homestuck
patreon
The Plan
🕑 Added 2023-10-18 22:43:56 +0000 UTC(This will also be posted on the main site, In the coming days there will be a post detailing the new reward tiers)
First and foremost, what a launch! Glad to be back. Thank you for all the well wishes, kind words and honest criticisms. The team and I are loving the energy. You have made us feel very welcome in a sometimes overwhelming space.
In a continuing effort to be as upfront as possible about things..
On the 30th of October, we are going to restart the Patreon. This was a sort of heavy decision that we understand may not sit well with some people so we want to be forward with you about it. We want to allow people the time to sort out whether they’d like to stay subscribed or not. Patreon exclusive content will be made public after a few months. This will consist of non-canonical one-shot comics, behind the scenes visual development, sketches, storyboards, writer/artist update commentary and a few other things that we will get into on the Patreon itself. I want this to be something you choose to do because you support what we’re doing, and never because you feel like parts of the comic are being withheld behind a paywall. The comic will still update on the main site as always.
So, how will this time be different? This might be a lot to read for those of you who are not interested in this, but I want to do things differently this time. I want to give the readers as much clarity as I can afford.
First up, we need to be very transparent about where the money is going. This time we are paying all of it to the HS:BC team. Unlike previous projects, we won’t have a larger absent entity dictating what is and isn’t necessary for us. This time there will be no third parties taking large percentages of money that could be paid to the people who contribute instead.
Every month, aside from basic operating expenses (web infrastructure, hosting costs), 100% of patreon funding will go directly to the HS:BC team. For the first few months 80% will be split up evenly among the current team of contributing members and technical crew. The remaining 20% will be used to backpay the current team several months of work done for this initial buffer of updates.
Secondly, the update schedule has been a hot ticket item of discussion. October will see two updates to get us started. After that the plan is to switch to one update a month while we continue to produce more and feel things out a bit. If we are able to get into a groove, we would like to increase this number. I do not want updates to be tied to how much money the patreon makes, though I won’t pretend It wouldn’t be nice to quit our day jobs and do this full time.
The team has been building a sizable backlog of pages, which is sort of a new thing for HOMESTUCK. All the hits are here: aspects, classes- you get it. We have taken a lot of care in developing and resolving story beats and character arcs and making sure a lot of these things happen on screen. Though, some of these things will take time. We aren’t even out of Act 1 yet! A lot of passion has gone into continuing and evolving the story we have inherited by a group of people who care very much. And so far they have been doing it purely for the love of the game. In that regard, we truly are so back. 😲
After I have paid the team for this buffer and development time that number will change to a 95% even split revenue share with the HS:BC team. 5% each month will be saved in order to provide any capital for [S] pages, Albums, Merch, etc. The money made from those endeavors will still be paid to the individual artists. We can talk about a financial breakdown for that when the time comes, and if you still want to know. I do not mind.
For albums and merch I want to do a much fairer split than the current system. The money would go to the musicians and the artists. I do not have a company to run so there is no reason for me to make money off of contributing creatives, other than recuperating any costs (which shouldn’t really be much). This is something I would like to work out with people individually and I am slowly beginning outreach to the old music team so this may take a while. I am also interested in new blood in this capacity, so I’d love to hear from some fan music groups too. I will try and set up some channels for this in the coming months. There is a lot of work for us to do. Hm. I take it back. It truly is so over. 😒
I think that just about covers the plan. Here is the short version:
- The Patreon is coming back and will begin again starting November 1st.
- The money from this goes directly and entirely to the HSBC team.
- We operate independently from What Pumpkin and VIZ Media, and we will not be paying them.
- Another update will be coming in October.
- Starting in November, updates will be once a month while we feel things out.
- Small percentage going to [S] pages, merch, and more music.
We are going to be updating the reward tiers and will talk about that a little more in the future. We want to conclude the bonus update stories, but if and when we do that we will probably tackle the important threads from those in the main comic so that things don’t feel paywalled. Overall, I want to have more community involvement and engagement, and I think the first step towards crossing this bridge has to involve us being more open with the fans.
Comments
Ashley Jesus
very much appreciate the update!
David Raymond Gibellin
Thanks for the post! Once the tiers update, I'll be sure to update mine!
Ci Davies
WOO!! great to have you and thank you for the transparency
Maë
You just made my day! I'm so happy this project is back on track! Thank you and the team for all your hard work and for keeping us updated. Can't wait for the next update!!!
Jathby Dredas
wb
Cheyanne Kramer
Amazing stuff! Thank you so much for keepin us all in the loop. I can't wait to see what comes next. For new Patreon tiers, have you thought of things like physical merch: Prints, stickers, etc? I for SURE would upgrade my tier for that sort of stuff!
