I’ve been working out the details of my own Patreon but given the recent changes I may hold out for Kickstarter’s solution instead.
I’ve been working out the details of my own Patreon but given the recent changes I may hold out for Kickstarter’s…
I’ve been working out the details of my own Patreon but given the recent changes I may hold out for Kickstarter’s solution instead.
Same thoughts, I’ve started looking at other solutions and how current creators at Patreon handle the changes.
I really wish I could just put a hat out, but I guess that’s not what patrons want.
I like the concept but the name makes me want to hand the entire service a Kleenex.
I’ve been meaning to tell you: I really really think you should write and put out a physical book. Even if it is a collection of your previous posts all gussied up.
Jesse Coombs I’ve been thinking the same thing! IGRC: Year One.
The Beakley Weekly: A Gaming Zine.
You saw the GameTek book based on the podcasts, right?
kickstarter.com – GameTek: The Book
You could also use payhip or gumroad somehow, I imagine.
The Patreon Debacle has made me really think about my online spending habits, and it’s occurred to me that the more I interact with crowdfunding and patronage and whatever, the more I just want to buy a thing that’s done. It’s easier to budget, there’s no false urgency, and the vendor can accurately calculate what a thing is going to cost and I can decide if that’s worth paying.
It also matches my consumption habits better. I have been supporting a few people who make 1-page minigames, and you know how many of them I’ve played? Exactly zero. So I’m spending money to be entertained by reading them… and it’s not the dollar cost that’s prohibitive, it’s my attention cost. Only so many hours in the day, yo.
Now, obviously, there are projects that would never exist without crowdfunding, and I’m totally into backing those when I can, but I’m legitimately much more likely these days to PayPal someone $5 for an ebook of their gaming insights than to pay $1 + fees every month or per post or whatever.
What I take from this is never make your crowdfunding platform your landing page. It’s not your online identity, maintain that elsewhere, somewhere you control. They process subscriptions for you.
Also, stolen from some advice about choosing databases – try to figure out how they think about crowdfunding, because the trade-offs they make are going to affect you.
Patreon wants to support full-time artist success stories (not hobbyists) who are paid on a monthly schedule, and are willing to put a lot of energy into price differentiating their patrons with very expensive reward tiers. It’s not a recurring microtransaction platform – at least, that’s not how they see themselves.
Oddly, this is the exact person who is entirely dependent on Patreon, rather than someone who uses it for payment processing.