I’d like to ask members their opinion on the price of the monthly membership. If you’re a member, please take a moment to answer the poll below and let me know your thoughts. You can also leave comments if you’d like to make suggestions on how to make the membership area better.
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[poll id=”31″]
13 thoughts on “Members: Price of Monthly Membership”
Charles E
I think you should go with the $4.99 mark. Basically, that’s a fiver. Everyone can find $5 in a month, or they aren’t paying anything at all. Likewise, it’s a comfortable psychological number since it’s an even note in a lot of English speaking countries.
B
Don’t really want my real name on this kind of site, so I’m not logged into my members account, but I am a member.
I originally joined the Members section for the exclusive comics and the early previews of new comics. It used to be that I could see several strips ahead, but it’s rarely more than a sketch of the next one now. And with the current system of blog updates instead of the old sidebar updates I never know when they’re posted.
Right now there’s a single sketch ahead of where we are, followed by a single script. It feels like that’s not as much as we got before, but even then you wouldn’t know it to look at the updates section. The last relevant update is showing the preview of the current strip.
That said, I feel like the members section is priced well where it is. Usually I’ve been buying the yearly subscription, letting that lapse afterwards thinking that it hasn’t been updating with members stuff as often as I’d like, then seeing a preview for a members only comic and re-registering after remembering that the membership is cheaper than I always think it is. If it was raised I’d probably go through the same pattern, but without thinking “oh, I can pay that easily, I’ll reup for another year!”
To give it something to compare to, over the weekend I bought Locke & Key Vol 6. It retails for $30, the same amount you’re asking for a yearly subscription. It has 212 pages in it, and the format of the book is such that you probably get as much story out of one page as you do from one strip of one of the comics. Art is more subjective of course, and you get physically more of it from L&K but with their large panels you’re probably about the same there. If we include the benefit of seeing the normal strips early with one strip a week that’d be about 52 pages. There are 62 members comics in total, so even if we assume they all happened in the past year that’s only a little less than double what you’d pay for a print version of a rather popular series that you’ll still have access to after a year. (And I didn’t even pay the $30 for it, that’s just the original retail price)
It’s worth it for me to pay the money to support you as a writer and artist because I REALLY enjoy your work. I just wish there was more of it… Also this got rant-y real quick, so I apologize that I couldn’t express my points more succinctly.
Miguel
I completely agree with B. Even, I’ve been thinking on cancel my membership because I feel I’m paying a lot and receiving few advantages.
Jaycee
Thanks guys, I really appreciate this kind of feedback. It’s the only way for me to know what works, what doesn’t, and how to make it better. First, and more importantly, thank you for your continued support. Without it, this site simply wouldn’t exist.
It sounds to me like you value the exclusive comics above all, with the previews after that. I’m not seeing any comments about the character pictures or ebooks—do those generate any interest at all? Since they represent significant costs, I could easily drop them and focus on strips if the general consensus is that those are more important/valued by you, the members.
Thanks,
–Jaycee
“I’m doing it.”
B
I’d agree with that. I do like the character portraits that have stories behind them (the cursed fighting game characters for example) but I’d definitely prefer more exclusive comics. I like the different situations that come from people being cursed and seeing how people react to them. It’s also possible that the lack of comments on the character pictures is because they aren’t updated very much, and in fact the alt text for the menu entry says “Bonus pictures every week (no longer updated)”
I did check out one or two of the eBooks, but they were much shorter than I expected. I think it actually took me longer to get them on my kindle than it did to read them, so I stopped grabbing them after that. A longer form story would be interesting, but for something the length that the eBooks are I’d rather they just be blog posts.
It might be a nice idea to form the older blog posts into one big eBook, since I know I have a giant backlog to read but the interface for the forums makes it hard to try and go back and read the entries. More specifically, I can’t filter things down to just specific kinds of entries with a tag system or something. Also there while there is a “prev/next” section for the entries, there isn’t for the wider view, meaning I have to go through the drop down menu and select the next month each time, which is somewhat cumbersome.
… I’d rather have more content than trying to fix that though. 🙂
Jaycee
Cool, B, thanks for the comments. I’ll see if I can have a poll to sort out the general preferences of all members, but it might be that I’m wasting time & resources on content that isn’t valued–and at that point, it’d be better invested on additional comics. It would certainly save me time, keep things more focused, and lead to sellable compilations more quickly. I (perhaps naively) thought that having a diversity of offerings might be more popular to readers…
–Jaycee
“I’m doing it.”
