Luke’s stories
UPDATE: 12/14/2017
I don’t know what to tell you guys, other than what has happened and how it makes me feel.
Patreon have reversed their decision to introduce the fees that would have impacted you guys, the subscribers, especially the lowest tiers who would be paying out an extra $0.34 cent on every $1 dollar subscription. The feedback was so strong and negative from Patreon subscribers and creators, that Patreon has backtracked on their decision to introduce this new structure. But guess where that leaves me…
On average in the last year, we’ve gained only one or two new subscribers per month– usually only opting into the $1 dollar tier. As of last week we are down 7 subscribers (each citing their reason for leaving in the exit survey as being the new fee changes) and with them we have lost $28 per month. And with the exception of only 3 of those subscribers who have quit, I do not have the contact details of the others and cannot reach out to them to say “hey, the reason you guys left won’t be happening now, so come on back!”. That’s right, Patreon scared off $28 dollars in support for what Leanne and I do here on Patreon, and more importantly, they scared of 7 off our fans.
All for what?
For nothing. Patreon’s reasons for the change were to save themselves money on the service margins and leave themselves with more profit off you and me, by framing it as a great benefit to creators who would no longer see fluctuation in their monthly earnings. It was obvious in their press release announcement that they were trying to paint their new accounting practice as something creators should get behind. But they forgot that most of us creators have a very close relationship to our supporters. We aren’t making thousands of dollars a a month, and every individual subscriber counts.
Subscribers who only pledge $1 per month are the grassroots for creators like myself. We tell you guys that as little as $1 dollar a month means a lot to us. $1 dollar is the entry level. It is the difference between supporting us financially, and not giving anything at all. It opens a door. $1 dollar subscribers might decide they want some of the higher tier rewards after trying Patreon out, and might adjust their pledge to be higher. But at the end of the day, if we could get more of our thousands of readers to give $1 dollar each, we’d be making thousands of dollars.
Just a week ago we had 74 subscribers. We now have 67. When Patreon announced the planned fee change for subscribers, they told the creators that it would still benefit us in the long term since we would not lose as much of our monthly earnings eating the service margin fees like we used to. Now that they are not going ahead with this, the result is creators like myself suddenly down on numbers… for what? Like I said… for nothing but Patreon’s greedy and ill-thought move.
I have emailed them about this. I’ve asked them how they can do this to us, killing off some of our support, and thinking that purely retracting their decision to introduce the new fees makes things better. It doesn’t. They made a mess in the process and really hurt us. Most of all, they have killed any enthusiasm I have toward their platform and their company.
I cannot access the emails of those that unsubscribed. I know three of the fans that quit and they shifted to Paypal subscription to BMS. But the others are listed as anonymous on their exit surveys and I cannot personally reach out to them and say “please come back, Patreon have decided not to be stupid.” So all I can do is shout aloud in public social networks saying, “if you’re out there, and you can hear me, we want you back!”
That’s the mess Patreon has just handed to us creators. As if them taking nearly $100 of our monthly earnings in fees wasn’t enough of a pain in the ass in the first place… A pain in the ass I still found preferable when it meant keeping the subscribers happy, no matter their level… they’ve gone a scared some of our supporters off, and dropped out monthly earnings.
So what do I tell you guys? I just want you to know how this mess has effected not just you guys, but particularly me, and creators like me. Not the big Patreon creators who make an actual living from Patreon, but people who make up the majority of Patreon’s clients, the middle to low end guys and gals like me.
Anti-forciness.
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And for those interested in other options, we are going to try to fulfill the same tier rewards through direct Paypal subscriptions to BMS, but for now I recommend people stick with Patreon until we can make a move to a better platform hopefully in the next two months. In the time being, Patreon still offers the best way to access our exclusive BMS content.
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BMS Paypal Subscription info
Well, Patreon sucks! We are sorry to everyone who is being effected by Patreon’s fee hike for subscribers. We’ve lost several of you already and we’re not happy with Patreon. So, here is a way you can directly support us, with minimal fees. It’s a new Paypal subscription we are offering for Blue Milk Special readers that want to support creators, and get the latest strips, long before they debut to the public on this website. We are already into our Heir to the Empire parody!
Basic Access + Art Panels (Basic Access to new strips + 1 high res panel per strip)
$1 dollar or more per month
Thank you! You have a touch of Forciness! You get an EXCLUSIVE Patreon only high resolution art JPG from one of the panels of the latest strip. 1 Hi Res Art Panel (without word balloons and FX) per strip.
Behind the Scenes (everything above, + behind the scenes)
$2 or more per month
Get a patron-only perspective on my work.
Blog about my inspirations
Patrons get updates on work before anywhere else
See images of our rough sketches and works in progress!
Sneak Peak (see each new strip, one day before Basic Access sucbscribers)
$3 of more per month
Thank you! I sense much Forciness in you! You get the upcoming strip THE DAY BEFORE it is published to the public!
