Hello everyone,
There are currently two ways to get your hands on all the bonus episodes I’ve produced over the years. One is to buy them from thehistoryofbyzantium.com. The other is to become a Patron of the show at Patreon.com.
I am making plans to switch entirely to Patreon from October 2021. The sale system here at thehistoryofbyzantium.com has served me well. But it does occasionally crash and cause other problems. So it seems sensible to slowly put it to rest and move everything over to Patreon.
The sale site will shut for good on the 23rd October 2021 so there is no rush to make the switch over and I will of course send reminders from time to time.
The new Patreon site can be found at patreon.com/historyofbyzantium
This is where things get complicated. I set up a Patreon account last year for listeners who wanted an ad-free feed. But I didn’t want to pause the narrative while I uploaded 200+ episodes. So I set up the Patreon assuming I could add the rest of the back catalogue later. Well – it turns out you can’t. You can’t edit the order of posts on Patreon which is a huge drag.
So I’ve had to set up this new Patreon account with all 200+ episodes in order with all the bonus episodes as well. And you can find that at patreon.com/historyofbyzantium. All the support tiers are exactly the same as are the prices.
What do I have to do?
If you are already a Patron at the old site you don’t need to do anything. I will continue to update that account until there are no Patrons left. But if you want to be able to binge the show from the beginning you might want to switch to the new Patreon site at some point. I’m afraid there’s no easy transfer button. You need to cancel your patronage on that account. Then wait for a new month to begin, so you aren’t charged twice, and then join the new Patreon at patreon.com/historyofbyzantium. I have no control over refunds from Patreon so please wait for a new month to begin before signing up.
If you buy your episodes one at a time from thehistoryofbyzantium.com then nothing will change for you until October 2021. From then on you would need to join Patreon if you’d like to continue listening to Byzantine Stories or Fundraising episodes. Join the new Patreon anytime at patreon.com/historyofbyzantium
If you bought a subscription at thehistoryofbyzantium.com that runs out before October 2021 then nothing will change for you until then. From then on you would need to join Patreon to get more bonus episodes. Join the new Patreon anytime at patreon.com/historyofbyzantium
If you bought a subscription at thehistoryofbyzantium.com that runs out after October 2021 then you will be refunded for the amount left on your subscription when that day comes. You are also welcome to email me at anytime to get a refund and switch over to Patreon if you’d like to. Contact me at thehistoryofbyzantium at gmail.com
To differentiate the two Patreon accounts I have put up a message on the old Patreon redirecting people and I have put ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ in brackets at the title of each welcome page. So you should sign up at the Patreon which says ‘The History of Byzantium (Yes) is Creating podcasts.’ Find that page at patreon.com/historyofbyzantium
Why?
One day there will be just the one Patreon account where everyone will go to get their bonus episodes. Just like the Byzatines I need to drive these other heretical sites out of business and establish the one true Patreon.
Thanks so much for your support,
Robin
The History of Byzantium 
Hello Robin
When will the forward narrative resume?
David Haselkorn
Sent from my IPhone.
Not happy sorry. I like to be able to buy individual bonus episodes if I am interested, or to have a one time paid subscription to have bonus feed, but I do NOT want to give my financial info to Patreon for any recurring charges. I have had problems with them before. You will lose customers from this – please reconsider.
@Todd I’m writing this reply from the future! It’s great here–I mean, aside from all the dead aardvarks and meerkats now that the Kalahari’s drying up–and best of all, The History of Byzantium is doing better than ever!
Like EVERY normal, successful blog and podcast, Robin’s choice to use Patreon has put him in good company, and makes it easy for podcast fans to continue to fund his brilliance. It’s SO NICE that all his fans can fund their Basil addictions and Komnenoi cravings in the exact same place we fund all our other favorite podcasts and YouTube channels.
“But in your blissful utopia,” I hear you huff, “isn’t there still something sneaky and spyware-ish about Patreon?”
Oh, probably. We’re certainly a far way away from the days when bellhops on rollerblades would come collect our monthly podcast fees door to door. I can still hear the “ka-chink! ka-chink!” sound of ME as I dropped my Swiss francs one by one into the eager hands of the smiling teenager with the dead eyes.
But despite lacking that old “bellhop shhhh”, we future fans have found that Patreon is not actually some weird, freaky thing. In fact, it’s not nearly as bad as what we all go through every day, just having a GPS-tracking device in our pockets that we choose to carry around with us so we can play Candy Crush and tweet even MORE information about where we’re currently at and what we’re buying.
In fact, we future-fans (or as we’re calling ourselves now: “Robbinical Study Buddies”) feel that singling out Patreon as a place we wouldn’t want to “have our information” is kind of like saying you don’t trust keeping your shoes in the little cubbies at the bowling alley because you fear it might make the bottom of your shoes “get dirty.” Like, dude, you walk in those shoes all the time. The cubby is not that grubby.
The only thing that we OG THOB fans do NOT get out of the current Patreon system is that it used to make us feel smug and superior that we had already pre-paid for some bonus stuff that other, newer converts would have in future already NOT have previously paid for because they may or may not have opted for a different payment plan. It’s rare that a person might be able to gloat while using both the subjunctive mood AND future perfect conditional tense! And yes, it feels powerful.
But overall, what we lack in snarky pride, we Robby Hobbyists gain in having so much free time on our hands that we can waste an entire afternoon writing emails like this.
PRAISED BE PATREON! – orangehairboy
🙂
I’m relistening and want to access previously purchased episodes. How do I do that? Thanks!
You sign up to Patreon. Please see the article above for links
I love this topic! ❤ Its Amazing!
Hi there,
Apologies in advance is this is an innappropriate place a technical querie, I couldn’t seem to any ‘tech’ area.
So I’ve just bought the RSS feed option, but it stops working after episode 82. After that point, all downloads just fail. If I return to the free (with adds) option, it downloads fine. I’ve tried multiple podcast players, the issue remains.
Anybody else found this problem/solution?
Hi, I haven’t heard anyone else say this. If you email me your feed address I can test it at this end (thehistoryofbyzantium at gmail.com)
Robin