A Note

Hi all!

I wanted to share an experience I had this morning. On my Telegram, I got a private message from someone who obviously read a lot of my stories over the years. They sent me a private message at three in the morning my time, so I was asleep when the message was originally sent. This person complained that I wasn't "cool" anymore because I had stepped away from publishing stories for free and that I haven't published regularly enough for their liking. This person grew increasingly irate that I wasn't responding to them, despite the fact I was sleeping. Unfortunately, despite my attempts to be transparent and candid with my readers about issues happening in my life, complaints like this have appeared in my inbox more frequently.

Here's the deal.

When I started writing anthropomorphic erotica fiction back in '07-08, I wrote as a way to explore my sexuality while I was going through a lot of craziness in my life. I was trying to figure out what I was and what made me tick. And now, I know what I am, but I'm still dealing with personal matters that distract me from writing. Most people understand this, but a vocal minority does not.

When I started my Patreon, my initial goal was to monetize my work to increase its value. Readers were expecting me to churn out free stories that I would spend several weeks working on, so I was feeling some pressure to prioritize quantity over quality. I decided to go the other way. To a certain extent, that worked. I've had moderate success in maintaining consistent subscriber rates, but I haven't been able to increase them. In order to bring more subscribers, I sought corroborations from at least four artists who agreed to illustrate scenes from my work for comics and potentially graphic novels. I paid two of those artists to do work. Sadly, none of the artists I reached out to fulfilled their end of their agreement. One of them I had to contact PayPal to get a refund for services that weren't rendered.

Last year, I wrote for two AB/DL-themed anthologies and struck agreements to get paid. One of those anthologies promised to pair me up with an artist to illustrate one of the scenes in my story. I had set aside hundreds of dollars for a promotional budget in anticipation of these anthologies being released. Neither of those anthologies were ever released. I wasn't compensated for my work. Because I wasn't able to promote any published work, I haven't met the subscriber goals I initially had hoped to achieve.

If I'm being honest, I'm not having fun writing these stories anymore. Don't get me wrong. I love writing stories. I love writing in general. But AB/DL stories are not as personally fulfilling for me as they used to be. Oftentimes, it feels like I'm writing into some sort of empty void. People may appreciate my work and tell me so, but a lot of people are already onto the next story, and they want the next story to be released for free. My standalone stories don't generate much fanfare or interest. And I sometimes find myself writing to appease others as opposed to writing for myself. That's wrong.

The good news is I'm feeling better and I'm more productive than I've ever been. But I have a hard time seeing a path forward when it comes to publishing erotica and NSFW content. Still weighing everything out. No decision has been set in stone. But when I decide what the future is for Crinkle Cat, my readers will certainly know.

CC