Hi, and welcome to my Patreon page. This is where I tell you about me, and you can decide what, if anything, you might like to donate / sign up for.

Now when I started this page I was already an 'established' author, but I was just starting to become successful at it, and I do credit a fair deal of my subsequent success to this page. Not because of the amount of money I get from it (my page actually is not a very 'successful' page, monetarily, by Patreon standards), but because of the feedback I have gotten from the people here. Some of that feedback was very instrumental, and the launching of my pen name (Stryvant) and the work associated in that was in part, because of the comments and encouragements I received here. I have some great fans on this page and I'm very thankful to them, including ones who have moved on.

My Patreon page is a bit different from that of many of my writing friends and compatriots. $5 is the highest amount that I charge, and for that I will try to put up what I'm working on at the end of each week. Due to the legal agreements Patreon makes us all sign, once the book gets to around the halfway mark, those posts will be hosted on an encrypted site other than Patreon, but links will be shared here. I will admit up front that there are times I will be late and I will on rare occasions miss an update. I apologize for those things in advance. I do make mistakes at times.
(Note: Lately I have decided to try and post a chapter a day, at least four times a week - This give you more content and so far seems to be a little easier for me).

I will also post cover art, often before the book goes live, and sometimes I'll even put up the concept sketches that I get. I will try to post other things that I think you will find of interest. I am interested in your comments, and I will try to respond to them. I have gotten some very thoughtful and helpful comments from my subscribers here and I'm thankful for them.

As for me, I'm in indie author, or indy author, depending on who's spelling it. That means I sell my works directly on Amazon (I'm currently in an exclusive deal with them). I'm not signed up with any publisher; I'm not on any sort of a writing contract. I only get paid when someone buys a copy of book, and that's it. Which is why I don't like pirates, because the money comes directly out of my pocket, and my pocket only.

There are advantages to being an indy author. My first novel 'Children of Steel' could not be published by a Tradpub, because of 'political correctness'. Yes, I'm not kidding, no, I don't get it. See if you can figure out just what was 'wrong' with the book. I doubt you'll ever get it, it was over a decade before I found out. Also, the Valens Legacy, will never be picked up by a tradpub, even though it's outsold damn near every Urban Fantasy tradpub series out there, because again, PC reasons. As at least half of the fans of this series are women, the whole 'only men like harem' line I get told leaves me scratching my head. Yes, the story has strong harem aspects to it and it sits firmly in that genre. But it's not what the story is about.

But their loss is your gain, right? And that is the advantage that makes up for the many disadvantages of being a self-published indy author - I get to write what I like and you enjoy, without people putting their notions of what's proper, what's allowed, and what's not allowed, over what you can read. Or as I like to call it: censorship.

So come on in and see the inner workings of an author as he writes books, and enjoy the often strange process that he goes through (i.e. my working title for a book rarely makes it to print). See the frustrations in real time, as well as the successes, and again, some of the just strange things that can go on in this business.