Thoughts on Patreon and Some Changes

I’ve been thinking a lot about Patreon lately, and how it’s been working for me (or not). I want to make some changes, but also wanted to make sure I let everyone know why, and what I’ll be changing.

Here are some of the things I’ve been struggling with:

•In looking over my income statements for the past year, I’ve found that in 2017, my Gumroad income passed my Patreon income. It seems like I would do better if I released an image pack on Gumroad each month, rather than posting to Patreon. Plus, Gumroad stuff stays on sale indefinitely, while Patreon has a tendency to condense everything I’ve done that month into one smaller payment. But I also feel kind of weird release just a pack of unrelated images or just commissions, so Patreon tends to work better for that. I think I need to do more of a mix of the two.

•I often like to doodle for myself (of course), but then I also feel like patrons deserve the first look at it. The problem is that I’m most excited about a pic right when I finish it, and that’s when I feel like I want to post it for everyone to see. But if I post stuff to Patreon first, then I move on to other things, and I never get around to posting it publicly. I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of audience interaction I’d like to be having outside of Patreon.

• Ever since Yiff Party was revealed to the fandom at large, I’ve basically lost all interest in developing my Patreon account. It’s a shame, but that’s the reality of it. Every time I start some project, I immediately think, “Well, what’s the point?” I’m not some big movie studio or music label making billions of dollars a year. I’m just one guy. Art stealing sites like that have a very measurable impact on me. This is perhaps less serious than some of the other things—after all, the art is going to be stolen online regardless—but damn if it hasn’t put a noticeable dent in my interest on doing longer projects for Patreon.

Taken together, I think the common thread here is that Patreon feels stifling. On the one hand, I feel like I should dump as much as I can here to make it worthwhile for you folks who are willing to spend money. But on the other hand, trying to keep up with that has seriously sapped my interest in doing any more work than I have to.

I think I’m going to make a few changes. It’s not anything drastic. It may not even be stuff you realized I was doing any differently. But I want to at least mention these things here to help set expectations:

• Patreon will continue to be the most convenient place to see my work, and the only place where you’re guaranteed to get the full res images. But it will no longer be totally exclusive or early-access for everything. I’ll be posting some stuff to Twitter, FA or Weasyl alongside posting it here.

• All tiers will continue to get 24 hour advanced commission notices.

• The $1 tier will switch to being just a tip jar, no sketches or other art will be included. This impacts almost nobody. The highest number of people I’ve ever had in this tier in one month was four. Many months I don’t have any $1 pledges.

• I’m going to work on releasing more image packs for sale on Gumroad. For instance, I really want to ink and color the lion twins comic, but I’m not sure I can justify the amount of work it will take at the current level of $4 pledges I’m getting, if I just post it here. But projects like that make a lot more sense if I can sell them on Gumroad. They won’t be very expensive, probably another $3 or $4. But it’s a way to recoup more costs on my time and (hopefully) spend more time doing work I enjoy rather than exclusively commissions.

I’m hoping nobody will feel like they’re being ripped off by that last point. I look at it more like a slightly higher Patreon tier. The difference is, I can do it month by month. If I don’t release something one month, then you’re not paying extra at like a $10 tier for no additional benefit. And also, Gumroad products are available in perpetuity, whereas older Patreon stuff gets deleted. So if you don't have the extra 4 bucks the month something goes up on Gumroad, you can always grab it two or three months later.

Anyway, let me know what you think about the overall Patreon experience you’ve gotten with me. Does it meet your expectations? Is there stuff you’d like to see that I’m not doing? Are the changes okay? Leave a comment~