Sneak peeks! Plans! Updates!

Hello, hello! It is I, your friendly neighborhood somewhat disheveled and beleaguered Velvet! Everyone alive? I am! All your bits and bobs where they're supposed to be? (If not, put them back.)

First on the agenda, a big (?) announcement: after 3+ years posting a video on YouTube every Wednesday, I'm shifting my weekly videos to Friday evenings. My irl day-to-day schedule has shifted since the summer, and as you might have noticed, things have been a little erratic even between the whole "falling down stairs" and "pneumonia" thing.

While I was busy biting off more than I can chew creatively, and life was kicking me in the kneecaps like I owed it money, I was really biting off more than I can chew everywhere else, too.

I've been trying to make that irl change work with my existing audio schedule because I'm exceedingly stubborn and don't like change. But I've sort of reached the end of my tether in that regard. I've done everything I can think of behind the scenes to fix the issue, but it's just not coming together.

I'm sick of delivering early access late, I'm sure you're all sick of getting it late. The only option left that I can figure out, aside from learning to warp the laws of time and space, is changing video time slots. (Gosh, that terminology feels like I'm a sitcom about to get banished from the network lineup.)

I won't lie. This plan is a little? terrifying?? In some ways it feels like when I first started my channel. There are a lot of unknowns. I have data for how audios perform on Wednesdays, but I have very little to indicate how they'll do later in the week, later in the day, and after making such a huge shift. Will the algorithm punish the change after so long? Will the majority of my regular listeners be able to make the jump?

Holy Time Slots! WILL THIS BE THE END OF VANILLA VELVET AUDIO?!

I mean, probably not? I hope? Especially if it means I can be more consistent. But still! Scary!

Second, smaller behind the scenes update: One of my resolutions for 2025 is to balance my workload better. Or...find any balance at all with it. To that end, I've recently hired someone I know and trust in meatspace as an editing assistant.

Here on Patreon, we will call him Fred, the editor. Freditor for long?

Crude visual representation. Hi, Fred.

I'll still be doing the bulk of the work myself because I am, speaking utterly candidly, a control freak. My particular constellation of neurodivergence can make me.................................inflexible about certain things.

Still, this will take a bit off my plate. As I want to continue doing longer audios, shorts and Patreon exclusives this year, every little bit will help. And I wanted to find someone who already knows that I am A Lot rather than inflicting myself on a poor unsuspecting freelancer.

Post production, sound design, those will remain my domain. Fred's job is to do a first pass on a some stuff, cutting out line flubs/bloopers/etc., when I've got too much else to do. Right now, he's started working on some shorts I just recorded, but those duties might increase as we get more comfortable with the process.

(Read: as I learn to unhook my harpy talons from my audios and trust someone else to edit for me. I PROMISE I AM BEING SO GOOD AT FEELING SO NORMAL ABOUT IT.) 

He's only been at it a couple of days, but so far he's done great! Good job, Fred.

(This was supposed to just be a silly gag but I've given him emotions so now I'm kind of getting attached? Real Fred will find this hilarious.)

Don't worry, irl Fred is being compensated appropriately for his work by Velvet Inc.: semi-regular takeout nachos, a dumb fat Noodle cat in his lap whenever he visits my villainous lair, plus hugs!

And also cold, hard, better-than-minimum-wage cash. I mean, I wasn't raised in a barn.

But he's way more excited about the nachos.

And so concludes the saga of Fred, because the crude art is getting cruder, and if I get any sillier, real Fred will give me a noogie.

NEXT UP! This week's audio! Releasing into early access tonight/tomorrow morning, and going live on YouTube on Friday at 8:30 PM, EST: Your Loyal Mech Returns!

The first of two (thus far?) sequels to Your Loyal Mech is in Love With You. I promise I'm still plugging away at getting follow-ups to earlier audios lined up! I have plans! Big plans!

Well. Medium plans? But I hope they're good ones!

Related: Thank you all so much for your months-long input on the sequel poll. As well as the Patreon exclusive poll! I'll be posting more polls to help shape the channel this year soon.

Further down the pipeline, but not too far...

I'm planning Februdere! And rather a lot of 2025 as a result. "Rats, this script won't fit here. Monster Girl Mayhem? Hmm, no, ooh, Back to Ghoul! And that one isn't yandere enough...Creature Comforts?"

So I don't have the event's lineup finished yet, but I do have some potential 2025 thumbnails for you!

Even further down the pipeline! 

1.) I have some full series audios set on the far flung future slate. Since I don't want to overload my schedule this year, I'd like to limit myself to one per non-event month. Unfortunately, I currently have...um...seventeen picked out. :/

Am I bad at self control? Bitch, I might be.

2.) I think I'm actually going to commission a new logo for the channel in time for its fourth (omg fourth) anniversary this summer. Maybe several possibilities by different artists, play around with them until I figure out what I like best. Also some new Patreon commissions? Spicy ones, I hope? Depends on how I can budget stuff.

And maybe, just maybe, some long form original scripts! For Patreon requests!

2.5:) I still haven't posted the rest of my last batch of commissions, so I'm going to schedule those soon. Expect stuff! Sometime! I promise not to forget! (I will probably forget, but I promise to try extra hard not to.)

3.) I have committed to making a concentrated effort to do more slice-of-life stuff this year; I did some last year, but the ratios are a bit more skewed than I'd like rn! I can't be all monster girl all the time! I mean, I could, but do I want that? Nah.

4.) If I have time, and I probably, certainly, almost definitely won't, I'm thinking of maybe...ulp...auditioning for outside projects, perhaps taking a VA/audio engineering class or two, and...............................maybe.............................someday.....................vtubing. PROBABLY NOT. NOBODY GET EXCITED, NOT EVEN ME, but maybe.

I don't intend to leave the asmr/audio space, or stop making audios for YouTube. This is not a move away from the niche in the least; I wouldn't pull the rug out like that. I want to do this until the wheels fall off.

If I ever did have to quit, it would be due to reasons outside my control like...idk, I get punched into a coma during a bar fight or my throat is savagely bitten out by a zombie deer. (Legitimate concerns for a girl from the midwest.)

Even then I'd want to continue in the discipline in some capacity if at all possible. I love performance and have discovered an actual passion for sound design, even as it makes me tear my hair out sometimes.

But, these most recent (admittedly and thankfully minor!) brushes with Patreon are a stark reminder that content creators are always in a delicate position. Diversifying my portfolio, for lack of a better phrase, might be a good idea in case the bottom drops out without warning. Doing indie projects on the side, and developing more professional skills, would be a good start. And vtubing might be fun!

Welp! That's it for now! I'll be back later with this week's audio, and hopefully an exclusive (or two by the weekend. See you soon!

xoxo,

Velvet