This started out as a comment on another blog, but I didn't want that person to feel as if they had been singled out for attention. This is something that has been on my mind for awhile now.
It wasn't that long ago I only knew one person with a Patreon. At last count a few months back there were over 30. A few are set at $1.00 but most have a $5.00 minimum. A small number are higher. So I figure my monthly contributition to the people I really feel I should donate to is close to $150. A month. Ouch!
Now it seems to me that as more and more people set up Patreon accounts we are going to reach a point where we can only afford a few. I can't afford any so I can't help anybody. Over on dA these are people I have been following for years. I've cheered them when they are winning. I've consoled them when things were bad. Now they have Patreon accounts and I see all the stuff they do that I don't have access to. At times it feels like a slap in the face.
So I have to wonder how long it can go on before people just stop contributing. People start saying F*** This! and withdraw support. I see it as a matter of when, not if. You take out enough of the foundation and the house collapses.
If I have the money it will go to BC and Erin's merry band of pixies. That's all I can do.
Comments
Most of the folks I know of
Most of the folks I know of that are doing Patreon aren't doing it to withhold anything. They haven't changed their day to day work/giving at all. What they do with the Patreon is use it as a way to provide _extra_ content that's not actually necessary, but that some people like to have. It's also a way for some people to budget who they support. (For example, with webcomics, someone might decide that they can afford to spend $45 a month on the comics they read online. They put X amount to each Patreon, and then don't have to think about it anymore)
It's the new 'micropayments', bluntly. Micropayments didn't work out because the costs of running something like that ate too far into the payments.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
What's going on
There are artists that post all new material to pateron, and some months down the line they make it available to everybody else. This can be annoying particularly when it is a web comic that updates on a very irregular basis anyway. One webcomic I know sequesters his work sometimes for 6-8 months. Other artists I know do extra artwork that is only available on their patreon site, and will never be made available to the nonpaying public. And some artists do post value-added material like production shots that are like you said, of interest only to a few. If you were under the impression that I said that all the artists were sequestering their work, well I didn't.
$45 would be a significant amount of money for me, and I have reason to believe others are in the same situation. And we don't get to contribute what we can afford, the artist sets the prices. When an artist sets a $25 minimum then my sending him or her $5 won't get me anything. You can say we watchers have been freeloading on the artists up until now, but it is the artist that sets the value. Setting a price many of us can't afford hurts their market. And as more people set up pateron accounts that leaves the watcher unable to afford the minimum. If I only have $10 to spend, then it really doesn't do the artist any good, they just aren't going to get my money. Others have made the same comments as me, so I know at least some of us just can't afford any more expenses.
As more and more people join pateron, well you can only spread the butter so thin on the slice of bread. When the artists find they can't get the bucks they expected or what they used to get they are going to bail. The question is will pateron stabalize at a smaller number of members or will the operators throw in the towel. Guessing what might happen based on what other sites have done previously I believe they will say it was nice while it lasted and shut down.
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
Hm. I don't think I've seen
Hm. I don't think I've seen an artist with a $25 patreon. Most want as many $5 folks as possible, and a few have it set for 1.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Value...
Honestly, there are Very few artists that I would support in such a manner. Call it what you will, if I am going to pay you money for something, it has to be better than what I can get for free. And very few authors live up to that here or elsewhere. I do support a few authors, but they are as good or better than what you can get from traditional bookstores. And obviously, I like their work.
Interesting
Rule of thumb is that when one person makes a comment like Fletch has there are many others who have the same opinion who are silent.
Over the years I've demanded that my stories, which are written for Hatbox to support Erin, are all eventually published for free for a period of time.
Given the attitude presented by Fletch I've consequently set the value of my stories at $0 because they're published for free at some time.
There are many on BC, who enjoy my stories, who have limited, or no income. So there's my dilemma. Do I publish all my stories, as I have in the past, and diminish their value as a fundraiser so everyone can read them? Or, do I request that Erin get maximum fundraising potential by never allowing them to be read for free, thereby forcing those who think like Fletch to pay for them?
I don't get a dime either way. What I get is a way to help Erin keep this wonderful site going.
Fletch, does keeping this site viable enter into your value algorithm?
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
yes!
This site is a training ground for new authors, most people will never get a story published, or even read by anyone else. How many potentially excellent writers never publish anything at all?
If nothing else people get to try their hand, and you can never really know how good you are till other people read your work. Just don't into it in the false hope you are another Stephen King, and take it as far as you can.
At work...
Having to sneak in posts while at work so I am a bit unfocused, I should add that I don't think Patreon is a bad idea, and if a particular author is one I am very fond of I would support them. We all have our favorites.
I don't support this site as well as I should, but there are only a few authors I follow any more. I should make the effort to try and read the newer authors but time is hard to come by sometimes.
Honestly?
If people are willing to pay you for the work you do, why not take them up on it?
Don't get me wrong, as an author I love seeing lots and lots of hits on stories I write. That said, if I had to make a choice between 10k people reading my work and never giving me feedback or support, or 1k reading my work and each giving me a dollar in thanks... well, that dollar would win out, 'cause I got bills y'all.
I don't see the people who support Patreon or other funding sites stopping doing so any time soon, especially when the only people I really hear complain most of the time are those who won't or can't contribute who feel it's unfair that they're not getting the same thing others' who DO contribute are.
Bottom line, if your complaint is that something you've enjoyed for free has found a viable way of monetizing itself -- leading to the creator being able to have more time to create, more incentive to do so, etc. -- then you're arguing against the continued existence of that thing, because verbal support is nice... but paying the bills always has to come first.
Melanie E.
What is Patreon - how does it work?
what is it's power compared with other crowdfunding sites (if that is what it is?)
Doe any BC authors live there and how does their work do well or not.
Do any BC authors sponsor people and what sort of feedback does a sponsor get?
etc
AP