FA+
Shop
JTA 2021 - JTA Back on track
5 years ago
General
Good Evening folks.
So at the start of 2021 I’ve decided to get a bit of a break from JTA. The reasons I stated in the previous journal. https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9740473
Fans should be happy to hear that I’ve came back, and will start uploading again.
That however still means there will have to be changes made to a few things, so allow me to discourse that below.
First... What happened... And I’m about to go into some serious and very personal issues... So be Warned.
Well, at the start of 2020 I began writing JTA, and though I love this series to death, I have to say it didn’t perform as I had hoped.
My initial hidden plan was to dream small, I hoped I’d be able to reach some viewership and maybe get a minor goal on Patreon, but even my lowest projection failed to be met (5$ a month). I actually only got 2$ and those were personal friends of mine who I can safely say took pity on me (and I’m not judging nor do I want anyone to judge them), and right now I have a grand total of 0 patrons.
The problem wasn’t just money though, as I’m not that broke that I’m about to starve, It was the lack of engagement. My second hidden plan was to build a community around JTA, to have people care about this story as much as I do, to show this world I gave my best to create and maybe have people be just a bit happy with it... And I think I sort of failed that too.
I started getting depressed and feeling uncertain about this creation that I love so much, it has always been a dream of mine to be able to live of my writing, but when I completed a whole year of writing and had pretty much nothing to show and no one to talk to other than my husband... I started getting depressed, beaten and broken.
I thought It was my fault, thought maybe I didn’t write well enough, that I made the story dull, or didn’t make enough marketing, didn’t get enough artwork... I thought I had failed... and that sent me on a real downward spiral, which is why I decided to take this hiatus.
So now for point number 2, what changed?
Well, as I wallowed in my pit of introspection I started to try and branch out, I moved over to other websites and reached for other creators to help figure out... What was wrong... The answer that surprised me was, nothing.
I had many amazing people compliment my work saying how well it was structured and how it was fun to read, even people who aren’t furries which is something i never thought would happen... And the key thing, they told me it wasn’t my fault, and in fact there was no real failure.
Turns out... I was being impatient... Books and writing in general tend to take waaaay longer to captivate an audience than things like comics, and I was doing a good job just maybe I was expecting too quick results, I found out a lot of people are struggling in the exact same way I am.
This is kind of bummer really... but while it does put a brick wall between me and my dreams, it doesn’t mean that brick wall is impassable. Just much thicker than I expected.
However I took some time to introspect, to find my own path and eventually reevaluate JTA and myself as whole... To start thinking on year long plans as opposed to month- or week-long ones.
So now, number 3, what is going to change?
For one I decided to change how I work on JTA, this does not mean I will stop nor that I intend to reduce the quality and love I pour into it... I just realized maybe I have been trying to ‘burn my fuel’ too fast hoping it would get results, while a slower and steadier flame would have performed just as well... If not better.
From here on out I will be changing my update schedule, I’ll continue to upload once a week as before, but I have decided to allow myself a week off every month to take a breather... Sometimes I won’t use that week off, sometimes I will, and that should help balance out my stress when it comes to meeting the deadlines and balancing it out with the other things I have to do on a daily basis... I need to learn to take care of myself as I learned writing is a marathon not a speed test.
I have decided I will continue uploading to FA and added Tapas to my platforms as well so we may reach a wider audience, (check it here if you want https://tapas.io/series/Journey-to-Ataraxia/info) Maybe in the future I will add more platforms but for now these two will sufice. Neither of these will get priority over the other, when I upload on one I will upload on the other, and patreon still gets dibs on everything... with one key difference.
I will no longer be making NSFW chapters exclusive to patreon... I realize how this might seem like a bad move on the short run, but here is the thing.
Writing is a slow burn and very few people pay attention to it on FA or TAPAS or anywhere else... Limiting certain stories to patreon is probably not gonna get me more readers, and I’d rather have more engaged readers than just having these stories sitting on a platform no one ever experiences.
So over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be posting both of the stories that are patreon exclusive, before I come back to scheduled writing and start uploading Episode 9 (which is already available on patreon BTW)... Sadly tapas does not allow NSFW content, so unfortunately people who want the NSFW chapters will have to transition to FA.
