Mushroom-Dwelling Flower Fairies Don't Need Patreon
Added 2015-06-12 12:12:05 +0000 UTCOr: A Video In Which Jill Is Grateful, If Slightly Perturbed.
I sometimes feel like I don't say enough that you are excellent people. Or that you are trailblazers who enable the creation of things you love (and indeed, Stuff You Like, I C WHUT U DID THAR) through the application of money.
But I am grateful.
And I am especially grateful that you do not assume that I am a Mushroom-Dwelling Flower Fairy who eats wild strawberries and drinks the morning dew.
Thank you. I appreciate you.
Comments
That's...a reasonably tricky question. I might try and make a video about it at some point, actually, but to try and be useful now: It depends on the kind of work you do. If you work on the 'offer most work for free, and then exclusives for people who support you' model, then you don't need to have so many fans to start. Even if you have a couple of hundred looking at your free stuff, there may be people willing to pay a bit for extra. The 'everything free, but more money means more frequent content' model works similarly, in my experience. Regardless, when you start a Patreon, it might not be a bad idea to buttonhole friends or family before you start to say hey, I'm going to do this thing, and it would mean a lot if you would donate. I told everyone I knew on the Internet about my Patreon, and I got some support very quickly, which is both excellent and essential, because we don't trust a Patreon with no money attached. To back a Patreon with no/very few Patrons we need to really trust the person it's for. Which might mean knowing them in person, or might just mean following their work for a long time. But regardless, even if you don't have many fans, there's no real *harm* in having a Patreon. Having a no-obligation option for people to give you money is unlikely to drive people away. If you have more questions, feel free to ask, by the way!
Jill Bearup
2015-06-13 08:13:29 +0000 UTCHi Jill, I was wondering when you felt you had enough viewers to start the Patreon. I'm looking to try and start supporting myself through my creative work but want to ensure I've built up enough of a fan base before I scare anyone away.
Clare (Agrippina) Belshaw
2015-06-13 00:59:03 +0000 UTCI hope I didn't imply that only people who pay for things like them! I didn't mean to, at least. :) But yes, it's a very good point that there's a...gap in understanding, maybe? about the field of making things on your own and living or dying by the money you make from that. That is a very pricey place to sell, wow. Especially difficult if you want to sell large or delicate stuff which doesn't ship well, because then it's in-person sales or bust. And when your potential customers are total jerks? Kind of a downer. Did they usually earn back their cost? And if not, I wonder how the League even keeps going, unless making stuff is a side job/hobby for some of the people there?
Jill Bearup
2015-06-12 19:54:10 +0000 UTCI think the people who don't want to hand over money probably due value your work, they've just never had a hands on experience with really wanting to make something great and trying to support themselves in the making. My parents are both self employed, my mother is an artist and a member of the League of NH Craftsmen, so this was my entire experience growing up. What worries me about Patreon is that it might be like our experience of the League fair. The general public get all resentful over pricing (the smallest booth space costs 900 dollars and 40% of everything we sell goes to the League meaning it's a huge struggle to just make back cost) and tell us to our faces that our work is a stupid waste of time. Meanwhile, it's the other craftspeople who run around buying (or trading) with each other because we all understand the effort that went into the work and can appreciate it. So nobody really makes any money, it's more like we share what little bit there is with each other.
De
2015-06-12 19:36:49 +0000 UTC
