Has anyone used Patreon or similar platform? Share your experiences?

[Nick_Miller]

Context for my question:

I'm a FT attorney who is writing fiction on nights/weekends. My second book will be published in the first half of 2018, hopefully April or so.

I've earned about $18,000 from my first book thus far, and although royalty payments are shrinking, I'm still bringing in $300-$400 per month.

I'm at the beginning of a multi-year journey to increase my writing/creative income, with the idea of eventually earning enough writing/creative income to do it full time (likely working a "regular" PT job as well). Basically I want to bring my "Creative boat" closer to my "Law boat" before jumping off. It will take some time.

This means creating new income streams, and Patreon might be one I'm interested in. For those not familiar with it, it's designed to be more of a continuous support system for Creatives, as opposed to project-based platforms like Kickstarter. With Patreon, your supporters each toss in a few dollars per month to the Creative, who in turn offers some "first look" or "exclusive" content for the Patreon page. The idea is to keep growing you supporter base over time and to slowly build your monthly income from the site. Some Creatives earn $5,000+ per month (but they are the exception, not the rule). For most Creatives, I'd think a $500/month Patreon page is a "success," depending on their goals.

So I'm feeling a bit...awkward...or maybe the word is nervous...about starting one, mostly because presently I still make six figures in my FT lawyer job, and most of my readers are college kids and young adults. I'm afraid the appearances will be that a upper middle class lawyer is milking kids for their pocket change.

BUT...

How else do you start one? Do you have to wait until you've jumped ship into the Creative waters? It seems unwise to wait on starting a Pateron until you make the transition to FT Creative. Sure, you can spin the "starving artist" thing more easily then, and it'll be less awkward, but all the transitional time will have been lost.

Has anyone used this platform? Do you have any advice or tips?

For non-Patreon users, what would you think if one of your friends started a page like this? Would you be like "You go pursue your dreams! I might even toss in $3 per month!" or would you be like, "Geez dude, how desperate are you?"   Or maybe somewhere in between?

Thanks for any input!

[Orvell]

I have a patreon for my art, and support other artists/writers on it as well.
I think it's great, but @marcela 's questions are key.
The point for the person giving you money is to receive either something beyond what they can get from your website (early access to things, special blog posts, draft versions of scrapped writing... etc.) so they get to support you, but also get a 'product' too. I think this will help your nervousness- you're not asking for money for nothing, you're selling a product. That product just happens to be yourself, your ideas, and your writing.
I do visual art so my experience is different, but plenty of writers use Patreon too. They often do early access to pieces, or provide ebook compilations of short stories, etc.
Good luck!

[Footsore Rambler]

I have a Patreon account.  I started it in April 2017, and I currently make the princely sum of $45 per month with it.  So I'm also interested in hearing from more successful/experienced Patreon users.

I think you should go ahead and start one, because it will probably take some time for you to get really comfortable with it, and you will want to experiment with everything.  Better to do that when you are not relying on it for any significant income. 

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the anxiety/guilt you describe seems to stem from the fact that you are viewing Patreon as a form of charity, and you don't need charity at the moment.  You might do better to reframe it before you start.  You should be offering potential subscribers something of value beyond feeling altruistic.  In your case, as a writer, maybe stuff like access to annotated excerpts of already published work, draft excerpts, sneak previews ... I dunno, maybe book reviews?  You should try to come up with a tier of rewards for subscribers at increasingly high levels.  I'm an artist, and in my case, I offer my subscribers the first look at new works, special hand-made cards, periodic discounts, and my higher subscription tiers are basically a painting purchase layaway program. 

(ETA: or basically what marcella and Orvell said)

[Nick_Miller]

Will respond more at lunch, but long story short, yes I have plennnnnnty of "exclusive" content ideas. And I understand that Patreon Creatives furnish services for their supporters and that it's not charity, but I guess I was still a bit worried about appearances, especially with my social circles. I can certainly refocus my mindset though.

[FIRE Artist]

First, I will say that I think the whole concept of Patreon is a creative distraction.  As a creative, it is not something I would pursue or support anyone else on.  I support other artists by purchasing finished work. 

Why not just pursue FIRE before you pull the plug on your career?  Then all financial pressure is off to write as many books as you like, how you like, without the distraction of creating monthly "gifts" for your paid subscribers.  On a Lawyer's salary, FIRE should be quickly achieved. 

[Orvell]

Will respond more at lunch, but long story short, yes I have plennnnnnty of "exclusive" content ideas. And I understand that Patreon Creatives furnish services for their supporters and that it's not charity, but I guess I was still a bit worried about appearances, especially with my social circles. I can certainly refocus my mindset though.

:) You have two obvious choices re: social circles
1) Lean into it. Be PROUD, talk it up, be excited. This is your passion and you get to share it, how neat, right?
2) Don't tell anyone. It's none of their beeswax, and you'll be free of worrying about their opinions if they literally can't have them. Pen names are good for this, too-- people have all sorts of reasons for keeping their art on the dl.

[Nick_Miller]

@marcela, yes my friends are definitely NOT my target audience. I think 3 people I know in 'real life' have read my story.

@Orvell, I'm tempted to lean into it and own it. I already have a decent social media following and I have no intentions on using a pen name (only here! :)  )  I need to capitalize on my small fan base, not confuse them by adding multiple personas or whatever.

@Footsore Rambler, well $45 is a start! How much time do you spend on it on a weekly basis? I'm curious! How labor intensive is the initial set up? I am tempted to dip my toe in the Patreon waters and see what happens. I guess at worst, I waste 10-20 hours of my time for little or no benefit. It wouldn't be the end of the world.

@FIRE Artist, I can see it being a possible distraction, but social media can be the same thing...I just look at it as a way to maintain reader interest between book releases, keep a conversation going with readers, see what they like, don't like, etc. Turn them into "fans" instead of just "readers" so they might follow me to the next series I write.

[undercover]

I think what you need to be successful is a set schedule of releases on a certain interval. People could certainly donate to you and expect nothing but the book "when it's ready" in return, but I think you'd be more successful by coming up with other creative outlets and ideas to get your "product" out sooner and on a regular basis. It's not like there's anything inherently immoral to me about asking for support to quit your job and focus on writing, it's just you'd attract a wider audience if you actually provided a service. I wouldn't personally pay for the former (though I'm sure there are those that would) but I might for the latter.

[Footsore Rambler]

@Footsore Rambler, well $45 is a start! How much time do you spend on it on a weekly basis? I'm curious! How labor intensive is the initial set up? I am tempted to dip my toe in the Patreon waters and see what happens. I guess at worst, I waste 10-20 hours of my time for little or no benefit. It wouldn't be the end of the world.

My particular initialization was hardly labor intensive at all.  I wrote an introductory paragraph, planned out a few beginning posts, and hit up my friends and family to spread the word via social media.  Most of the time I spend on it is time I'd be spending on social media anyway -- if I didn't have the Patreon account, I'd be sharing the same stuff on FB/Twitter.  The stuff that is uniquely for Patreon, like my in-progress reports and thank-you cards, don't feel like a distraction to me.  The more I write about my work to others, the better I get at talking about it in real life, which is helpful.  And I make the thank-you cards from scrap material around my studio, which usually sparks some ideas for me for later use.

My plan going in was to keep it low-key at first, and depending on how things went, offer more stuff gradually.  I'm posting material about 3 times a week (actually, every day until the end of January, because I'm doing a daily drawing challenge).