Jedi Apprentice Super Early Bird
$5 or more per month
Thank you! The Forciness is strong with you! You get the upcoming strip 1 WEEK BEFORE it is published (up to three strips ahead of the official website!). $5 and higher supporters go in the draw for an original piece of BMS art from Leanne’s 2009-2011 sketches (seen in the Behind the Scenes segments)
Jedi Knight
$10 or more per month
Thank you! Your Forciness is almost as big as mine! You get all of the above AND I randomly pick one $10 dollar subscriber per month to receive a signed print! You go in the draw for an original piece of BMS art from Leanne’s 2009-2011 sketches (seen in the Behind the Scenes segments)
Jedi Master
$20 or more per month
Thank you!!! I have not felt a presence with this much Forciness since… You get all of the above AND 1 signed webcomic print of your choice. That’s 12 per year, delivered quarterly. You go in the draw for an original piece of BMS art from Leanne’s 2009-2011 sketches (seen in the Behind the Scenes segments)
Dark Lord of the Latte
$25 or more per month
Be like Vader. Let the Latte flow through you! Give in to the power of the highest rewards tier! With this tier you get 4 sketch cards a year. That’s one every three months! Or you can choose to have 6 signed webcomic prints a year. You choose! Prints are easier for us to deliver as they take less time away from BMS, but it is your choice. We need and love your support.
What’s going on, you ask? Yes, a few of you have reached out to us wanting to know what’s going on with Blue Milk Special. There have been no updates to the website for several months. BMS is continuing through Patreon in the meantime, with the Thrawn: Heir to the Empire storyarc having just begun. But going is tough, and slow. However, it is only thanks to our Patreons that we are going at all.
We have new challenges. The usual health battles, house expenses, largely our problems seem centered around money. That’s why it is hard to make time for what is in essence, free fan fic. Thanks to patronage, we are able to justify a continued Blue Milk Special project, but we also have to survive. Which is why we have managed to be signed to a contract with Webtoons for a brand new original, creator-owned comic due to debut early in 2018.
Leanne has two jobs right now. Her day job, and the night job. The night job is the new paying webcomic for Webtoons. I’m full time, health-permitting, writing and coloring the new comic. We’ve been working on this since April of 2017, but various crisis have made an already challenging project even more difficult.
Not least of which was our cat, Biggs Pawlighter’s being touch and go during spring due to a urinary blockage that hit him really hard and saw him spend a week in emergency care and us turn to GoFundMe for help. Thankfully, he’s still with us today, and one of those vital sources of joy and companionship that we often need when the times are hard.
It’s been our dream to be paid to tell stories, and with that finally around the corner, we have had to treat Blue Milk Special as the side gig that fan fic can only ever be. However, if you want to follow the latest BMS escapades, check out the following info below. And again, thanks for your interest and support. We would not still be doing BMS without you!
Supporting us through Patreon is simple, and you have complete control over your subscription. You can give us as much as you like, even $1 dollar helps, and you can cancel your subscription any time. If you need to take a month off, you can simply cancel and re-subscribe when you’re ready. There are no strings attached. Patreon allows readers like yourself to support artists who are doing their part to share a laugh or two with the world, through comedy and art.
For the month of August until the first weekend of September, our Patreons will all be in the draw to win the original art used in the early days of Blue Milk Special 2009-2010. See our Patreon page for me details. So join up now, and go in the draw! 🙂
We are now hosted on WebToons and building a new home for our community of readers. We’d love to see you over there. So drop by and experience BMS anew!
You get to experience Blue Milk Special all over again in a new vertical format that looks great on your phone, and computer. The punchline panels work so much better, and you get to see larger panels! There are even some new strips, and better chronological ordering!
There are hundreds of other classy and hilarious webcomics you can discover at WebToons, along with a vibrant community of readers to interact with. Also, by subscribing to us, and the page views, we get a small amount of financial support from WebToons that helps us when we desperately need it.
Would you like to help Blue Milk Special keep going? Well, WebToons is a fun new way of doing that. And you can comment on each strip. Yep, comments are open.
WebToons works on your web browser or your smart phone app and allows you to read a wide range of webcomics by both amateur and professional creators alike. It also has a unique formatting rule where all webcomics have to scroll vertically, rather than left to right. It makes for a brand new Blue Milk Special reading experience!
Here’s an example of our reformatted look over on the left. To read it full size, click the link to go straight to Webtoons. While you’re there, we hope you will consider making an account, checking out the many webcomics on offer, as well as becoming a subscriber to Blue Milk Special. It’s FREE!
Obviously, supporting us on Webtoons is totally free and only requires a minute of your time each day. There are many great webcomics there to discover by artists more talented than us, so dive in and escape the drudgery of daily life for a while! 🙂
On a separate note, please consider supporting BMS, whether it’s through buying one of these auctions, or donating via Patreon or GoFundMe. If you want to donate to us directly through Paypal, then here is the link.
If you subscribe to us through Patreon, you get to see the next set of strips early and get exclusive content. All money helps keep BMS going from the cost of the website to helping with my expensive monthly medical bills and health insurance. We can not publish BMS for sale as it is only a fan project, so we rely on fan support for the project’s continuation.
More BMS Milk Cartons to come on Friday! Make sure you check back!