Compensation

Steamy Ink Publishing is a business, and Poppy Marianus pays for good intelligence. Contributing to the paper isn’t just about shaping the town’s narrative, it is also a way for your character to earn coin!

Standard Publication

If your article, dispatch, or tip is accepted and printed, Poppy will compensate your character for their work. The payment scale depends on the length and impact of the piece—a three-sentence tip to Madam Mapleleaf pays differently than a full feature for the Special Investigative Press.

Payment isn’t strictly limited to coin; writers can be paid in production items, influence, lore, or other favors.

If you want to haggle for more payment based on your piece, you can—just talk to Shauna or Poppy.

Spike Pay

Sometimes, an article is accepted but never makes it to print. It might get bumped for space, conflict with a major plot secret, or (more likely) the subject of your scandalous gossip paid a hefty bribe to make the story disappear.

If a story gets killed, Poppy still will pay the writer for the intelligence gathered and the effort spent. A killed story is still a valuable story, and the paper takes care of its sources.

This applies to partial cuts too. If a feature loses a section because of a Kill Fee or Editor’s List change and runs at half its length, it still pays the original rate. What you get paid for is the work you did, not the column inches that survived.

Every other newsroom calls this a “Kill Fee.” SIP already spent that term on the bribe, so here it is “Spike Pay” so the two don’t get confused.

How to Collect

A couple ways:

• Shauna can hand you the coin out-of-game, just remind her.
• You can track down Poppy in-game for payment.
• Payment can be sent via courier in-game.
• If you have an account with The Bank of Abacus, direct deposit can be arranged.