Where Have All the Public Chapters Gone!?

Hi, it's Ren.

As you may have noticed, there haven't been many public chapters lately for My Succubus System. The reasoning for that is simple, life has been chaotic for me lately. I'm really focusing on building a solid stream of revenue, mainly because I'm tired of being financially unstable as a creative.

For anyone who creates anything, they may understand. A lack of funding really cuts into the ability to create the things I want.  Unlike most authors / creators I don't have a job outside of this and my other endeavors -- meaning this is it for me. What I make from my games and writing is what I have to live on -- period. It's been that way since I started writing, and while it enables me to pay my bills and occasionally feed myself -- that's about all it does.

In a world where it costs money to make money, I'm left with few options but to grind out the money I need via the least expensive methods I have available to me. This has, for the last few months at least, left me feeling like I'm treading water. Barely keeping my head above surface.

I've been throwing everything I have at my endeavors (for context, I've actually worked almost everyday nonstop for the past 2.5 months) but I feel as if I've been two steps behind every move. Naturally that has transferred over into my ability to work on MSS. I've had to pick up other endeavors and work at them consistently to see any pay off.

It's quite possible (a certainty) that I have too much on my plate, but the reality is that's pretty necessary for me nowadays. In order to transition from "barely making it" to "being financially stable", I have to exert a certain amount of effort. Due to this, the rate at which I used to write on MSS has suffered. There is also the aspect of monetizing the work I spend time on, which is my focus as of late. Basically, in an attempt to keep MSS publicly free for readers, I've had to create other content to monetize.

I still manage to drop chapters of MSS, but it's nowhere near the 3 chapters a day I used to write when I first started. And lately I haven't even had time to think about updating public chapters. That being said, I haven't given up on the fiction (if anything, I'm actually doing all of this work because I'd like to start on the MSS manga, then eventually the anime). However to do that, my income needs to surpass a certain level each month and I'm only 20% of the way there currently.

As far as where my time goes, I started experimenting with visual novels a few months back and I'm focusing on building those as well as my Amazon catalog. Those things are pretty time consuming, but necessary. They are also paying off in small dividends, so I've been trying to expand on them until I can get to a comfortable point.

For those of you who are interested in the other things I've been up to, you can check out one of the visual novels here (warning, 18+ content at the link) called Heavenly Peaks Cultivation.

It's actually more of a cultivation game than a visual novel at this point.  I also converted one of my old fictions into another game called Hom Factory but I won't share that one just yet because I'm working out all of the kinks with this latest update. Heavenly Peaks is the most stable, so I recommend that instead!

My Succubus System will resume public chapters once I reach chapter 265-270 (currently at 230), so roughly 100 chapters ahead of the public release which is something I always like to maintain. I wish I had a date for you as to when that could be, but I've basically had to make some tough decisions about what to work on and when lately.

Lust Witch Chronicles, while not dead is in permanent hiatus until I can work on it.

I've had to halt my novels with Ren's Den, because I had to eliminate the bills required to keep the shop open for a time. You can still find the books on Amazon and hopefully soon I will find the time to release the other two I promised.

And My Succubus System is still updated weekly with generally 5-6 chapters, albeit kind of erratically at this point. I have no clue when my schedule will normalize, but for now all I can do is work at my financial goals and consistently make progress to get back to a more normal schedule.

For now, all I can do is offer you a small chapter drop until next time and keep you updated.

Ren Lightfoot