It appears that I have managed to leave this spot without updates for over four months, which is a long time even for a sporadic blogger like me. I’ve been busy with various writing projects, life outside of writing has required frequent tending, and most of my brain bandwidth has gone to addressing those requirements.
That said, I think I need to curtail my already limited social media presence even further and return my focus to updating just one spot instead of spreading my public presence across four or five different ones. To that end (and because I have bills to pay like everyone else), I am considering moving my updates to Patreon. I’d still keep the general blog updates free, of course, but I’d be posting more regularly, and I’d have an outlet to release short fiction as subscriber exclusives before I put them on the Kindle for general consumption. There could even be a tier where folks can get signed books every now and then with their subscriptions, which would be a good way for me to distribute the author copies I’m drowning in every time a new book comes out.
(Long-time readers will know that I usually do the free book giveaways, but those have started to become unsustainable for various reasons—shipping is getting more expensive, shipments keep getting returned to me unclaimed, and international readers have on occasion refused to pay customs duties and left me sitting on a $20 personalized book I can’t reuse and $25 international shipping costs I’ve spent out of my own pocket.)
Anyway—what’s the general consensus on an All Things Marko Kloos Patreon with a free updates tier and some nice perks for paid subscriptions? And what kind of content would you want to see other than the exclusive short fiction first reads I already mentioned? Looking forward to your comments below.
As far as work goes, I am back on Palladium Wars #5, and that one will be finished this month come hell or high water, to be available at some point in April once it’s been edited, formatted, and hammered into shape for Kindle and paperback formats. I’m having to do an indie release because 47North didn’t want to continue the series and let me finish it, and nobody else is going to commit to the fifth book in a series if they don’t already have the other four in their stable. But as I am not willing to keep the readers hanging and leave a five-year-plus project unfinished, the fifth book will be finished and released before I get started on the next thing.
Green light on All things Marko Kloos Patreon!!! Sounds like a great idea and a lot of fun for your followers. Can’t wait for PW#5 thanks for going ahead with it, will be nice for you to end the series as you see fit……
I’d likewise support on Patreon and look forward to book #5 of the Palladium series.
As for Patreon content beyond short fiction, I’m always fascinated by world building and background information. I grew up on RPG sourcebooks and devoured the information therein. Something similar for your works would be interesting – backgrounds of organizations, more details descriptions of ships and equipment, artwork & sketches, etc.
Hope all is well and I’m looking forward to the new works!
I’m not planning to be on Patreon but I don’t mind if you decide to do more self-publishing and / or charge more for your books. Your writing is exceptional, the depth of the story, character development and the attention to detail is an immersive experience. Happy to accept a price increase.
I’m possibly a bit old school in that I quite enjoy these updates arriving via my RSS feed into my newsreader rather than email notifications via Patreon – update emails tend to pile up in amongst all the other stuff. until I have 50 unread and I just bulk delete them! – plus I’ve had to tightly compress my Patreons because of circumstances. I find the Patreon app unwieldy and awkward to navigate too.
I’ve checked my Kindle library and I seem to have bought every book you’ve ever written. So Palladium #5 is a no‑brainer. I look forward to where you take us next. Cheers Robert from Melbourne