mykegreywolf
patreon
How much should Myke's patrons be pledging to view his exclusive art content?
🕑 Added 2019-08-11 21:08:38 +0000 UTCEven if initially I had a tier structure set up for my Patreon, with different rewards for each tier, I was quickly overwhelmed by the need to produce those rewards on a monthly basis, and I ended up falling behind. I recognized my failure to keep up with this model, and ended up with a flat "pay what you want" patronage model focused only on the show of support for my illustration activities and appreciation for the style and feel of my work. I would still create content meant to reciprocate the patrons' support, yes, but the production of such content would be subject to my discretion and availability. Beside that, I also wanted to turn this into a privileged avenue for my supporters to communicate (and commune) with me, but I must confess that I've haven't really been able to fulfill that promise until recently, because social anxiety can be a bitch when combined with the feeling of owing something to all of you. If I'm to pledge something to you all, is to improve on that.
A while after I collapsed all the patron tiers and stopped promising regular reward content, replacing it with sporadic eye candy, some of my friends (and also my patrons) who are most invested in my quest to become able to return home and provide for my family with my illustration activities, started telling me that by sticking to the lowest possible pledge amount, I was undermining my own efforts and devaluing my work. They suggested that I, at the very least, increase the pledge amount to access the reward content, establishing a distinction between the act of support for my occupation for its own sake, and doing so for the sake of the rewards.
I am not so sure about this. I... am not confident that the sporadic reward content I provide is sufficient to justify spending more than $1/month for the vast majority of potential patrons, especially considering the enormous amount of creators out there providing much more substantial and regular reward content. Then again, I could be underestimating how much the people who enjoy my work, enjoy it. I could reduce this matter to the bottom line, and just do the math to check if it would pay off, but I don't want to turn you wonderful people into mere terms of an equation.
So I don't really know what to do about it. Odds are, I won't do anything at all. But I value your opinions, and I wish to hear you on this matter. In the context of the niche I operate on, and considering the creator landscape within that niche, how much do you feel it would be reasonable for me to ask my patrons to pledge in order to access my exclusive content? If enough of you agree that I'm undervaluing myself, I could end up creating that additional tier. If I'm honest, I don't really like pay-walling content that could potentially be enjoyed by many, many more people. But I do need to be able to capitalize more on my skills if I'm to ever accomplish my goals, so there you go. Maybe a day will come when I no longer need to do this, since enough people will be throwing cash at me just to keep doing what I'm doing. Until then, I'd be very grateful it you'd tell me how you feel about this, please.
Of course, I don't just want your opinion on this particular aspect of my Patreon. If you have any other suggestion regarding the way I should run this gig, as well as rewards I could offer to captivate more of the people who enjoy my work, feel free to state your thoughts in the comments, or to send me a private message. Preferably ones that won't double my workload or make me incur big expenses, if you know what I mean. I'm not quite there yet. ;)
Once again, thank you all so much for your preference and patronage! I wish I could get to know all of you better (some I already do!), so please don't be strangers!
Comments
Dmage
I believe an artist should challenge themselves. I also believe they should be paid for it 2 dollars isn't much for exclusives. but it gives a standard. Building yourself up takes priority. so start at 2 and if enough people want more than charge more art takes time and time is more valuable than money.
Morlund
I'll echo the majority with at least $2, since it's my observation on this site that $1 is often reserved for just simple support and any Patreon-exclusive content is worth more than that, though how much more is open for interpretation. And if you want you can have higher tiers for more exclusive content like accepting patron suggestions for your next pic or being able to ask your characters questions, simple stuff like that. I definitely agree that your art is worth a lot more than what you're currently charging, but if you genuinely feel you can't keep up with more elaborate exclusive content it might be good to start simple and see if you can work your way up to other things. :)
TwilightIsMagic
Let me be a sort of voice of grounding, perhaps - by providing my own perspective. While I've known, and liked, your art for a long time, I'm only really here for the pones, which are not your main and only subject. I'm willing to spare a buck for that, sure. Your most loyal, loving fans will raise a chorus of adulation for you, because they are prepared to pay more than they already do out of following you as their primary artist - but people like me, we could just drop away if the price is hiked but our area of interest stays as it was. A single buck more is possible, but that's already stretching it for how much I can spare. If people who are huge fans of you really wish to support you, then instead of asking others to give you more, they should pay up themselves, via commissions or donations or even gifts.
