icebear
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Tier Updates starting in April! (Also, Friend Zone re-release!)
🕑 Added 2025-03-09 00:26:38 +0000 UTCSo evidently the last time I updated my tier benefits was most of a decade ago now, so I thought... maybe I should fix that. Also, just to make this post less dry, attached are re-releases of The Friend Zone and its most immediate sequel Friend of a Friend, with new cover art. I highly recommend browsing below to make sure you're still getting what you want here, but if you need to go nostalgiacize with Stacey and Kayla and Todd and Luis... I hear ya.
I apologize in advance for all this text; you can get the gist just by perusing the tiers on the main page. On the plus side, if this becomes a pattern, you won't have to put up with this from me again until like 2033 or something.
I've updated the tier benefits today so you can see what they say, but just note the benefits don't go into effect until April 1.
So... why am I doing this?
The major driving force for this reconfig was the difficulty in getting responses on the monthly commission drawing. Many of my commissions are among my most beloved work, from oldies like The Fiend's Tongue, to more recent ones like On Turner Way. However, Patreon doesn't seem to do a very good job notifying folks of DMs, and/or those notifications are going to throw-away emails folks use for smut, or marked as spam, or... who knows. But by my math, last year I sent out close to 30 notifications about winning the commission, which makes for barely a 10% return rate. That's frustrating for me, but moreover, that's you folks not getting the content your pledge entitles you to.
Secondarily, right now, things are just messy and poorly managed. New members have a hard time finding the massive amount of stuff they have access to, and likewise, I'm giving away the equivalent of hundreds of dollars worth of purchases on Amazon for a one-time $5 payment.
As of the date of this publication, you paid for all that, so absolutely go download it all and wallow! Part of the reason I wanted to notify you early in the month is so you have time to fully use the benefits you've already paid for. You'll be getting some cool new stuff in April, but other stuff will be less freely available. (Full details below.)
Change 1: Commissions are out; a monthly Bonus Story is in.
Starting in April, we're going to be doing a monthly community-sponsored "bonus story." I'll open a forum on the 5th of the month where $5+/month patrons (and myself!) will be able to nominate story ideas. You can write an outline, go "something in an office," "something with Drew and Courtney," as broad or narrow, vague or specific as you like. (You can also DM them to me directly and I'll post them to the forum on your behalf if you want anonymity.)
After a couple weeks of suggesting and discussing, we'll turn it over to all patrons to vote on their favorite ideas. Once voting concludes, I'll write the story using your input, doing my best to deliver on the spirit.
This guarantees I'll get a cool prompt from my readers every month, and guarantees you get a fun short something every month. (For folks who prefer to stick to the lowest ($2) tier, you'll be able to vote, and the community story will be available for purchase on the cheap.)
Change 2: Miscellaneous extras with monthly live-write night
As part of my desire to do more fun stuff with/for y'all, I'll be doing a monthly live-write, as I've done before a few times. That will remain free to everyone who wants to attend (it's a free site I do it on, after all), but those short pieces, as well as the other miscellany I do in a month (e.g. AI pics, some odd 3-paragraph whim I write in discord, whatever) will also be compiled and set aside in a post for patrons who want more random little stuff to enjoy.
Change 3: The Ice Bear Library
And the final major shift: Introducing, the Ice Bear Library.
Right now, for $5, you have access to literally hundreds of posts, including more than a dozen books. For $20, you have access to everything I've ever published on Amazon. Over the years, that's gotten to be a LOT, and it's chaotic because of the way Patreon organizes stuff and my being habitually disorganized. It's just ugly. There's over a hundred posts tagged under "The RA," and it's not even the most annoying one to navigate.
Going forward, new work on my books will fall under three headings:
Newly completed books will be released to the $10/month tier at no additional charge. e.g. When I finish RA Volume 8, those folks get it. It will remain available to $10+ patrons until the end of the subsequent month's billing cycle. (So if it's released May 12th, it will remain accessible to those patrons through the end of June.) After that time, it will be available for individual purchase and placed in related bundle (see below). (Ugh, no post with "(see below)" has ever been fun to read.
I've reduced the pricing on first drafts of works in progress from $20 to $15. I love the engagement these get, so some of that's just for my motivation. So if you don't care about polish and don't want to wait, there's an easy way to get MOAR faster.
Starting in April, I'll be bundling existing works and selling them individually: An RA bundle, a Creeps bundle, a TIOS bundle with the main books and all the spinoffs, a Friend Zone bundle, and so on. They'll be available for individual purchase, discounted from Amazon. (I don't have numbers yet; this will be the a big chunk of my March workload.) Patrons pledging $30 will have access to download ALL bundles, i.e. The Ice Bear Library.
In conclusion...
I love you folks. Your support and engagement has given me my dream job, and I could never say enough how lucky I feel to get to write my weird brand of wholesome and/or horrifying smut for you guys. I'd do it for free if I could. Since I can't, then yes, part of this is about adjusting for most of a decade of inflation and all that, but more than that, I want to be able to put more fun and enjoyment out there into the world for you all, to make it easier to get to, better quality, and more of it. I hope this will help me do that, and please DM me or comment below (or discuss on our discord server) if you have feedback.
Nothing goes into effect until April, so please take a moment sometime in the next few weeks to review whether you want to keep or adjust your current tier. (And, as Charlie would say, thinx for your support!) Until then, you still have access to everything you paid for access to, so seriously go nuts and download everything you can get your mitts on.
Speaking of, just a reminder there's a couple old Friend Zone stories down yonder.
So, so, so much more to come.
Comments
WDB
I don't know why I split this into two comments -- there's nothing to spoil here! Force of habit, I suppose. I am, of course, fully supportive of any and all changes you think are best for the Patreon. It's horrifying to me that SO MANY commission requests go ignored, so I can only imagine how frustrating it is as an author. Anything that allows for fun new ideas to get wordsmithed is it a boon to the community. And I will definitely have a concept for the community to ignore in favor of something potentially bleak and mean that I opt out of! Additionally, the new Tiers look great. A lower price for first drafts and a higher price for full books -- with some Early Access thrown in to incentivize membership over purchase -- is super smart. This all feels both intuitive and considerate, a rarity on the internet. Hope all of these changes grow the community, and thank you for thinking of us!
WDB
I've never been happier to potentially reformat a spreadsheet!
