1st Anniversary, Holiday Free Access & New Subscription Policy!

0:00 Hello dear listeners, This is Lynn, the voice of the 5th Monkey. This is a special episode informing you of, first of all, our first anniversary and 2nd, some changes that will take place with regard to our subscription plan. So yes, we are approaching our first anniversary on December 8th. Can't believe it's been a whole year already since we uploaded our first episode on YouTube. You may have noticed that our updates are coming faster than usual in late November.

0:34 That's because we are preparing for the special day. So on December 8th, all our listeners, whether or not you are a pay subscriber, will receive 2 brand new episodes at the same time. For pay subscribers, you will be handed Chapter 10, Part One and Part 2. Yes, a full chapter in one day for non subscribers.

0:59 You will be able to listen to Production Notes Episode 9 as well as Chapter 10 Part One. This is a humble gift for everyone who has been supporting us on this journey and two weeks later on December 22nd you will get the usual single new episode update. And then comes Christmas. Starting from December 25th all the way till the 31st, every episode of the series, yes every single one of them, both chapters and production notes will become publicly available.

1:36 This will be our holiday limited free access so you can enjoy the story with your loved ones during the holiday season. This is a one week only event, so please listen as much as you can. Our team is in a different time zone from most of our listeners, so we will definitely take that into consideration and make sure the episodes remain free when you're still in the year 2023. And when the new year arrives, the free access will end and a new subscription policy will take effect. Starting from January 1st 2024, non subscribers will get both part one and Part 2 of a new chapter on the third Friday of every month.

2:20 At the same time, Pay subscribers will get part one on the 1st Friday of the month and Part 2 on the third Friday and Pay subscribers will always be one chapter ahead of non subscribers. So for example, in January 2024, Pay subscribers will get Chapter 11, part One on the 5th and Part 2 on the 19th, while non subscribers will get Chapter 10, part One and two on the 19th. Also, starting from January 1st 2024, all production notes except episodes one to three will become subscriber exclusive.

3:01 If you are a non subscriber, you will only ever have access to episodes one to three. If you're a Pay subscriber, the corresponding production notes for the new chapter will be available on the 4th Friday of every month. So on January 26th, hey listeners will be able to listen to Production Notes 11. Please visit our social media for the end of year update calendar if you're confused.

3:29 In short, there will be less free for all content, but pay subscribers will be enjoying more content every month. This is not an easy decision for us to make because the entire purpose of this project is to provide access to the Canon of Journey to the West to as many people as possible. But like we've said before, this is an extremely small team and it is absolutely unsustainable for us to be funding ourselves for the years to come. And yes, this series won't take many years to finish because the book literally has 100 chapters, but with where we are in our funding goal at the moment, every episode could be our last. And how easily could that goal be met? If just about 300 of our listeners on Spotify, which is only a small portion of our

4:19 total listenership, could contribute three U.S. dollars every month, we can bring the series to the end of the journey. What we're asking is about 1000 U.S. dollars per month, which is only a fraction of the average monthly salary in a developed country. Luckily, our team is operating from a place where living cost isn't as high, but we're now only getting less than 10% of that goal, and I can guarantee our existing patrons are already paying more than three U.S. dollars every month.

4:49 What we need is just more many more subscribers who only have to contribute very little, and it would be enough to not only sustain the serious, but give us much more resources to create exclusive content. And maybe then we can also make some of those locked content free. Again, if this was a commissioned project we would be paid much more than we are currently asking for.

5:13 But no, this is just something made by a group of people who have an unhealthy obsession with Journey to the West. If that obsession can turn into money, we wouldn't be asking our listeners to pay anything to directly ask our listeners for money almost goes against every fibre of our beings as Chinese, but we also firmly believe that our team deserves to be properly paid. This isn't an audio book reading, but a 90 plus hour dramatic performance of a book.

5:44 We are literally translating the novel from the Chinese original. I am recording every episode from my bedroom because this is the only studio I can afford. Not to mention all the editing and production work involved in putting out one single episode. This is the full package you're getting for just $3 a month.

6:03 And don't get me wrong, I love every second working on this project, but should we be doing this for free? Absolutely not. We should at least be paid enough so we don't result in deficits. So here's what you can do to help us. You can become a paid subscriber on Spotify or better on Patreon, where a lot more fun is happening because we post other interesting content there regularly.

6:29 Our Patreon shop is also open to the public. You don't need membership to buy stuff. From there we drop Journey to the West, Art from time to time and so the full English transcript of all our episodes there, so feel free to shop around. We also have a coffee page where you can drop one off donations with no strings attached. All the links are in the descriptions below. Even if you aren't ready to pay yet, you can still follow us for free on YouTube and Patreon, both to stay updated on everything we do and also to boost our page so we can maybe monetize our content in the future. You already know what we do.

7:10 You know what to expect from us. Let's get on this journey together for the long run. Every small gesture helps. This is the fifth monkey, and thank you for listening.