Francesca's Thoughts

Hello!

If you’re active in online creator spaces, you might have seen some chatter about the Patreon Apple/iOS app. By chatter, I mean extremely angry posts about potential loss of income. Here is Patreon’s official statement about the iOS app, which is implementing a 30% fee on in-app purchases from November. On a related note, Patreon is using this change as an excuse to insist that all creators use a certain billing model.

What this means for you as members/potential members of the No. 1 Readers’ Club on Patreon

For those of you who have been a member of my page for longer than about ten months, you’re billed for your membership on the first of each month, regardless of when you joined. I changed to the subscription billing model, where members are billed on the date of the month they joined, last year – because Patreon only allows you to use some of its features if you use subscription billing. Patreon wants everyone to use subscription billing, regardless of how they share their creations or run their business, so Apple’s purchasing requirements are just an excuse to force all creators onto that model, really, and has this gotten up the noses of a great many people. This is a good article if you’re interested in further reading. The good news: there will be no billing model changes for anyone who’s currently a member of the No. 1 Readers’ Club, and nothing will change for new members going forward, because I already made the switch to subscription billing, and you’ll continue to get new chapters of Rotting Trees each week, early release short stories and tarot readings as per usual. Yay!

What will change: Unless you’re using an iOS app to pay for memberships or sales on my page, nothing will change for you. If you are currently using an iOS app to access my page, please delete the app immediately and use a method of viewing that isn’t shit. I don’t use Apple products, so I’ve got no first hand experience of the iOS app, but apparently it is quite clunky and a bit naff. So use a browser instead for peak viewing experience!

If you do choose to keep accessing my page on the iOS app, from November you’ll be charged 30% more than you would be by accessing it from elsewhere. I’d love to swallow the cost, but my membership tiers are nearly all single figure sums (£1, £3, £5) and I just can’t afford to give an extra 30% to the Apple machine. I earn 65-70p from every pound my members pledge; if I were to earn a third less than that, it wouldn’t be worth my time to run the page. So I recommend deleting the app and using a perfectly acceptable web browser instead. I mostly share links and PDFs, so you don’t really need the app in the first place!

I’m mindful that passing the 30% fee onto members might lose me members, which is a bummer, but a) I’ve got a business to run and bills to pay, and b) if you use an Apple device you can avoid the 30% fee by using a web browser. All you need to do is log in to your Patreon account via a browser, delete the app and enjoy Rotting Trees and my short stories in the same way you always have: via clicking on a PDF. Easy. It’s more pleasant to read text using a desktop anyway. Do people under 25 still know how to use desktops? It’s easy, you go to your local library and use theirs.

I think I have covered everything you guys need to know. Please comment if you have questions and I’ll do my best to answer. Here is a handy link to my Patreon if you’re minded to check it out. It’s my main internet space, other than here, and the community of readers on there is lovely. I’m uploading a video update to the page soon, with book updates. MULTIPLE book updates. Which books? Wait and see bahahahaa.

Look after yourselves!

Francesca