As I mentioned earlier this week, starting in December I’ll be making some adjustments to the release schedule as part of an overall shift in the sustainability business model for the comic. Advertising is no longer contributing to the site in a meaningful way, and so I’m relying more on direct support from readers in the form of Patreon or merchandise. It’s been heading this way for a long while, most of us that work online like this have seen the writing on the wall for advertising that isn’t on Youtube or Twitch, etc. I held out as long as I could, but it’s time for me to try something a bit different in order to continue being able to put this comic out for free as well as… y’know… eat.
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First and foremost, the website will continue to get all of the regular comics I do for free. However they’ll update 2x a week (Monday and Friday). Our Patreon at the $3+ tiers will continue to get updates 3x a week (keeping the current M/W/F schedule). In this way I can add value to the Patreon to hopefully entice more people to consider supporting (and those of you that have done so far are absolutely incredible), while still giving something to those that, for whatever reason, cannot.
Additionally, I am speaking with a couple of people about a long-overdue update for the website here, with two goals in mind: Make the archives easier to browse/navigate, and to allow the Patreon-exclusive content to be accessible/readable here behind a login. Patreon is great for content delivery, but not so great at content access/browsing, especially for a comic format. So I’m hoping to find a way Patrons can still read the content here, if they wish.
My intention is to ride out December with the current ads on the website, since this is the season where ads typically do the best (even if the best of shit is still shit), and then in 2026 I will look into decluttering by removing some or most of them. I hate them on the website as much as you do, and if they aren’t making themselves worth the eyesore, may as well get rid of them.
Additionally, the Starcaster Chronicles, currently about to close out Issue #17 on its own Patreon, will be added to the $3+tiers of the main Ctrl+Alt+Del Patreon as well. It will be read-only (no voting), and remain 2 full issues behind the actual Starcaster Patreon (where people vote on story choices), but this adds some additional content to the main Patreon, and also makes it a little easier for people who want everything all in one place/monthly subscription.
We’ll have some other small changes and announcements, and I’ll try and make it clear what tiers get what perks, etc, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up for what the plan was. I very much appreciate everyone that has joined us on our Patreon, or picked up some merch. I’ve loved doing this comic for the past two decades, and I hope to do it for another couple as long as I can find some equilibrium with the shifting online landscape.
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