Personal update and the future of The Young Protectors

Howdy y'all -

I hope you're having a good beginning of Spring. :)

It's been a little while since I've shared a personal update, so I wanted to give a brief mention of what's going on with me. And I needed to share a change I have to make to how often we post new pages.

What's going on with Alex

Overall, I've been doing well since I shared a personal post last year at this time.

Creatively, I'm feeling really fulfilled. This latest battle scene in the comic was a bit of a bear to write, but I'm delighted with how these current pages are coming out. I think it's some of our best work yet. And I'm also working on an urban fantasy prose novel (i.e. a regular novel of just words) with gay heroes that I'm having a lot of fun with. I'll share more about that when the first draft is finished. (And if there is interest, I could even share some of the writing with you.)

I don't know who said this (maybe I heard it in a movie?), but as a writer, when the writing is going well, everything feels like it's going well. And, at least in my experience, that's true.

Also, I'm still having a wonderful time with my husband, Fernando, who is my rock and support. I'm kind of a Bill Withers fan and if you've ever heard his song Lovely Day, then you know how my guy makes me feel, pretty much all the time.

Just like in 2022, though, there are some challenges. After making a burst of progress with the design of The Annihilator Dossier, it seems we are in a holding pattern again with that. And that's something that needs to be completed before the launch of the next Kickstarter. I am still committed to having our next Kickstarter (for Volumes 2 and 3 of Engaging the Enemy) later this year. But I do wish this part was already in my rear view mirror. Hopefully, my designer and I can spin back up with that soon.

The bigger deal is that things with my mother have been very up and down since the last update. There have multiple hospitalizations (three in January of this year alone), new diagnoses (congestive heart failure, kidney failure), and she just got over her first bout of Covid. The good news is that she seems to be doing ok now, and it feels like we might be moving into another quiet period, but as anyone who's needed to take care of an elderly parent can tell you, it's been hard.

One saving grace, though, has been the new facility I've moved Mom to. Not only is it much closer to me, which allows me to be much more involved in her care, but the team there is truly excellent. They can't take all the weight off my shoulders, but it's not for lack of trying or expertise. Bringing her here was one of the best decisions I've ever made (and, as I said before, it was only possible because of you, so thank you so much for that. I can't say it enough, but y'all really are the true heroes of The Young Protectors.)

So, I've experienced some stresses over the last 12 months. But, like I said, overall I'm good. And I look forward to sharing more cool writing with y'all soon.

But in terms of The Young Protectors:

We need to switch to posting one day per week

First, the good news. Since I let everyone know that the comic needed more support back in October, the bleeding has, for the most part, stopped. Before I made that announcement, I was losing about $100/month in support, and since then it's remained fairly stable at around $4,300/month. That's a good thing, and I am deeply grateful to all of you for that.

But that number is clearly much lower than the $6,000/month I said I needed to keep things going the way they have been. (And even that number turns out to have been an underestimation.) Since then, while cutting every expense I can think of, I've taken a much closer look at my finances, and have realized that I now need to make a change. The truth is, it's not just that I haven't been making an income on this comic for a while, I've actually been going into debt over it. And a not small amount of debt.

The most important thing for me is to finish what we've started. I've gotten invested in stories, including webcomics, where the creators just stopped for whatever reason, and I promised myself I would never do that to my readers.

But at this point, the only expense left to cut is how much I'm paying to create the art. And I've determined that shifting to posting one page per week instead of two would put me in a place where, at the very least, I will no longer need to add any more debt. At the current rate of support, I'll be breaking even.

This is a decision I should have made some time ago, but I've been loathe to do it. Two pages per week feels like the ideal rate to share this story with you. But at this point, I need to be realistic about what is sustainable and, unless something radically changes, this is what I know I can do.

From this week forward, we will post a new update to the The Young Protectors comic on Wednesdays only, instead of Wednesday and Saturday as we have been.

What you can do to help

You all are such a huge and amazing support. This comic wouldn't even be possible without you, and we've now published well north of 1000 pages of high-quality stories with gay heroes. So, I imagine some of you will be wondering what you can do to help.

The biggest thing you can do is to, if it's at all possible for you, please maintain your current level of support here on Patreon. The numbers work for one page/week of posting at $4,300/month. Less than that and they won't.

I'll continue to do everything possible to keep making the experience of being my Patron the best I can. It seems like the Scene Compilations really are popular. They do take a chunk of time to put together, but I can try to do more of those. There might be other things I can do, too. As always, please let me know how I can make your experience of being my Patron as fun and fulfilling as possible. I really want you to be happy to be here.

Also, if you know anyone else who might enjoy the comic, please let them know. I've tried different method to advertise our work, and so far haven't stumbled upon the right formula. I still have some other things I can try, but I believe we are making a really great comic, and what will make the biggest difference in terms of sustainability is bringing in new readers. Any help you can offer there would go a long way.

Will The Young Protectors ever go back to two pages/week?

It could. More readers could mean more support. I'll set a new milestone goal of $7,000/month. If we get back to that level again, I would be able to afford two pages/week while at least starting to pay down the debt. Maybe with a Kickstarter and getting the word out, we'll get there sooner rather than later. It's certainly something I want to do.

Questions?

Like I said, this has been a decision I've been putting off for a long time. I love sharing these pages with you, the more, the better. It's also frankly a bit scary to do this: what if y'all just throw up your hands now, and the Patreon support craters?

But ultimately, it's the right thing to do for the comic. We are coming to the end of Chapter 4 of Double Cross, and there's only one more chapter after that. I have a great ending to the story for you, and gosh darn it, I want you to see it. (And I also have a lot of fun, romantic stuff to share with our side story, Fallen, that I think you're going to love.) I need to do whatever I can to keep the train on the tracks.

Hopefully, all this makes sense. Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. I'll be happy to answer them.

And thank you so much for supporting this work. Ultimately, The Young Protectors is your story. You make it happen. You really should feel proud about what we've been able to do together. I know i do.

More soon,

Alex