Have you considered creating a form of sorts, to manage so many people? I never looked into it but that makes me wonder if there's a decent enough service for that, allowing to update submissions on approval/status and such and such. I remember Google forms being an option but it seems to be more geared for surveying than interaction with clients in such a manner.

Also, I just checked the google drive commission price guide, it shows your, I assume, real name and photo thumbnail. May want to change the profile or set up a separate account or something if you weren't aware and are uncomfortable with this.

As a user of Trello I can say that it is highly effective at not only keeping organized but also to allow commissioners to see where you are in your work.

I'll look into it. :)

Google forms :)

Doing it stream by stream is a nice low-key way. No dealing with an ongoing backlog, and you can adjust your workload each time without feeling like you're making somebody else wait.

More lucrative proposition: If the problem is too much demand for your services, raise prices until the demand goes down to a more acceptable level, then put the proceeds in a big burlap sack with a dollar sign on it.

The last bit is optional, but if you're going to do capitalism you might as well do it all the way.

As much sense as that makes economically, I'd rather not. I think my prices are really high already. The way I look at it is you can already get a launch day game for the price of a commission.

I'm sorry to pull this rant here, but I feel super strongly about this. I fight really hard against the idea that art is luxury and that people need to pay for it. I'd always rather the reason you can't get art from me be that there's a queue, rather than you can't afford it. I know that's a super unpopular opinion, but I feel it's right in my heart of hearts.

That's okay! You can set your prices however you want. And you can rant all you please, I'm not offended!

There are a couple of counter-points I could make, though. I figure you may not be too interested in discussing the economics of furry porn though, so let me know if you'd rather not!

Always open to a interesting discussion. :)

Well, okay! In economics, there's the concept of an "equilibrium price". This is the price at which supply and demand match. If you charge less than the equilibrium price, you get more demand than you can meet. In commission terms, this manifests as a giant waiting list.

In a sense, this is a fairer system, because if you charged your equilibrium price it would be too much for some people to afford. The low prices with a waiting list make it possible for more people to afford, but there are other problems here, most notably that a lot of people just get on the list and then kinda forget about it. In a world where every artist undercharged and operated waitlists, what would happen is the people who ended up getting art would just be the jerks who signed up to every list indiscriminately. In other words, this system doesn't really favour the poorer commissioners, just the pushier ones. Also all the artists would be very underpaid : )

The streaming solution is better - as well as reducing paperwork for you, it also means that people have to put in a little time and effort to get your commissions, so hopefully you filter for people who really like your stuff. But that said, you still have more demand than supply, so you're just doing another kind of filtering here, for people who are free at the right times to watch an art stream. Also, you're still being underpaid! (Though maybe the convenience of not managing queues and getting rapid feedback in the stream is worth it)

I don't think you should ditch streaming if you like it, but what you might consider, though, is "market segmentation". You could, for example, offer some fast turnaround slots at full equilibrium price, or auction slots or YCHs. This will let you make more money from the commissioners who are willing to pay for convenience or priority jobs, while you can keep cheaper stream slots that are priced more accessibly for when you want to just do some drawing without lots of back-and-forth notes.

I do think not wanting to deny people a chance to get commissions because of affordability is really sweet, but remember you have to live too, and most people in other jobs have no qualms about demanding what they're worth!

Also oops, this should have been a reply.

All well reasoned points. I would dedicate more time to these but I'm just about to head out so I'll keep it short.

I'm definitely not being underpaid. It's the opposite. I think I have nearly the best funded Patreon in the entire furry community. That's not even an exaggeration. I'm incredibly blessed, and while my actual commission prices make it much less profitable to do than Patreon, I still like doing them.

I think I would rather have the pushier fans end up winning out than the rich ones. Neither system is perfect, but if I put myself in the shoes of the commissioner, I would be much more upset if I simply couldn't afford a commission than if I felt like I just hadn't asked enough.

Letting demand drive prices is how MilesDF's prices got so out of control. Reading the comments in his YCH posts are cancer. He's not exactly a humble fellow and you can see the kind of resentment that builds up from setting your prices that astronomically high.

YCHs that I would draw for practice anyway would be a great addition to my arsenal too, but I've just yet to do one.

Oh! Good point. I was kind of just considering commission income in isolation, but when your Patreon funding is that sizeable, you probably don't want to upset everyone with high commission prices too. Hella-congrats on having so many loyal fans!

Ill try to look for your streams! Did not know you have a patreon. Do you need to back into the patreon to get a commission slot or be able to get into the streams?

Nope! I take commissions rarely since I'm so busy now, but streams are always open. :)

Thats sad that that happend hope i get someday one but i am not such a stream watcher T..T

Sorry the idea did not work out.