Christian Kelley-Madera Hey everyone, and welcome back to The Once And Future Nerd. This is Christian. I'm here with Zach. Zach Glass Hi, everybody. Let's start with the big headline that you're all waiting for The Once And Future Nerd is coming back starting on January 30. From here on, we're going to be switching to a monthly release schedule episodes will be on the last Sunday of every month. The upside of this is that you will have new story content in your feed every month for at least the next year. Christian Kelley-Madera Yeah, obviously, we did not intend on our break to be this long. Part of it was figuring out how to record our very big cast safely in a pandemic. And part of it was figuring out a schedule that's going to be sustainable going forward. Because clearly the previous schedule was not, we really think that this schedule will mean more reliable consistent releases, which is of course, you know, better for everyone. But in line with this scheduling change, we're also going to be making changes to our Patreon. Zach Glass Yeah, so the short version of that is, our patrons will now be charged monthly rather than per episode, but that will line up with our episodes being released monthly. We're also going to be simplifying our reward tiers. I don't want to get into all of the details of the reward tiers here in the main feed. But if you support us on Patreon, or you think you might, and you care about those details, all that information is available right now at patreon.com/onceandfuturenerd. if you don't support us on Patreon yet, this is the time where we'd really like to make our pitch about why you should. Christian Kelley-Madera Yeah, so look, The Once And Future Nerd has always been an extremely ambitious show. We think that's part of what makes it special. And hopefully you agree with that. But to put it very bluntly, trying to duct tape and bubble gum it all together. And our current funding levels has just not been working right. Zach Glass Part of the delay we've had in releasing these next episodes during the pandemic was this catch 22 We ran into where we couldn't make any new stuff without cash on hand to pay the talent. But we couldn't raise cash without releasing new stuff. So that really delayed our ability to produce during the pandemic. And we'd like to make some changes moving forwards to help the show become more self sustaining that we don't run into this problem again. So we're currently doing a Patreon push to help address these issues. More Patreon support will allow us to absorb ongoing maintenance costs and building a reserve so we can avoid these delays in the future. It will also allow us to pay our awesome cast and crew what they're worth. And it will let us chase down any cool ideas that come up along the way. Like, hey, there's an opportunity for a cool song here. Let's record that song. Christian Kelley-Madera Right. And if you already support us on Patreon, we are extremely grateful for that. But you know, for all the reasons we just said, we are asking you to consider stepping your amount up if you're able. And if you don't support us yet, we are still extremely grateful just to have you listening. But we do want to take this opportunity to ask you to think about supporting us if you're able. Zach Glass And as always, we get it. It's a weird time. It's still a weird time. No hard feelings. If you can spare anything extra right now. We're just very happy to have you listening to us. But if you can support us, you could think about it like you're subsidizing someone else who can't so that the show stays free for everyone and sustainable. Christian Kelley-Madera Yeah. I got very Canadian on that last read for some reason. I think I'll leave that in. Yah, So. we are going to sweeten the pot. And in addition to just the Patreon rewards. Zach Glass Yeah so when we last spoke, way back in 2019, or 2020. We promised that if we reached 50, new or upgrading patrons, by the end of chapter seven, we'd send all the new and upgrading patrons and exclusive enamel pin. We didn't necessarily expect chapter seven would have taken this long to come out. But that's the world we're in. And amazingly, very recently, we hit that 50 new patron threshold, we cannot thank you enough for that support. Christian Kelley-Madera Yeah, to receive that that level of new support. Even while we're unable to release main episode content was honestly breathtaking and humbling. Zach Glass And as originally promised, the opportunity to join our upgrade, your pledge will be extended through the end of chapter seven. This will include folks who switch up to the new rewards tiers. So if you wanted a pin, now's a great time to jump on that now that there are new episodes on the way. Christian Kelley-Madera And one more piece of news. If you're sitting at home thinking I can't wait for the new episode of The Once And Future Nerd but I don't remember what the hell happened in the last episode. Because these folks took a two year gap between Episodes. Well, we have a solution for that problem. Zach Glass You may have noticed we've begun uploading the back catalogue of episodes onto YouTube. All of book one is currently available on our YouTube. And between now and January 30, which is when the new episodes will release. We're going to be releasing the current episodes of Book Two on YouTube two chapters per week in order to ramp everyone up to get them ready for chapter seven coming out. Each chapter is going to premiere on YouTube at 12 noon Eastern time on Wednesdays and Sundays between now and January 30. Beginning with a doubleheader of book two chapters one and two this Wednesday, January 12. Christian Kelley-Madera Yep, and you can join the live broadcasts to chat in real time with with other fans or just feel free to re listen your own place and on your favorite platform. And if you want to talk about it on social media, you can use the hashtag #TOAFNReRead. Zach Glass Also please note that going forward, all new episodes will air on YouTube one week after they release on the podcast main feed. So if you're someone who prefers your podcasts over YouTube now you'll have them there. Christian Kelley-Madera Yep. And I believe if you if you just go on good old youtube.com and search for The Once And Future Nerd, you will find a channel. That is all the news that we have for now. To sum up new episodes on the last Sunday of every month for the foreseeable future, starting on January 30, and Patreon is switching to monthly Zach Glass Yeah I've been listening to the the new episodes we have coming up. Everything is all recorded. Obviously. It's some of the best stuff we've ever done. I'm really excited for you all to hear it. Christian Kelley-Madera Yeah, me too. Okay. We will talk to you then. Zach Glass Thanks. Bye, everyone. Transcribed by https://otter.ai