We Kinda Did It! - Pledge Drive Wrap-Up

...Thus concludes Oh Joy Sex Toy's 11th anniversary month!

A very deep, heartfelt thanks to everyone who signed up for the first time, re-activated an expired membership, or increased their existing pledge amount (we've added a few more tiers for any of you who wanted to go even higher!).  Between all of the above, we achieved about 75% of the estimated basic membership floor we need in order to keep OJST sustainable and publishing comics for the rest of the year.

As some of you might have noticed: 75% funded is a lot less than 100% funded, which would normally spell the end of a project, right?

WELP, to Matt's and my genuine surprise and delight, two individuals reached out privately* when they learned we were probably not going to reach our goal and they offered to help make up the difference directly out of their own pockets. We'll have a flashier announcement about that later when we add their portraits to the side of the site next to our original long-time Mega Donor, renowned author David D. Levine.

*Matt's email if you want to become a Mega Donor and get your portrait added too: matthewdanielnolan [at] gmail.com

OJST has gone through a rollercoaster of growth and transformation over the last decade, especially over the last few years after I took a step back to deal with health and my solo book. There have been so many tear-filled conversations between Matt and myself as we tried to figure out the future of this site and what it might look like if we kept it going. It's always been the support of others that's kept us making and publishing these comics- people like you and the team we slowly assembled together over the last few years. Each time we've brought a new person on board, it's enriched OJST more than we could have imagined.  Ziggy Snow brings a keen understanding and deep empathy to the editing process, championing stories and attracting voices onto the site that we absolutely would not have gotten without him. Hien Pham, Ripley LaCross, and Jey Pawlik not only have delivered unforgettable stories as our monthly staff artists, but they teach us how to be a better publisher, too. Dennie Park transcribed so many of the comics in our archive and taught us how to carry that on going forward so that every new comic gets posted with a transcript for screen-readers. I could not manage OJST's social media without the help of Anonymous and Jey Pawlik, who not only help run our accounts but offer invaluable advice in navigating these fields while I continue to slide into further middle-aged befuddlement.

Matt and I are so proud of what this site has become. We're so proud that these incredible people work with us across so many different roles. We're so proud of the stories we're publishing. OJST is a website where you can expect respect, kindness, curiosity, and humor. Our comics show up in doctors' offices, universities, clinics, classrooms-and even once in London's Tate Museum! Heck, we still hear from folks who decided to pursue sex-related medical and therapy fields after sparking an interest from a comic they read here, and that's just wild to believe! Multiple people have devoted years of their lives and taken on tens of thousands of dollars worth of educational debt because of a dad-jokey comic we published on the internet??? How can you be anything other than humbled by that?

...And yet, times remain tough. The internet sure hasn't been kind to full-page comics about sex! Our social-media-unfriendly comics have to attract algorithms rather than people. Social media companies continue to restrict and remove discussion and media of sexual topics. We have regular calls with lawyers to understand and comply with the changing laws regulating sexual content online. Credit card policies are constantly evolving to further exclude all manner of sexual subject matter. We're constantly dealing with regular website troubles, increasing costs, Patreon processing errors, and... Well you get the idea.  

Yes, our numbers across the board have declined since the glory days of the 2010s. But for the moment, and with your help? We can keep this little sex-positive boat afloat a little longer.

I cannot express how validating and humbling it is to have, after 11 years, over 1,100+ of you patrons still here, actively supporting OJST each month.

We believe in this work. We think it's important to share deeply human stories about tender subjects and to do so with some hope and laughter. It means the world to us that you do too. As long as you keep showing up for these comics, we'll keep making them. Thank you all again.

See y'all next year!

-Erika Moen
OJST co-founder & social media crew member, & occasional comic contributor

(OH! And I almost forgot but Matt and I are aiming to post a little interview we did together, for our side of the Pledge Drive - More to come on that when we've got some time!)