Newest Page: 571 - Abundance of Caution

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2024-10-04

Page 571 + Good News

Page 571 is up! (And the next 6 pages are up early for patrons!)

Since the last update, we've received one donation and welcomed two new patrons. (Thank you to Sarah, malphades and Jocey!)

Our total pledge amount slipped a bit, but fortunately it looks like we'll still be able to buy food and keep the lights on this month. BECAUSE...

After months of searching, D has income again! Huzzah! It's much less than her former job, but we are so thankful to have anything at all right now.

I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who is helping us — we absolutely would not have made it without you!

(Seriously, we were nearly out of food, and just a couple weeks away from running out of power. Gah.)

This is our situation now:

At this rate, our combined monthly income should be just enough to cover basic living costs... IF the True Magic patronage holds steady, AND I keep up maximum page production, AND we never have any unexpected expenses.

This is obviously a huge improvement over how things have been for the past few months (when even "basic living costs" were overwhelming).

All things considered, I think I'd better keep working hard to meet our Patreon goals for a stable, sustainable income.

If you can help (by pledging even one dollar, or by telling one nice friend about the comic), please consider it! Every single step forward helps. ♥

Help support True Magic on Patreon! We're all set to cross the $400 milestone... again! It's only $5 away! Could you be one of the dashing heroes who gets us there? Per-Page Milestones: (Updated 2024 Oct 04)

Thank you for your support!

Featured Friend:

Flaky Pastry The button says it all. Almost. (I guess there wasn't room to mention "awesome characters" and "totally sweet artwork.")

2024-09-16

Page 570 + Happy 16th Anniversary and Onward!

Page 570 is up! (And the next 3 pages are up early for patrons!)

Since last week, we've raised another $28 on Patreon. (Thank you to Jannelle, Sarah, Aleena, Debbie and quickstep!) And with that...

We've now gathered over 100 patrons and crossed the $400 milestone! Huzzah!

This is wonderful progress, and to celebrate, I've posted a special (if slightly spoilery) wallpaper for patrons. :3

In other news...

Happy 16th True Magiversary! ♥

It's been my dream since the beginning to be able to work on this story full-time. And now that circumstances are such that I pretty much have no other choice... Ha! I'm still into it! Even this soul-crushing stress cannot extinguish my love for this project!

Seriously, it means the world to me that you guys are helping True Magic (and my co-author and me) keep going.

I hope you'll continue to help us gather new readers, and keep climbing toward that $600 safety threshold, so that I can keep making new pages for you!

Please help us reach our Patreon goals! From here on, every $10 is a major advancement, buying us a few more days of food and power. Per-Page Milestones: Here are three ways you can help: 1. You can pledge $1+ on Patreon, if that's comfortable for you. 2. You can make a donation with our PayPal button or directly through our Patreon shop. 3. You can recommend True Magic to other nice people who are likely to enjoy it!

Any of these things can be a great help.

Thank you for your support!

2024-09-10

Page 569 + Anniversary Next Week!

Page 569 is up! (And the next 4 pages are up early for patrons!)

Since last week, we've raised another $6 on Patreon. (Thank you, Marien and Volker!)

Our total patronage has now improved by over $100 since I originally asked for your help in July. Thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far!

We're now at a point where my Patreon income almost covers our rent. (That's why I'm still safely indoors and able to make this post.)

However, our other living expenses have just about wiped out the last of our savings. Now it's a big question how we'll keep buying food and power.

Perhaps you can help us make more progress this week?

Right now we have 98 patrons and $379 in total pledges. True Magic's 16th anniversary is coming up on September 16th. Can we reach 100 patrons and/or the $400 milestone by then?

As you can see from our progress bar, $600 is really the minimum safety threshold. But it's important to celebrate every milestone along the way!

(I also have some secret bonus wallpaper that I've been waiting to post as soon as we reach that $400 mark.) :3

Please help us reach our Patreon goals! Patreon is still our only source of income, and every dollar makes a difference this month. Per-Page Milestones: Here are three ways you can help: 1. You can pledge $1+ on Patreon, if that's comfortable for you. 2. You can make a donation with our PayPal button or directly through our Patreon shop. 3. You can recommend True Magic to other nice people who are likely to enjoy it!

Any of these things can make a big difference.

Thank you for your support!

2024-07-16

Page 565 + I Need Your Help

Page 565 is not the only thing that is up! I also have SOME NEWS, and an urgent request:

My roommate/co-author recently lost the job she's had since 2000.

For context: True Magic's Patreon has been an essential part of our income for many years. It covers our grocery budget (which is pretty important!), but not much else. Most of the rest always came from Co-Author D.

But now Patreon is the only income we have — and even if we stopped buying food, it still wouldn't be enough to even pay our rent.

So guys, I am asking you with all my heart to help us in one or two ways: 1. IF you can comfortably afford it, please support True Magic on Patreon. Even $1 helps! 2. If you can think of someone who would enjoy the comic, please recommend it to them!

I've been reluctant to ask for more support, but D's job hunt for the past few weeks has been fruitless, and it looks like our only hope is to somehow increase our Patreon income, fast.

The encouraging news (thanks to our wonderful current patrons) is: We're actually almost halfway to the level where we'll be safe again.

Here's a summary of our per-page goals, and our progress so far: If we can reach that $600/page mark (the rent milestone) before August, we will be okay. Please help us get there if you can!

A few additional notes...

Re: Patreon:

Whether or not you can pledge right now, please do join the True Magic Patreon. I post fun stuff for free members now and then!

It also brightens our day just to see you there. Moral support is real support, and every bit helps. ♥

Re: Recommendations:

I'd like to think that True Magic would naturally gain support if more people just knew it existed. :)

If you want to help us gather more readership, please keep in mind:

1. Quality over quantity: Audience happiness is more important than audience size! Please recommend thoughtfully, to the people who are most likely to enjoy the story.

2. No pressure: Please don't push anyone to become a patron! Just ask them to check out the story and see if they like it. Once TM has a substantial number of readers, the optional patronage is likely to take care of itself.

Re: This Whole Situation:

True Magic is my favorite project. The longer I work on it, the more I care about it.

There are so many fun parts I can't wait to share with you, but scripting and drawing each page takes a LOT of time. The only way to advance the story at a decent pace is to put in full-time effort (40+ hours/week) — which is what I've been doing for several months now.

My goal has always been to earn a full-time Patreon income so that I can afford to keep devoting this much time. I've also wished for a long time that I could take the financial pressure off D, after all her years of high-stress work.

I always figured patronage would grow over time, and we'd just... get there eventually.

And then D's company went and terminated many of its independent contractors (including some top performers) without any warning or explanation.

It's as if the universe said: "Hey Aja, you know that 'eventual goal' you were talking about? Guess what! It's just been upgraded to an immediate requirement!"

Ironically, I've put off a lot of comic promotion tasks (like renovating my Patreon page, and even writing posts to ask for support) because I knew they would take days of work — and I felt like I couldn't afford to take that time away from page production. (Y'know, because of the whole "that's our food budget" thing.)

Well, now I've had no choice but to drop everything and actually ask for serious help — which I probably should have done a long time ago.

So I'm asking you:

Can you pledge one dollar?

Can you tell at least one nice person about the comic?

True Magic's audience is still pretty small, so the efforts of any individual can really count. This means that you personally can make a huge difference if you try!

I have hope that with even a little more support, we can make it. ♥

Thanks for reading this far!

Thank you so much for your support (in any form), and your patience, and for being here to read this story that I'm determined to keep creating. I hope you get as much joy out of it as I put into it!

(help, help, help)