First, I've been working on the Maze rewrite and a full edit, and it ended up becoming much bigger than I initially expected. Not in the sense that I'm changing a lot of things, but in the sense that I'm adding a lot of details about the story and explaining a lot of things in a better way. Especially the start. I feel like my writing has improved significantly from when I first wrote MAZE, and being able to make the beginning smoother has been really fun.
I'm happy to announce that I will start posting this new version on December 1st. But instead of posting on this current story, I will make a new one, because generally speaking, it's better for a writer to make a new story when they relaunch something instead of just updating the previous one. This new version, which I'm calling MAZE - Definitive Edition, will start from the beginning with daily posts for a month or so.
And since it's a rewrite and there will come a point where it's mostly editing, I'll probably be able to keep a high frequency of chapters. I won't say exactly what it’s going to be right now because I'm not entirely sure, but I'll keep you all posted.
What the Definitive Edition Means for This Story
First of all, this version will be renamed "MAZE [Archive Version]" on December 1st. Secondly, I will be removing most chapters that are currently in this story, since I want to make sure that everybody who wants to read is reading the Definitive Edition. I'll keep a few, together with some announcements, and still use this version to talk about big milestones from the Definitive Edition. This has to do with helping with the algorithm and making sure that we get a lot of traction on that version.
And now, comes the bad part. Because I'm doing that and making sure that the Definitive Edition will be the main focus, I will not be posting any new chapters on the Archive version starting December 1st. You can expect new chapters until then, but after that, the new chapters and the continuation of the story will be Patreon exclusive until the Definitive Edition catches up with the current story.
Now, I know you're looking at the number of chapters and thinking, "Oh no, this is going to take years to happen." And while that is a possibility, it's not a certainty. The Definitive Edition has a different chapter size: instead of 2,000 word chapters, we should be looking at 4,000 words. This is double, so instead of a thousand chapters, we are already looking at 500 instead. And since it's an edit, it takes less time to make a new chapter than it does to write a new chapter. That's why I'm saying things might not take as long to catch up. But it will probably still be at the minimum close to a year, that is, unless something big changes and I can hire people to help me. But that's beside the point.
Patreon Status
Also, the Patreon will not change. You will still be getting three chapters a week, plus the early chapters of the Definitive Edition, which should be roughly a month ahead of the free release. And you also have access to the Archive version with all 1,000+ chapters that are already available.
The Reason for all of this
First, I want to say that I am still very grateful for everybody's support, and without you being here to read, I wouldn't have gotten this far. But the reason I'm doing this is that I reached the point where, unfortunately, money has become the issue. Plain and simple.
I have talked about this on Discord and in other announcements, but my writing is not making me that much money. I keep needing to get side gigs and other ways of making ends meet. But this uncertainty and lack of a stable income have become too much lately.
Despite that, I do believe that I have a good story here, and that I am a good writer. In my eyes and the eyes of some people I talk to, MAZE is a story that is worth more than what I've been getting, and this is my next attempt at making it work. So, I'm making a fresh start, setting everything up to be as successful as I can make it, and hopefully not have to worry about that kind of thing anymore.
I want to say that I don't mean that I need to make $10,000 or something crazy per month. Since I live in Brazil, a small amount of money goes a long way. And honestly, if I make $800 or something like that, I would probably be fine. If I reach $1,000 or $2,000, that is already an amazing income, and I could maybe even hire someone to help me out with the editing, and as a result, I could post even more frequently to have the Definitive Edition catch up even sooner.
I've always said that I wanted to keep my story free as long as possible so as many people as possible would be able to see it, and that still is the case. But I'm having to make some choices so that I have a better chance to be able to continue writing. I know this may frustrate some, but I hope you can understand why I'm going about things this way. You're still going to have the story until early December, and then this whole story page will become a giant ad for the Definitive Edition.
There's also a bit of a problem with this platform. The reality is that Tapas doesn't really help me all that much. While I know that there are some very dedicated readers here, the conversion to Patreon is minimal, and I barely get anything from the ads here. I mean, in the five years since I started posting here, I have less than a dollar of ad revenue. The only thing that I do gain is Ink from people who want to donate, but even that would be better if I made a Ko-fi or something, because Tapas takes a massive cut of every Ink spent. That's why I'm not going to be posting it here anymore. I'm going to try to focus everything on Royal Road, so at least early on, that's the place where everybody sees it and can grow a lot there. Maybe in a month or two I start posting on other platforms, but I don't have any concrete plans right now.
That's all I have to say, and I hope I can count on you on December 1st to make sure that the Definitive Edition gets a lot of traction and a lot of views so I can continue to write MAZE and my other stories and give them the full time and dedication they deserve.
Next chapter is already available for Patreons!
https://www.patreon.com/perizou
Tiers:
$3 Explorer: Advanced chapter + Side Stories
$5 Gold Card Explorer: Everything Above + Book 1 rewrite early access
$10 Legacy Holder: Everything Above + create your own MAZE character
$35 Guide: Everything Above + create your room, guide, and 4 chapter story arc
Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/eqdmMfm
![MAZE - The endless quest [Stub]](https://us-a.tapas.io/sa/b5/f8166072-f890-4572-9501-93654ec603a6_z.png)
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