Upcoming Rewards Changes (More Stuff For Everyone!)

Hi! This is for both current and prospective supporters of Sunspot. I'll be changing the Patreon rewards starting with Arc 3; everybody will be getting more stuff per dollar!

TLDR:

• Side stories are becoming available for members of all tiers, including free memberships.

• Advance chapter backlog is increasing from 1 to 3.

• Radiance tier: After May 1, new memberships will be $10/month. Current members or new members who sign up before then will keep paying $5/month.

• Vaetna tier: Price is increasing to $20/month, and there will be no additional benefits beyond what Radiance tier offers. This will become fully a "support yootie more for the same benefits" tier.

• There's been interest in a tier for people who want to throw money at me without the temptation of having advance chapters, so I'm making a tip jar tier.

In more detail:

I want to give you guys more Sunspot.

For one, I want everybody to be able to read the side stories; they're generally noncanon but I work hard on them, and I figure More Sunspot for anybody willing to venture off Shub/RR and come to the Patreon or the website is a good move.

For two, I want to increase advance chapter backlog; this is the best way for me to give paying patrons more rewards without increasing my week-by-week workload, since I can build the backlog during the hiatus and then maintain posting 1 chapter a week.

For three, I'd like to make a living writing Sunspot eventually, and a few patrons have expressed interest in a higher tier to throw more money at me, for which I'm very grateful.

So, what are we doing and when?

• Side stories will become available for all members, including free members. Currently there's only one side story (Alice And Hina Go To The Pet Store, which will become available here on April 4), but I'd like to write another during the hiatus and then make it an every-few-months sort of thing that steadily increases the value of becoming a member. I haven't decided yet whether these will be Patreon-only for a little before going public, but the intent is to make them public releases by default.

• Advance chapters are going from 1 ahead of public to 3. This is the biggest change; that's roughly 15-25k words of backlog (depending on the lengths of the particular chapters) which is equivalent to 10ish shorter, RR-standard chapters. Advance chapter tiers will be getting 3.01-3 through the hiatus, and then they'll get 3.04 when 01 releases publicly. It'll still only be 1 update a week on both the public and patron sides after that; any further backlog I might build will be "true" un-posted backlog for my own sanity.

• If you're already a Radiance tier patron or become one before May 1, rejoice, you'll get the most from these changes; you'll get to keep paying $5 while getting triple the backlog AND access to side stories. For members who sign up after May 1, the price will be $10/month -- still better value than what this tier offers currently.

• Vaetna tier is going to $20, and will have no extra benefits beyond Radiance tier (for now). This is purely a way for generous patrons to support me more. In the future, I might do some fun stuff for this tier to show my thanks, but this is not a tier where you pay more in expectation of more rewards, other than the reward of me, the author, being able to buy food to stay alive and stuff. (This will take effect April 4).

• With the Patreon backlog increasing by so many weeks, I've had a few people over in the Discord request a way to support me without access to advance chapters, so that they don't feel separated from the main community and can keep up with the discourse of the public releases. Your wish is granted! I'm tentatively calling this tier "Yeen Beans" and it'll be base $5, though people are welcome to manually increase that pledge by however much they feel comfortable. (This will take effect April 4).

I'd love to write full-time someday; right now that's not in the cards due to visa shenanigans, but your support still substantially improves my quality of life in this hell world and allows me to spend more time on Sunspot, as well as commission art (I have some really cool stuff cooking), maintain the website, buy RR ads, and so on. So let me extend a sincere thank you to everyone who supports the story with Patreon memberships; you guys rock, and I couldn't do this without you.

Enjoy the extra rewards! If you have feedback on these changes or suggestions for other rewards you'd be interested in, let me know!