This also mean that now NSFW are lets call it... Side cannon.... They are not just random stories for fanservice, as I decided to actually get into detail and explore the characters sexuality... NSFW chapters will still contain very little story development, as I don’t want to alienate anyone who doesn’t like NSFW, but those chapter will contain development that is pertinent to other NSFW chapter, so NSFW is now ‘filler cannon’ in the story.
Also... I need to state this... DO NOT expect a focus shift of JTA to turn into a porn story... It won’t happen, the side cannon is purely for entertainment reasons and I want to explore some adult tropes every now and again, but they are not the focus.
TLDR of the changes – TAPAS is now a thing, but can’t get nsfw there. / FA is now going to get the kinky parts of the story too / Patreon no longer has monopoly of nsfw / patreon gets chapters ahead of everyone and will probably get ahead way faster in the story.
As for me... Well things are changing for me too. For one I decided to have a more grounded approach to my marketing.
I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll have to keep working and writing for the foreseeable future... So I am no longer in such a rush.
Patreon is no longer my desired platform of choice, instead, donate to patreon if you want to pool a bit of money WITH ME so that I can start commissioning artwork for the story we all love... This is still a major expense and I need support to help us get those cute moments of our favorite boys faster and in gorgeous art to feast the eyes as opposed to just words to feast the mind.
More so than ever, consider donating to patreon, this is the way in which we can all grow this story together so that one day we will be the big thing i always dreamt of making JTA into. https://www.patreon.com/djourner
I have also started looking for traditional publishers, I think maybe another way to expand JTA would be to look for traditional media and see if it can grow there as well... I have contacted a few publishers here in Brasil as well as TAPAS admn itself to try and partner up, but so far have had no luck gaining attention.
I will make sure to pursue this as I believe there might be a future for us in traditional media as well... Until then, I’ll keep looking.
This will be it for now, I hope you guys are hopeful for the future alongside me.
See you all Monday for the update... Djo signing out.
Also, check out twitter if you want https://twitter.com/DjoJta
So at the start of 2021 I’ve decided to get a bit of a break from JTA. The reasons I stated in the previous journal. https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9740473
Fans should be happy to hear that I’ve came back, and will start uploading again.
That however still means there will have to be changes made to a few things, so allow me to discourse that below.
First... What happened... And I’m about to go into some serious and very personal issues... So be Warned.
Well, at the start of 2020 I began writing JTA, and though I love this series to death, I have to say it didn’t perform as I had hoped.
My initial hidden plan was to dream small, I hoped I’d be able to reach some viewership and maybe get a minor goal on Patreon, but even my lowest projection failed to be met (5$ a month). I actually only got 2$ and those were personal friends of mine who I can safely say took pity on me (and I’m not judging nor do I want anyone to judge them), and right now I have a grand total of 0 patrons.
The problem wasn’t just money though, as I’m not that broke that I’m about to starve, It was the lack of engagement. My second hidden plan was to build a community around JTA, to have people care about this story as much as I do, to show this world I gave my best to create and maybe have people be just a bit happy with it... And I think I sort of failed that too.
I started getting depressed and feeling uncertain about this creation that I love so much, it has always been a dream of mine to be able to live of my writing, but when I completed a whole year of writing and had pretty much nothing to show and no one to talk to other than my husband... I started getting depressed, beaten and broken.
I thought It was my fault, thought maybe I didn’t write well enough, that I made the story dull, or didn’t make enough marketing, didn’t get enough artwork... I thought I had failed... and that sent me on a real downward spiral, which is why I decided to take this hiatus.
So now for point number 2, what changed?
Well, as I wallowed in my pit of introspection I started to try and branch out, I moved over to other websites and reached for other creators to help figure out... What was wrong... The answer that surprised me was, nothing.
I had many amazing people compliment my work saying how well it was structured and how it was fun to read, even people who aren’t furries which is something i never thought would happen... And the key thing, they told me it wasn’t my fault, and in fact there was no real failure.
