Hey folks!
You may have noticed by now that Follower is back to updating somewhat regularly! It’s taken me a long time recovering and adapting my processes to get here, but I’m doing my best to keep up with new pages. There’s a chance I’ll need to delay a page now and again due to health issues, but overall I’m doing much better than I was this time last year, or even just a few months ago. In general, I’ll post updates about comic delays on social media (find all of them on this page) or in Discord (https://discord.gg/jxCYAeePZ4). I’m currently most active on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/radiochio.bsky.social), which is now open to everyone. It’s been a nice experience and kind of refreshing from the Twitter rat race, so I encourage you to join if you’re curious!
Part of my reason for writing this post is to talk a little about what it takes to keep Follower going, by which I mean, what it takes to keep me going. Right now, I’m both too disabled to handle a regular job, and at the same time the government can’t decide if I’m disabled enough to get any kind of assistance. It’s been more than two years since I’ve been able to work regularly, and we’re beyond strained, financially, as a result. This is kind of a terrifying position to be in, and even more terrifying to talk about publicly, but here I am anyway. Doing my best!
Follower itself costs a bit in fees for hosting, software subscriptions, and other odds and ends each year. By and large, Patreon/Ko-Fi help to cover a lot of that, but it doesn’t leave me with much in terms of money to survive on and take care of necessary bills and medical costs. Right now, we have to hold out until my disability appeal winds its way through a really hostile system, which will take an unknown amount of time. Right now, Delade and I are in a temporary situation staying with family, but this can’t be permanent. It’s sort of an impossible task, where we can’t really save any money to get out on our own, and are kind of stuck in waiting limbo. It’s awful.
I’m putting this out there, because there are a handful of ways that you can help without directly spending money (unless you absolutely want to), so here goes:
- Subscribe to Follower on Webtoons and/or Tapas and read my comics: I have a love-hate relationship with these sites, but both of them do offer ad revenue sharing if we can reach 100 subs on Tapas, and 1,000 on Webtoons. Webtoons has a few more stipulations, like monthly view counts, so it’s the more difficult thing to reach, but since we’re sitting at around 282 subscribers, it’s not completely impossible. I know that whatever ad revenue share I do get is going to be pretty small, but with the situation we’re in, every little bit helps in the long run. You can sub to Webtoons here and Tapas here!
- Subscribe to my video content on Youtube and/or TikTok and watch it: Much the same as with Tapas and Webtoons, I can become eligible for monetization if I can reach 500 subs on YouTube and 1000 on TikTok. I’m currently sitting at 166/500 subs on Youtube and 712/1000 on TikTok. Both of these have requirements for average view times in addition to subscriber counts, so even just leaving one of my playlists running in the background while you do other stuff (as long as it’s not completely muted) will help out a lot. Subscribing or following my Twitch channel will also help although I’m still working on a plan to come back to streaming – right now it’s tough for me to sit upright for longer streams. I need to find a way to invest in things like a longer ethernet cable so I can set up somewhere comfortable for me to both draw and stay connected at a high enough speed. It’s a challenge. Find me on YouTube here and TikTok here, or on Twitch over here!
- Spread the word: Do you know anyone who might be interested in Follower? Just getting eyes on the comic helps, and word of mouth is still the best way to spread webcomics around. I do my best to get it out there on my own, but my reach is only as wide as I can make it. I need to find a way to break out of my regular circles.
All of these are free to sign up for and the subscriber and view numbers will really help me out a lot. Also, if there’s any kind of behind the scenes video content you’d like to see, please suggest it in a comment! Videos are fairly easy for me to make while I’m doing other comic work, and I’m always happy to talk about how I make things, especially if it helps someone else.
On the other hand, if you want to directly support me, I have both a Patreon and a Ko-Fi which I’ve started calling the Chio Club. For $1 a month, you get access to things I’m currently working on before they’re live for everyone, and other tiers come with other rewards. I do my best to come up with extras as I can.
There are also shirts and other merch items in my shop. The cut I get from these is relatively small, but like anything else, it adds up, and it gives me a little joy to know somebody out there is wearing my artwork.
Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this. I feel like I’ve spent the past year trying to dig myself out of a pit of health problems, and I’m finally getting to where I can start working a little more and thinking a little more clearly. I appreciate the patience our readers have had in waiting for new updates, because it’s been pretty hard not to work on things as I normally would for so long. I still can’t, but I’m working on getting there.