B
Thank YOU for reading them! I think most people wouldn’t be so open to criticism. And while I’m at it thanks for several years of making a wonderful comic! I feel like there aren’t enough erotic series out there that have women taking the dominant position without going strictly into femdom / S&M categories. The Sir Thane series is especially good about that and has been my favorite storyline so far.
It’s definitely possible that there are members who want the more varied content. From a first glance however, the site is structured to centrally present the main comic, which would probably lead more people who prioritize that kind of content to investigate the paid options further.
Personally I want comics more than anything, but more important than that is that you don’t get burnt out. I know I tend to jump around from thing to thing to keep myself interested in what I’m doing. If that’s the reason why you are going for such diversity, then by all means keep doing it!
If you’re doing it to be more popular to readers though, I think having a greater amount of a focused type of content would be better. You might lose some the people who enjoyed the things you aren’t focusing on, however I think when you spread yourself that thin you end up not having enough content to satisfy the people who come to you for any specific category. Focusing on a few core categories will ensure that you have enough new content to keep the people like Miguel and I around and happy while bringing back others who might have already let their subscriptions lapse for the same reasons.
I’m pretty sleep deprived at this point, so I apologize if I’m just kind of restating points from my previous posts.
B
Oops, this was supposed to be a reply to your response to my previous post…
Jaycee
Feedback is a sign people actually CARE about you, and that they think you can improve. I personally consider it very flattering.
The main reason for me doing a diversity of products is mostly because I wanted to see what would stick and what wouldn’t work. I’m not entirely surprised by your preferences and I suspect they would be echoed by many other members. Regarding the pinups, I was going to drop them completely, but lately I have found them useful to test potential artists for offering them comics strips. It’s a great way to see who’s reliable and who’s not.
At any rate, I’m going to put up a poll to see what people prefer, and will see what the results give us.
Thanks again for the comments. Also, thanks for the very kind compliments.
–Jaycee
“I’m doing it.”
Moody
I like the ebooks, but they are pretty short and far between. Having a variety of content in the members area is a plus and I think the ebooks help. If the ebooks stopped then I’d probably not renew membership. The only thing I’d miss would be the exclusive comics but those are also few and far between. Sorry if I sound like a dick, but I read lots of web comics and only financially support a select few. All that being said, thanks for doing what you do.
Jaycee
No probs, Moody, I don’t think you’re being a dick. There’s a difference between being honest (which is what you’re doing) and being a dick (which is being mean/malicious while being honest). The feedback is taken in the spirit in which it’s offered.
I was actually ramping up to have more ebooks, though I wasn’t certain they were being very popular. I’m glad to hear there’s an interest for them.
–Jaycee
“I’m doing it.”
Addy
Right now a raise feels a bit unneeded, I subscribed because it was cheap enough for me to get curious about the members area and I haven’t been sorry but i wouldn’t continue subscribing if you raised the amount right now,
don’t get me wrong I really do like your work, but for the price I pay i would like something more. My favorites are the comic itself (of course) the exclusive comics and the ebook.
The thing I would want to see is more things for the ladies (you posted a pic not long ago I know) I don’t mind the female objectification here even-tough it might be a bit cliché with big boobs and a never ending lust for sex. I Guess you don’t go explicit for a reason but why is it so okay to show naked boobs and not say a full frontal of sir tanye? (just asking here).
Right now the only possibility to me t considering paying more would be if I got access to more content, maybe other sites like cutepet.
Also that you can not edit your profile is to bad since i hate having my picture as a gravatar
Jaycee
Thanks for the very good feedback, it’s appreciated.
To answer your question, I realize there’s a somewhat hypocritical double standard at work here. Boobs are okay, penises are not. It’s just part of the aesthetics that Wondollar and I agree upon right from the get-go: no penises, no pussies, no penetration and no gushing bodily fluids. I guess it’s just part of the brand that is Bloomin’ Faeries! now.
But you’re right, I should probably cater a bit more to the female audience once in a while (you guys wouldn’t hold it against me, now, would you?). In side, your comment just gave me an idea for a pinup involving Sir Thane that I might commission sometime in the not too distant future.
I’ll see what could be done about editing your profile. I’m not sure there are many options that I have control over, but it’s worth looking into.
–Jaycee
“i’m doing it.”