories or make them exclusive to Patreon supporters. All stories will always find their way here.

Rewards could change or switch around at the beginning, depending on how well they do with gathering interest. I want to have them mostly set in stone once I open the Patreon, but this is the first time I'm doing this, so it will likely need some experimentation with different ideas to see what works.

Aside from rewards, I need to think about future story plans and how to kick the few unfinished stories I have back into gear. Before asking for money, I'd rather be able to present a stable plan for continuing these stories instead of letting them sit around unfinished without comment.
Lastly, I need to work on my image as a writer and give myself a better profile. Which will also come with a complete redesign of my userpage.

I have busy weeks ahead of me now with making all the necessary preparations. You can expect a couple new things on my account here in the next few weeks and I will keep you informed about everything ahead of time.

But for now, that's it. Don't forget to leave suggestions for Patreon rewards if there are any you'd like to see! I'll see you soon for updates about my plans!

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Good luck! Its a long Way to Patreon but fluttercheer Waits There.

You should reconize the song.