Elias Forslind
O_O what
c quinn
Cool and good!!
Heather Turcich
Cool stuff!
Tyupmojo
SOO Excited!!!
Chem
Aw yis
Bartington
I'm beyond fucking excited, stoked to see where you all take us!
Rose
Wooo!!!
MadHatterPlushArtist
Very excited to see where you and the new team take things :D
Isaac Alexander
So excited!! Thank you to the whole team!!
MJL
Either way, I'm glad I can finally officially support homestuck again!
MJL
Any plans to give us legacy patrons a special shout out somewhere? I want the bragging rights for us.
JudexCypress
This is the best news I’ve heard in so long. Happy to see you guys again and glad to be along for the ride!!
Matthew Gertz
Thanks for the update; this sounds like a good plan, and I'll be interested to see where this goes. I'm particularly interested in the music angle; Homestuck music was what got me interested again in composing symphonic pieces a few years back, and making contributions there is something I'd love to ponder.
cataranth
absolutely hype to hear that yall are back, i wish yall the best going forward quick question though: is the HS:BC also doing Hiveswap? or is that a separate team?
Alexis Simonow
This is thrilling?
Disgustedorite
I am positively vibrating. I'm gonna have to see what my money situation will look like but my excitement is unbelievable
acp
pog
JovialKnoll
just inject it directly into my veins
Cole Ruffalo
So excited!!
Amy Arrowsmith
I've been a homestuck fan for longer than I can remember at this point. It was truly formative. For all the criticisms of the original comic- some of which are admittedly valid- and for all the criticisms of the things that happened outside of the comic- also some of which were valid- I cannot stress enough how much this comic means to me, how much it has always meant to me, and how much Beyond Canon means to me as well, and I know for a fact many others agree. The problem with many online spaces is that, when a person enjoys a thing, they simply enjoy it, but when someone doesn't enjoy something, they are far more want to vocalise their dislike. I am here to tell you that there are so many people out there loving what the BC team are doing, and are looking forward to every new development that comes. It's true that it's different now. The story is different, it doesn't feel like the original homestuck at all, but you know what? That's a GOOD thing. Not because the original homestuck was bad, but because we've already had the original homestuck. What you're doing is new, it's fresh, it's exciting! It doens't just re-tread old running gags and references to 'the good old days'. Instead, It's a new vision breathing new life into the world, and I am loving every moment of seeing it unfold, allowing homestuck to grow and evolve in never-before-seen ways. Homestuck brings me as much joy now as it ever did. Keep being awesome, team <3
Swagazaki
Hi James! Nice to see you back, and in such a role to boot! Is there a way I (or anyone interested) can volunteer as a composer?
Audrey Greenlees
<3 <3 <3
YorgBorg
This phenomenal news. I am very glad to see this amount of care and transparency coming from the new team. So much care and transparency we got it twice! /s
Prince Draco
Glad you're back.
Kyrtian Prastaran
very excited to see homestuck2 again when i wasn't sure if we ever would! happy to stick with you guys as a patron, even if a small one. this project means a lot to me
VANTASBUG
awesome! I am really excited! I miss patreon updates so bad 💜💜💜
Enya 💖💜💙
I'd imagine so! You're union now! If you didn't own yourself, I'd be concerned 🤭
What Pumpkin
haha whoops
Swagazaki
yes?
What Pumpkin
i owned myself
What Pumpkin
oh god its over for me
What Pumpkin
LMAO OOPS IM NOT GOOD AT COMPUTERS
Enya 💖💜💙
Double the updates? Wow, this new union is productive 😲
Amber Miller
This is so exciting! I honestly didn't know if or when we would see more of this project, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. Good luck to you and the team, it sounds like a promising (re-)start!
Fotu
i think you accidentally copied and pasted the post twice
Aleph Null
JAMES! YOU PRESSED CONTROL V TWICE, JAMES! THE POST IS REPEATING ITSELF!
Sam MadamMelonMeow
I am so excited for what you and the team are going to be doing! I will continue to support you guys, because not only are you making a story that I am genuinely curious about , but you are continuing something that has been important to me since I was 14, nearly a decade ago. Thank you for being open and honest with us about the percentage breakdown of where the money is going, & how this ties into the update schedule/the purpose of the Patreon. Thank you to everyone involved, and please extend a thank you to Andrew Hussie for giving you guys the license to continue.
NowIOnlyWantATriumph
Update^2: Beyond Planning
Full Blown Marxism
Glad to see we’re keeping the jank around by doubleposting the upd8 lmaoooo Seriously though, great to have you back. I always enjoyed the post canonical works, and I’m glad we’ll be able to see more
Giroh
swag
