Thank You, Patrons!

First off, answering the question I'm sure is on everyone's mind - we WILL be getting a DOTU page this week!  It's just going to post tomorrow or Wednesday instead of today, due to some weekend hectic-ness. :)

And now, onto current matters.  It's Thank You Patrons Day on Patreon, and I've been wanting to give you all an extra thank you anyway since we've hit my 4-year anniversary on Patreon.  So here's a little audio recording!

If you're can't listen or would prefer not to listen to the audio, here's the transcript:

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Hi patrons, this is Bob!

As of last month, I’ve reached four years on Patreon, and I’ve been wanting to give you guys a personal thank you that I feel is long overdue.  I just didn’t know how, I didn’t know what to say.  And I wanted to talk to you guys directly instead of just throwing you a wall of text.

As it turns out, today is Thank You Patrons Day on Patreon, and it’s given me the perfect opportunity to come out and say thank you.  Demon of the Underground started as something I was only able to do as a hobby.  It was something I was doing in my spare time after a really grueling full-time job that asked me for a lot of overtime, a lot of mental energy, basically asked me for all my creativity, and finding time for the comic was really difficult.  Then when I got sick for a year and a half, of course I left my full-time job.  I had to figure out where my career would go for there.

I was still working on the comic for fun. It was kind of the only thing that was keeping me sane.  One of my readers suggested Patreon, and the instant support I got from you guys kept the comic running during that time when I was trying to figure out where I needed to go and what I needed to do.  That was the time that I was struggling the most, and you guys just really lifted everything up for me.

Things have really changed since then, all for the better.  My services for freelance are constantly in need and I still depend on that income, but you guys on Patreon are the ones who are giving me the opportunity to do the work that matters to me, instead of always giving my creative energy to other people’s visions, and to visions that don’t serve the types of people I care about the most - which is you guys.

This is my four-year anniversary on Patreon.  When I launched my Patreon in 2014, I had 26 patrons.  And now, there are over 320 of you.  Over 320 of you are literally keeping the comic running right now.  After seven years of struggling, being self-employed, dealing with chronic illness, having limited options for money-making opportunities, this year is the first year that I’m actually lined up to make more in self-employment than I did at my full-time job, and it’s all thanks to the support I’ve gotten from you guys.

The stability of Patreon support was what made me able to turn down freelance jobs that didn’t pay fairly.  And someday in the future, I might be able to weed out all freelance and focus only on the comic and my own stories, and that would be awesome.  Thirteen of you guys have been with me since my very first month, and a whole bunch more of you are pledging above the dollar amount required for your tier.  All of you are here, now.  You’re all just insanely generous.  I want to thank you every second of every day, I just know that would get really old.  But just know that I am thankful every second of every day.

So anyway, before I go on too long, I just wanted to thank you guys for giving me the opportunity to do the work I’ve always wanted to do.  This has been a really long road - a really really long road - and I’m just so glad that I don’t have to go down that road all by myself.  You guys are all here reading the comic.  I love sharing it with you guys.  And let’s hope for another four years!

I’ll talk to you guys later, on Patreon.  Bye!

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