(Sorry for deleting this earlier, my math was slightly off. I think I have everything right now.)
This may end up being kind of a long post, but please bear with me here since this is very important. Long story short, I am considering changing my Patreon from "pledge per post" to "pledge per month" in order to alleviate some of the strain of these new fees from you the patrons.
Patreon is changing the way they deduct fees from pledges. It used to be that we creators would pay a percentage of our total earnings to Patreon every month, which didn't affect the patrons in any way. Under the new system, patrons like yourselves will be paying a 2.9% fee along with a flat fee of $0.35 per pledge. This is a significant blow to people whose Patreons function per post instead of per month, since you would have to pay this fee every time a post is made rather than once per month. To break it down for you, here are the numbers:
People who pledge $1 per post will now be paying $1.38 per post ($1 + 0.03 [2.9% of total pledge] + 0.35 [flat fee] = $1.38) At four posts per month, this comes out to a total of $5.52 total if you pledge for the entire month.
At the $3 tier you would be paying $3.44 per post and $13.76 per month.
At the $5 tier you would be paying $5.50 per post and $22.00 per month.
Now don't panic, because I have a way to reduce this. In order to alleviate some of these fees, I am considering switching my Patreon's pledge collection to a monthly rate instead of per post. This way you'll only have to pay the flat $0.35 fee once a month instead of four times. I'll be changing my pledge tiers to reflect this: the $1 weekly tier will become a $4 monthly tier, the $3 weekly tier will become a $12 monthly tier, and the $5 weekly tier will become a $20 monthly tier. Here's the difference in what you'll pay once I make this change:
$1 Tier by Post: $5.52 per month
$4 Tier by Month: $4.47 per month
$3 Tier by Post: $13.76 per month
$12 Tier by Month: $12.70 per month
$5 Tier by Post: $22.00 per month
$20 Tier by Month: $20.93 per month
This seems like a much better way to do things since it saves everyone at least $1 per month. You'll still be paying a bit more, there's just nothing I can do about that, but it's only a few cents as opposed to a dollar and some change. You'll still get the same number of rewards at the end of the month, and in fact this might be a bit better since people who pledge later in the month won't miss out on the earlier rewards.
I am planning to implement this new monthly tier system in January. I will make multiple text posts during the first week of the month to remind everyone of this upcoming change, and to make sure everyone has chosen their new pledge tiers. Since I expect this might be a messy transition and I'll probably be taking a hit financially from it, I'm going to offer the old Crash Gets Smashed and Foxy Fucktober comics as downloads at a reduced price for anyone who missed them/people who don't use Patreon. Hopefully that'll even things out.
Now a bit of good news: to make it worth your while to stick around after the new fees are put into place, I'm going to start including a weekly color doodle for ALL pledge tiers. Those of you who follow my Twitter may have seen the little alligator cartoons I've been sketching? Imagine those, but inked and colored. They won't be nearly as complex as my weekly pinups, obviously, but for a few extra cents a month I think they're a fair bonus. I hope you all stick around after this change is made, I'm going to do my best to keep you all satisfied.
If anyone has comments or questions, please feel free to open discussion here in the comments or send me a DM. I don't want anyone to be confused as to how this all works. I know it seems complicated but when you break it down it won't affect you too much, aside from having to alter your pledge once when I introduce the new tiers. You still pay essentially the same amount per month, with a slight fee of less than a dollar, and for that you'll be getting four extra color doodles a month no matter how much you pledge. It makes sense to me and seems like the best course of action.