Turns out... I was being impatient... Books and writing in general tend to take waaaay longer to captivate an audience than things like comics, and I was doing a good job just maybe I was expecting too quick results, I found out a lot of people are struggling in the exact same way I am.
This is kind of bummer really... but while it does put a brick wall between me and my dreams, it doesn’t mean that brick wall is impassable. Just much thicker than I expected.
However I took some time to introspect, to find my own path and eventually reevaluate JTA and myself as whole... To start thinking on year long plans as opposed to month- or week-long ones.
So now, number 3, what is going to change?
For one I decided to change how I work on JTA, this does not mean I will stop nor that I intend to reduce the quality and love I pour into it... I just realized maybe I have been trying to ‘burn my fuel’ too fast hoping it would get results, while a slower and steadier flame would have performed just as well... If not better.
From here on out I will be changing my update schedule, I’ll continue to upload once a week as before, but I have decided to allow myself a week off every month to take a breather... Sometimes I won’t use that week off, sometimes I will, and that should help balance out my stress when it comes to meeting the deadlines and balancing it out with the other things I have to do on a daily basis... I need to learn to take care of myself as I learned writing is a marathon not a speed test.
I have decided I will continue uploading to FA and added Tapas to my platforms as well so we may reach a wider audience, (check it here if you want https://tapas.io/series/Journey-to-Ataraxia/info) Maybe in the future I will add more platforms but for now these two will sufice. Neither of these will get priority over the other, when I upload on one I will upload on the other, and patreon still gets dibs on everything... with one key difference.
I will no longer be making NSFW chapters exclusive to patreon... I realize how this might seem like a bad move on the short run, but here is the thing.
Writing is a slow burn and very few people pay attention to it on FA or TAPAS or anywhere else... Limiting certain stories to patreon is probably not gonna get me more readers, and I’d rather have more engaged readers than just having these stories sitting on a platform no one ever experiences.
So over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be posting both of the stories that are patreon exclusive, before I come back to scheduled writing and start uploading Episode 9 (which is already available on patreon BTW)... Sadly tapas does not allow NSFW content, so unfortunately people who want the NSFW chapters will have to transition to FA.
This also mean that now NSFW are lets call it... Side cannon.... They are not just random stories for fanservice, as I decided to actually get into detail and explore the characters sexuality... NSFW chapters will still contain very little story development, as I don’t want to alienate anyone who doesn’t like NSFW, but those chapter will contain development that is pertinent to other NSFW chapter, so NSFW is now ‘filler cannon’ in the story.
Also... I need to state this... DO NOT expect a focus shift of JTA to turn into a porn story... It won’t happen, the side cannon is purely for entertainment reasons and I want to explore some adult tropes every now and again, but they are not the focus.
TLDR of the changes – TAPAS is now a thing, but can’t get nsfw there. / FA is now going to get the kinky parts of the story too / Patreon no longer has monopoly of nsfw / patreon gets chapters ahead of everyone and will probably get ahead way faster in the story.
As for me... Well things are changing for me too. For one I decided to have a more grounded approach to my marketing.
I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll have to keep working and writing for the foreseeable future... So I am no longer in such a rush.
Patreon is no longer my desired platform of choice, instead, donate to patreon if you want to pool a bit of money WITH ME so that I can start commissioning artwork for the story we all love... This is still a major expense and I need support to help us get those cute moments of our favorite boys faster and in gorgeous art to feast the eyes as opposed to just words to feast the mind.
More so than ever, consider donating to patreon, this is the way in which we can all grow this story together so that one day we will be the big thing i always dreamt of making JTA into. https://www.patreon.com/djourner
I have also started looking for traditional publishers, I think maybe another way to expand JTA would be to look for traditional media and see if it can grow there as well... I have contacted a few publishers here in Brasil as well as TAPAS admn itself to try and partner up, but so far have had no luck gaining attention.
I will make sure to pursue this as I believe there might be a future for us in traditional media as well... Until then, I’ll keep looking.
This will be it for now, I hope you guys are hopeful for the future alongside me.
See you all Monday for the update... Djo signing out.
Also, check out twitter if you want https://twitter.com/DjoJta
