I’ve just made a Patreon page. I’ve set it up as a monthly subscription, so should you wish to become a patron, feel free. If you do not, please don’t feel obligated. Your attention is enough.
Below is a copy of the “about” portion of it.
Hello, I’m Daniel Triumph, a human in the pursuit of quality narrative. I experiment with visual arts and comics, but most of the time I write serialized novels on my blog.
If you’ve come here to support me, I want to say thank you! Your money will not go to waste.
So, what are you supporting anyway? Let’s get specific.
- Genre: In the broadest of terms, I write speculative fiction.
- Be more specific: I write fantasy-realism, in a high fantasy setting. I also add touches of science-fiction.
- Characterization: I want to write really human, realistic characters. That means avoiding cliches and learning how people react to situations in the real world, as opposed to in the fictional world.
- Themes: I like to write about political, social, and ideological injustices. Right now some of my drafts focus on the legal system and on uprisings. Later topics I want to explore include: Leadership, Capitalism (and the corrupt music industry), Communism and Marxism, Gender, race, and class equality.
- Weak Points: I want to have a fairly even split of male and female protagonists and side characters. Right now I tend towards females, so I’m going to challenge myself. I also need to work on structure, and the best way to do that is to practice by writing more books! Finally, I don’t read enough, so I need to improve that as well.
- Goals: I want to put out four books a year or more. And good books, quality literature that people want to read.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why is your picture upside down? Aesthetic mostly. I’m not sure why, but this photo is more pleasing to the eye when it’s upside down. Plus it’s a bit of fun, isn’t it? (If I change the profile picture to something that’s not upside down, then discard this bullet.)
- Do you really pen all your first drafts? No, not really. Only some of them. I like penning though, so if I ever work on like a secret manuscript or something, it’ll be in blue pen for sure.
- Is your name really Triumph? Yes, my dad came up with it when I was seven. It used to be something else. Good brand name though, isn’t it? Haha!
The Technical Stuff
Right now I’m only able to practice my craft with about 10% of my time. I spend 10h at work or going to work or getting ready for work, or showering after work. I sleep for 9h (I know it’s more than the 7-8 that’s suggested, I have brain issues and I need that hour.) Then I eat, the two meals outside of work is around 1h. So now I have 4 hours. I spend about 1.5h to myself, reading or playing video games and so on. So, I work for 2.5 hours.
Now that might sound like not enough time to get anything done, at least nothing worth any money. Well, I typically write 1500-3000 words in a day, and edit around 2000. That’s about four pages of writing and four pages of editing. Is that a lot? I’m not sure. Here are the two baselines I use.
- It seems that most writers take 8-24 months to write a book. Around a year, that’s what people say, right?
- The renown writer Stephen King writes six pages a day, and he’s full time. I do 2/3 of that part time, and I consider that a modest achievement. I’m not suggesting anything about quality here, this is just a baseline for words put onto pages.
So, I think I do okay.
Where does the money go?
Well, I’ve got a few phases.
While I’m part time: 100%, and I mean absolutely all of the money will go towards self-publishing expenses. Consider:
- $50-$100: Cover Editing
- $0-$5: Beta Readings (Sometimes I have to give my friends a carrot, not because my work is boring, but because they never pick it up in the first place.)
- $500-$1 500: Manuscript Editing (Bottoms out around $0.01 per word.)
- $0-$1 000: Manuscript Proofreading (Not sure if I will need both, or if the editor will do both. More research is needed.) (Bottoms out around $0.007 per word.)
- $0-125: It seems that ISBNs might be free in Canada. If my application does not go through, Bowker sells them for $125.
Despite all the big numbers (thanks Canadian Dollar for being worth less…), self publishing costs around $1000-$2000, a price I can raise on my own in a few months. However, the more you invest, the better quality you get back. If I wanted to, say, draft then get it edited, then draft and get it edited again, that doubles the price of editing.
That’s where the money will go.
If my Patreon eclipses the $2000 book publishing + the cost of living: If Patreon becomes my living, then a lot changes.
My realistic cost of living is almost $1000 per month.
- $200 – Food. I’m not sure if this is considered a lot, but I need to eat!
- $80 – Materials. This is everything from a set of Prismacolors to a month of Grammarly to a ballpoint and 80 page notebook.
- $5+ – The cost of business. My WordPress subscription is $4 a month, and my domain is around $1. When I eventually upgrade WordPress plans, it’ll spike to around $40 a month. Still not that much in the grand scheme of things. I also want to get a professional web design for my blog, so if I get any extra money, it’ll go here, after advertising and living space.
- $50+ – Entertainment. This, I know for a fact, is very low. But really, I enjoy my art, and only occasionally buy a movie or some Riot Points.
- 0-$50+ – Advertising. I ran a Facebook at once for $15 and doubled my blog views that day. I think I ended up netting only one or two people, but I would love to experiment with Facebook and Reddit ads in the future. This is the first place any extra money will go, right back into the business!
- $400-$800 – Rent. Right now my rent is cheap, but that’s because I’m renting a room from my friends grandparents. I’m going to move out very soon, because I absolutely need to be alone sometimes. (I’m sure some of you know what I’m feeling.) Rent isn’t always cheap, but it seems to average around $550-$650 for a bachelor pad / apartment, which is all I need right now. This is the second place any extra money would go.
- $80-$280 – Transportation. I recently totalled my car when the tires all locked up on the highway. I’m fine, but the SUV is not. Now I either take the two hour walk into town, or pay $13 for a cab one way. If I go into town to shop once a week, that’s $26×4, so this number is actually conservative. When I eventually save up a thousand or so and get a decent looking beater, then gas will be around $80, insurance I have no idea, maybe $200?
- $20 – Medication. I am a diagnosed bipolar / manic-depressive human. My medication is comparatively inexpensive at the moment even without insurance coverage.
- $40 – Misc. I put this into every budget, just in case.
So, taking a mode for rent and a single Facebook ad a month as a starting point, it comes to $935. (Minimum in my province pays around $1400 net a month.) And I don’t think I’ll be getting a car any time soon if I’m paying insurance, cabbing seems to suit me just fine! I don’t know if my cost of living is high, but it’s less than minimum wage, so I survive on it with ease.
So, that’s it, that’s my life, as transparent as I can be. If in one month I cap $1000 + the publishing savings of $2000, then I’ll be free! I don’t think I’ll quit my job until it happens for a few months in a row, but if I can hit that minimum wage goal for four months, I’m quitting my job and working on my craft full time.
So, if you don’t work, then what?
If I quit my job and live off of my Patreon and book sales, then I intend to work a minimum of eight hours on my writing every day except the sabbath, which is Saturday. After, I want to practice my visual arts for at least one hour a day. I’ll start a podcast, and voice all of my short stories, maybe even audiobook my novels!
The point is, I’m still going to have eight hour days even if I don’t work. Why? Because if you’re all paying for my living, then I owe you my time, my 40 hour work week. (Well, it would be 48 and probably more, because I intend to work Sundays too.)