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The Plan for Patreon! (Let me know your feedback :D) (Patreon)

Published:
2019-10-23 20:00:59
Imported:
2021-07

Content

Hey everyone! I have some ideas for how to make Patreon even better, and I'd like to hear what you think about it! Nothing is changing right now, I'm in a planning and data-gathering stage, and you can help :)

Background

This Patreon started back in 2016, when Patreon itself was still a fairly new concept. I think it's fair to say that not many people back then knew what to expect from the platform (either as creators or backers!) People just knew that it was a clear way to support the content they loved. And that's great!

When I started, Wasted Talent was still updating every week. So, on Patreon, I could post comics early, I could post progress gifs of those comics, and I was trying to do vlogs and livestreams, with varying degrees of success... but I think it made sense for the time. 

Shortly after completing Kickstarter fulfillment (mid 2017), I got pretty sick. I was pretty lost as an artist and as a person without my webcomic, and I knew that even if I could figure out what to post, I wasn't healthy enough to post regularly. So at that time I decided to turn Patreon "off" (changed the setting from "monthly" to "per creation"). Patreon has remained off for the past two years, and I only charged once for a completed comic, I believe. ("It's ok to sploot") During that time, I've been posting as often as I could, slowly building up my capacity to post regularly, and finding a new path forward for my creativity. 

I'm pretty happy with what I've been doing lately as an artist, and I hope you agree :) I'm making lots of new zines and short stories, finding new stories to tell and new ways to tell them! I've been having a lot of fun with the process, and I'm really grateful that I've had a space to share it with all of you.

So now it's time, I think, to make this place a Patreon for the Jam that's here now, and make it an even more exciting place for all of you. 

Key Issues with Current Model

  • I find the current model a bit difficult to plan for and explain. It's not really clear to patrons (I think) "how much" people are getting for whatever they're pledging. I'd like to make this more clear. That will also allow me to plan a bit better :)


  • It doesn't match what I'm currently doing/able to do. Some of it is out of date and I'd like to bring it more into alignment with what is actually happening. 


  • Higher tier rewards rely a lot on making "extra stuff" that's not comics. This has been really hard for me, and the goal is to get more comics made!!

My Goals

  • Make my Patreon a fun and interesting place to be!
  • Make a new structure that supports more comics getting made (this seems to be everyone's #1 request! hehe)
  • Do a "soft relaunch" in 2020 where I can turn Patreon "on" :)
  • Don't get sick again! (i.e. don't "overcommit")

Proposed New Structure

The new structure operates on a few key principles:

  • If you pledge more, you should see more posts per month 
  • If you pledge more, you get to see deeper into the creative process
  • As more people pledge, everyone gets more posts/month
  • As more people pledge, more annual Patreon-exclusive 'events' unlock

Here's what that looks like:

Whoa ok, that's a lot! Don't worry... some key things to know are this is PRETTY close to what I've been doing for the last few months. In the current model, we are sitting below the "Hourly Comics Day" goal.

For reference, I made 8 posts in September and 6 in August. With a concrete plan, I think this is achievable. 

The TYPE of content at $1, $2 and $5 won't change very much, but content will be posted more predictably/reliably. I think those levels are working, and I don't want to mess with them. The biggest change is at $10. I'd like to call that level "the Lab", and I'd like to give that tier even MORE insight (and input!) to the creative process. It might include things like:

  • Scripts, thumbnails, and outlines that are drafts for comics - legible and ready for detailed feedback. This is similar to "beta read" I was doing in 2017.
  • Prose short stories (that may become future comics)
  • Better documentation of "experiments" that I'm doing that will inform future comics (like glitch stuff, mixed media experiments)
  • Occasional prototypes in the mail! Stickers and other products I'd like to test, maybe early release of zines and things like that.

The other big change is that unlocked 'bonus' goals are now tied to a month! That way I can plan for it, and you know when to expect it :) The only exceptions is that Making-of PDFs release when new, finished comic projects release.


Timeline/Rollout

So this is stage 1 of data-gathering. What do you think? Does this plan make Patreon seem more exciting? More daunting? More clear? What can I do to make this plan even stronger?

I'm going to keep practicing at producing content with these targets in mind, to make sure it's reliable. When I've received and integrated your feedback here at the $5/$10 level, I'll ask for another round of feedback for all Patrons.

Then, when we all feel confident in what's happening, the soft launch will happen sometime in early 2020! Woo!

Thanks so much for reading this giant post, and for taking the time to review this. I'm so SO grateful to everyone who stuck around during this transition time. I seriously can't emphasize that enough. It means so much that you're here for my art and what I'm hoping to make with my voice. I'm stoked to make more comics :)

Files

Comments

NJGR

I guess my main worries are if committing to a certain amount of posts will get to be too much to do, or... feel pointless or a jumping through a hoop as you just didn't have that much to say or post in a month. But if those don't seem an issue for you, no worries. We've been so excited to see you posting again, and I'm definitely intrigued by the short stories you've been writing (as a fiction writer myself)! Can't wait to see those. :) Last, we always felt like you were an excellent creator on patreon and did a good job of keeping up with people. You and Danielle Corsetto were and are our 2 premier examples of creators actually using the platform regularly, reliably, and interestingly. - - Neal

jam
>>28212887

Thanks for this Neal this is *hugely* helpful insight. Like I mentioned, Patreon is kind of this black box because everyone's accounts are locked! (I can only see the Patreons of the, like.. 10 or so people I back) I talk to my friends all the time about what they're doing with it, but everyone has a unique strategy because they're all unique creators. I'm really grateful to hear anything I can about the "Patron" experience. Is there anything cool that Danielle does with her Patreon that I'm not doing right now? I hear your concern about posts becoming "soulless". For me personally, where I struggle is with knowing what's "enough". Knowing that you're paying for these posts, in the past I've always been set on posting "as much as possible". But without structure, that might mean 5 $2 posts in one month, and then 3 $5 posts the next, and then... well it's all over the place. And no matter what I did, I never felt like it was "enough"! (So I just always felt anxious) I'm hoping that with this structure, I'll be able to plan ahead. So instead of "aa! I haven't posted anything at $2 this month what am I going to do??" it can be more like "Oh, I need to do 2x$2 posts, hm, ok, well I've been working on this and that... yeah! I think I can make that work." :)

NJGR

Oh, don't get me wrong, neither of us are expecting everything to be shared. I'm talking the difference between creators that post something once every few months (or longer) and those who at least do a couple of updates a month. It's the not hearing or seeing anything on patreon for long periods of time like that which can be frustrating as a patron (though of course some times big issues come up, and that's more than understandable: I'm talking about when other things are clearly getting done but Patreon doesn't get any notice). I'm looking at some of those we support right now, and Der-Shing Helmer is sharing draft sketches of pages for the next chapter in The Meek comic (and I know that some changes will probably be made when the actual panels are drawn). Danielle Corsetto regularly shares drawing practice sketches and stuff like that, which is fun to see and know what is being worked on, even if it's not going to go in a finished product. I enjoy seeing all of Evan Dahm's progress stuff, too, and some of that is pretty raw. And even being told that work is being done that can't be shared at the moment makes a big difference: we appreciate it when creators say that. --Neal

jam
>>28308780

That's really good to know, thank you :) "Raw" is a good way to describe it. I think another thing I get stuck on (don't know about other creators) is whether something is "good enough" for Patreon. But I can see now that the preference is for more activity. The rough work is definitely a huge part of the polished work getting finished!