Will P
I'm willing to pledge a higher amount for a monthly-ish archive of all the versions of your work and maybe a link to all past ones in one place.
Patec
That being said, paywalls seem to be part of it. Otherwise it wouldn't be such a popular practice. Even though for me personally it's not in the spirit of what I would call a "patreon". It turns more into a subscription for exclusive content.
Patec
Patreon is confusing. I support 6 people on here. and for some I really don't understand why they don't have a larger crowd supporting them, and for some others it's actually the oposit to be honest.. I have no idea how to determin how a change like this would affect your standings.
N/A
I haven't seen any artists do it, but I always thought having a very low resolution thumbnail of exclusive works available to non-patrons would help entice more people. Some artists show a teaser with only a small section of the image, but people don't know what the full image looks like until they've already pledged. A low enough resolution image of exclusives(I'm talking tiny like no more than 100 pixels square or something like 3%-4% the size of the full) would let the user have a better idea of what they'll get, but the majority of users aren't going to be satisfied with a super low-res version and may be more inclined to pledge to get the full one.
Cross the Multiverse
I figure it's reasonable for the folks that want the NSFW stuff to pitch in above the average donation amount (currently above $2), and looking at the current state of the votes, maybe it would be reasonable to round that value up to at least $3? I'm in for general support and I'm already donating above the average, but it would be pretty great, at least for me, if at some point my current donation would put me just under the tier that sends NSFW stuff to my email inbox. I notice that on a few occasions there are regular and NSFW versions of the same piece - I'm not sure how hard it is to prepare a piece to account for those alternate versions, but if it's something you can plan for reliably on a monthly workflow it might provide potential NSFW-tier patrons with a glimpse into what that tier could deliver, without the rest of the folks feeling like they're missing out.
N/A
I had a lot typed out and I swear I posted it, but it now seems to have mysteriously disappeared. So, in short: I've followed you for a while. I've never been a patron until now, but I wanted to chime in on this. I think you could justify hiking your price some. In my opinion, Some of your art is exceptional. I especially love the way you draw fit characters(Some of your commissions come to mind. Your Epona and Dracarna commissions are what I would personally consider exceptional). I can't speak for everyone, but I can tell you I'm a patron of one artist that puts out 4 pieces of exclusive artwork a month at $5. Another one puts out 2 for $7 a month. If you could put out at least one piece of high quality content a month, I'd personally gladly pay $4 a month. If you can't handle that, then $2 a month might be acceptable for sporadic content. At the very least, if you can't release content consistently, give regular updates on what you're working on or what we can expect. I think it's very important that there's some kind of consistency to posting though so patrons don't feel like they're being shafted. Regardless of what you do, thanks for your work, and good luck reaching your goal.
jedimaster771
i agree start with $2 and then raise it if need-be
TOS
Two buckaroos seems right when there's no set schedule and no real 'say' in what gets made. Many 'big' artists are essentially giving other people a substantial amount of control over what they do, and expect a substantial return based on that loss of creative freedom. A lot of them wind up producing very 'samey' material over time, too... I imagine you could do a $4 or more tier where people get to vote on content or add to a suggestion box, or otherwise have more control over what's being produced in some meaningful way, but I wouldn't really suggest paywalling the actual content too heavily or you'll probably wind up with a big drop-off in patrons. Even so, there's a number of artists who don't produce regularly who ask for $3, and they seem to do alright... so you might be able to get away with that without any notable loss in revenue. I'd say start with two for sure, then increment up to three or four later if your numbers remain relatively stable. People are fickle and don't like sudden price hikes at even the best of times, so an immediate jump to four will almost certainly mess with things. Now watch thirty super fans leap on this post and call me cheap. :P
